Hello everyone! We haven’t kept up with our blog, but Mom told me to talk about my life lately!
I have discovered several things I like — besides any kind of chicken treats! One, I love riding in the car on the walk to the park! Two, I love the crunchy things under my paws called leaves!
Most of all, I love sniffing everything! I think that life is good!
I am happy to say that Dottie celebrated her second birthday party at her forever home today! She is now 7 years old. We did things a little differently than we did last year.
For Dottie’s first birthday with us, two and a half months after she and her half sisters came to live with us, I dressed Dottie, Candy, and Flower up (Nigel hadn’t come to live with us yet). I was trying to get Dottie used to riding in the car, so I took her with me down the street to get a cheeseburger and fries for the shih tzus to shake. She shook the entire time.
Looking back, I am happy to say that things are quite a bit different! Yes, Dottie sometimes still does shake in the car, but all of the dogs are used to going on car rides, because of our frequent trips to the park. Also, they are now all used to walking on a leash!
I don’t like to take all four shih tzus for walks without John, because they are a handful, but since it was Dottie’s birthday, I attempted it. I also wanted to make it more special than behind Wal-Mart, where we normally walk on weekdays, so I decided to take them for a walk at Majestic View Park, our normal Sunday morning routine.
When we got to the park, I put Nigel’s leash on him and let him out my door, although I try to normally let them out the hatch. Then, I carefully let Flower down (the last time we went to the park she jumped out before we could get the leash on her!), put Candy’s leash on her and let her down, and then picked Dottie up and set her on the ground.
When we came home, I settled the other shih tzus in, and then took Dottie back out to the car with me for our “mother-daughter” date. She sat in the front seat with me for about three-quarters of the way, not shaking at all, and then climbed into the back.
Flower has been spending more time on “her” couch again, instead of with us. So far so good; as long as she doesn’t pee on it, she can have her space. I assume she has been spending more time there because Dottie growls and tries to hiss her away when she comes to our couch. When she does that, John says, “Release the Kraken!” Nobody seems very afraid of her, so I don’t think her acting ferocious is working.
Around 4 o’clock, Candy decided it was time for something other than napping and started prancing around the living room. I think she’s a little disappointed these days with her playmate choices. Nigel used to go play with her instantly, but lately he’s been as lazy as Dottie, and lies on the couch next to Mom a lot of the time. Flower finally joined her for a tap dance across the floor. And Nigel eventually got up and romped around with both of them. When they took it outside, he grabbed Candy’s tail in his mouth and wouldn’t let go, so she couldn’t get very far. He finally turned his attention to Flower to play the bitey face game.
Today is Flower’s birthday! She is now 3 years old. I made up a batch of chicken jerky for her treat. One of my friends suggested Frosty Paws and I couldn’t find any at the closest Wal-Mart, so I found a homemade Frosty Paws recipe:
.The dogs loved the treats, once they found a way to get their tongues in the cups. When I make it again, I think I’ll use shorter containers. One of the fun parts of making dog treats is you can try them without feeling you are eating dog food! I actually thought the Frosty Paws treat was good! I had a few bites myself.
I dressed the girls up, with Flower in a new dress that says Girly Girls. And I bought them Happy Birthday crows from the Dollar Tree. I gave her a stuffed animal and rubber chicken from the Dollar Tree, too, but she ignored them. She was far more fascinated with the cardboard insert I took out of the wine box. She carried it to Shih Tzu Central and spent probably 20 minutes seeing how much of it she could tear apart.
Dottie didn’t care if it was Flower’s special day. She was sitting beside me, with Mom to herself, when her shih tzu half-sister came up to the couch this morning, Dottie didn’t want to give up her Mom time and did her growly fixation thing. I think she particularly doesn’t like it because Flower wants to be petted when she jumps up.
Someone pooped on the floor near the training pad and on the mat I have under the pad. It was the runny kind, and I hope it’s not from my homemade treats. They shouldn’t have anything in them that would cause that.
I didn’t realize it, but I neglected to record any information in my journal for three days! I guess that means nothing exciting happened.
I passed out celery today. Candy doesn’t normally take it, but she did this time and chewed on it for a while. Dottie is the only one that wouldn’t take any.
Dottie was scratching the sofa arm this afternoon, so to stop her, I reached over and picked her up and sat her on my chest facing me. She wasn’t sure what to do, but she stayed there for several minutes staring at me. She finally moved off, but stayed next to me instead of retreating to her corner.
I was gone most of the day, so I didn’t have very much shih tzu time. Someone seems to be having tummy problems, because I found more poop on the floor.
Dottie was peacefully sitting in her corner this afternoon when Flower jumped up, right next to her. Instead of sitting down, she started backing her butt up into Dottie. I’m not sure what the purpose was, but Dottie started making her Kraken sound. Flower seemed oblivious to it. I guess she knows Dottie’s growl is worse than her bite.
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Dear Flower! Happy Birthday to You!
Flower is now 3 years old! This is Flower’s first birthday at her forever home. She spent her first birthday at a puppy mill and her second at a foster home.
So glad that Flower, Candy and I have a Forever Home together! Nigel too, although he didn’t come with us from the puppy mill!
Mom says she will have pictures later of our birthday party, including the homemade chicken jerky!!
Hello everyone! This is Flower! I haven’t written for a while. In fact, Mom usually hogs the computer. I just got on here and realized that we really need to update my picture! I am much prettier now.
Anyway, why I am writing is because Dottie, Flower, Nigel, and I are concerned about our first ever raffle, the Royal Canin Doggy Day Spa Pack giveaway. We let Mom write up the information, and we think she got it wrong the first time, so we have been coaching her.
First of all, we know that the spa package comes with X-SMALL dog food, but we want to make sure our friends know that they don’t have to be X-SMALL to enter the raffle. None of us shih tzus here are x-small. Well, Candy is kind of small and Nigel is kind of small, but they would need to lose some weight to be x-small. And Candy seems skinny enough! Now, Dottie is really a different subject. I think she’s almost a medium, but she’s sensitive about her weight and doesn’t want to talk about it. I think I’m perfect!
So, now that I have clarified that you don’t have to be x-small to enter, we want all of our friends to please, please enter the contest! After all, who doesn’t want free stuff!! Also, Mom asked people to talk about why their dog deserves to be pampered. Excuse me! We expect our dog friends to enter themselves! So, that means that if they want to, and only if they want tom they should tell us why THEY deserve to be pampered. Their Humans don’t have to speak for them!
Please, please, all of our Twitter friends, come by and enter! Mom doesn’t have many Twitter friends, so we want to show her how supportive ours are by entering our giveaway contest.
Now I am going to give you our opinion of the gift. We LOVE the food. The only problem is that Mom never gives us enough. Now, I can tell you that none of us like baths, so none of us like shampoo, but we do think it smells pretty. Mom says it’s “tropical,” whatever that means. We would have loved to get a few bones or treats in there, but oh well. We know Mom liked everything in the box, so at least she is happy.
That gives me an idea!!! Mothers Day is next month. So, why don’t you guys and gals all enter the prize to enter it for your Mom!
So, now that we’ve straightened thinks out, please follow this link to the rafflecopter!!!!