Category Archives: Visitors

Shih Tzu Day 90: Kitty Invades Shih Tzu Central

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Muddy Buddies

shih tzu with muddy feetshih tzu with towel on her headWe woke up this morning to the sound of Spot Collins meowing in the bathroom. Shortly after that, the dogs started barking. I headed out the bedroom door to greet the dogs, and John picked up Spot Collins to take him downstairs.

shih tzu with towel on her head

When the girls came back from romping in the grass after breakfast, I realized it was bath time for the dogs. Grass and mud covered all of their paws.

Dottie and Candy are better at baths than they are with blow dryers or clippers. They both shook, but we bathed them without them getting too traumatized. Flower was very good.

I took the dogs upstairs separately, beween baths, to blow dry them. As unexpected, they all tried to run, but they couldn’t go far, since the doors were shut.

Wherever they went they were close enough where I could point the blow dryers at their bodies at least. I left their faces alone.

Spot Collins Visits Shih Tzu Central

shih tzu with towel on headWhen all of the dogs were finishing drying at Shih Tzu Central, Spot Collins wandered over, drank a little of their water and then jumped onto the dog bed occupied by Dottie and Flower. Dottie stared at him a few minutes and then decided to get in another dog bed. Flower just kept staring at him like he was from another planet.

two shih tzus and a kittenSpot Collins is better. He drank lots of water and ate his kibble. When John took a shower, he set SC’s carrier nearby, so he could get his prescribed sauna. He is still sneezing quite a bit.

shih tzu with kittenWhen John left, SC kept crawling up on my lap. I let him stay there for a while. Flower stayed away from the couch. Dottie wanted up, but instead of sitting on the couch, as usual, she sat up on the arm.

shih tzu and kittenFlower started getting more aggressive towards Spot Collins after John left. She was growling at her, so I ended up putting the kitten back in her carrier for awhile. When I let him back out, Flower was too busy chewing on her bully stick to notice.

Flower jumped up on the couch for her massage-scratch-petting session. As soon as I started petting her, Dottie showed interest, too. Their fur was so soft after their bath this morning. Flower just sat next to me, so I could scratch her chest and haunches. Dottie, however, rolled over on her back for a tummy rub.

Candy never comes up for petting action. However, when we were watching Dancing With The Stars, I sat her between John and me. She actually relaxed and lay down, one paw on my leg, and stayed there for probably twenty minutes while John petted her.

Google Alert

I have Google Alerts set up on words involving my work, as well as words that will pull up articles to tweet about, such as puppy mills and shih tzus. I also have an alert for the Denver Dumb Friends League, because I like to tweet info about animal shelters and rescues. Today, my Google Alert gave me three articles on the Dumb Friends League; one was my post on Day 77, telling about Mom’s adoption of Panda and Spot Collins. It was a pleasant surprise, because I never expected to get an alert on my own articles.

Shih Tzu Day 89: Kitty in the House!

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Monday Morning

shih tzu on grassIt’s funny how things change when you have pets. I woke up at 5:15 and lay there for several minutes debating if I wanted to get up and go to the bathroom. Before, that wouldn’t have been an issue. Now though, I had to consider the three little dogs downstairs. They hadn’t barked yet, so I imagined they were still asleep. If I did go to the bathroom, their alert little shih tzu ears would hear me, and they would be running up the stairs to try to lure me down to the kitchen. I did end up getting up, but I was very, very quiet, and I succeeded in getting back to bed without waking the three girls up. In fact, they didn’t come up and bark until 7!

After the girls had breakfast, they went back to their dog beds at Shih Tzu Central. They seemed sleepier than usual. My guess is that they were partying last night. One clue was that someone had dragged the little orange dog up on the loveseat. Also, the blanket that covers the loveseat was cockeyed.

Chew, Chew, Chew

shih tzu with toyDottie has found another treat that she likes, the Hartz Crunch and Clean chew bones. I bought them because of their dental benefits. After all, the package said “scientifically proven to reduce tartar 87 percent.” I’m all for reducing tartar, but I get three in a bag for around five dollars! That’s a little expensive, and I haven’t been able to find a super economy pack. I think Flower liked hers, because it vanished after a few minutes. I sat Candy’s down in front of her. She didn’t take it, but Flower trotted up, grabbed it and trotted back to the dog bed she had been laying on. I took it from her and put it away, in case Candy might change her mind later.

There is a Cat in Our House!

shih tzu staring at kitty in pet carrierDid Mom bring you in here??Mom and I had to take Panda and Spot Collins back to the Dumb Friends League for a vet appointment this afternoon. They have both been sneezing, but now Panda has blood around her mouth and nose. The vet said Panda had the URI that many cats there had and that he wanted to keep Panda there, mainly because he was severely dehydrated and they could control it better there. He said they would probably have to keep Panda there for three to five days.

two shih tzus staring at a cat in a pet carrierWhen he checked Spot Collins, he said he had a temperature and definitely had the URI as well. He gave us a ten-day supply of Doxycycline and said we should pick up some Gerber chicken and gravy baby food, to get water and nutrients into him. He also said that we needed to either run the vaporizer for him or set him in the bathroom and turn on the shower for fifteen-minute intervals, twice each day.

a shih tzu staring at a cat in a pet carrierWhen I got home, I brought in the groceries I picked up, put them away and then took the dogs outside for a treat. While they were outside, I went and got Spot Collins out of the Jeep and took him upstairs. I set his pet carrier on the floor, turned on the shower, shut the door and went downstairs and set the oven timer.

shih tzu with mouth openWhen Flower came inside, she ran to the stairs, trying to figure out why there was noise upstairs. When the timer went off, I got Spot Collins and brought him downstairs. I sat the pet carrier by the couch, leaving Spot Collins in it. Spot Collins meowed loudly, wanting to get out. Candy and Dottie merely look at the kennel, and then walked away.

Flower’s eyes got big. She ran up to it, barked, ran back, ran up, barked, ran back, repeatedly. I tried to shush her, because I didn’t want her to give Spot Collins a heart attack.

I was lucky that I didn’t have long until John got home. As soon as he did, Flower’s fixation with Spot Collins diminished. After we had dinner, John syringe fed SC the Gerber baby food, then held him on his lap. No longer interested in the alien in the living room, Flower retired to Shih Tzu Central for the evening.

Shih Tzu Day 81: People Visitors Again!

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Kibble Scavenger Hunt

Last night before we went to bed, we rolled up the living room rug to prevent anyone peeing on it during the night. When I came downstairs this morning, there were three spots all in a row on the two training pads I placed together. Someone who has never had three dogs with training issues won’t understand how happy that made me.

shih tzu in child's lapEver since the shih tzu sisters have come to live with us, I have had to keep Flower from gobbling down her food and then scurrying to Candy or Dottie’s bowl to help them eat there. I recently started giving them a little less kibble in their bowls, and I take what I keep out and give it to them later. When Flower is done, I give her one or two pieces at a time, to make her eat slower. When they are all done, I sprinkle kibble bits near them, like food scavenger hunt. It keeps them busy. I just have to make sure they all find equal amounts.

Human Birthday Party

child trying to give shih tzus treatsWe had a birthday party for our granddaughter, Rema, this afternoon, so Dottie, Candy and Flower had to put up with nine visitors: Rema and her four sisters; Leticia, their mom; and Gabe, his girlfriend Crystal and her daughter, Avi.

I sent the dogs outside when everyone first showed up, and we put their plastic gate back in their corner so they could feel secure behind it. When I let the dogs back in, Flower and Candy went straight to Shih Tzu Central, but Dottie seemed confused. Rema, Junior and one of the other children were sitting on the couch where Dottie and I always sit. Dottie was nervous, and jumped up, trying to sit on Rema’s lap. Rema thought she did it because Rema held her on the way back from the grooming class last month, but I think it was probably that Rema was sitting where I usually sit, and Dottie just got confused. I think that because her movements were kind of like the time that John did something that scared the dogs and they all jumped up on the couch.

shih tzu watches child give treat to other shih tzuAfter everyone had been at the house for a few hours, I ushered the dogs back outside and gave Rema treats to feed them. Flower and Dottie took one, but Candy kept her distance. Later on, I told Oriana to go inside their gate with treats. She was very timid and they wouldn’t respond to her, so I asked Evita to try. Flower and Dottie took a small treat from her, but Candy wouldn’t.

Compared to how the dogs reacted the first time the children and grandchildren came over, I think shih tzus have come quite a way. I don’t recall any of the dogs growling at any of our visitors, so that’s a big improvement.

Shih Tzu Day 74: Training Pad Improvement

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training pad use

John got up about 5:30 and tried to get the shih tzus to go outside, but only Candy would listen to him. When I came down an hour and a half later, it looked like the other two used the training pad.

closeup of a shih tzuI had about an hour to sit on the couch with Dottie before I had to get ready for church. I took the time to go through the iWork Pages tutorial at Lynda.com and drink coffee. Gabe and Crystal were riding to church with us. When they came in, only Flower growled, but the shih tzus mainly just sat in their corner, waiting for the company to go away.

I stayed inside with the girls all afternoon, while John and Gabe tinkered with the rototiller in the garage. It hasn’t worked for weeks, so the weeds are overtaking us in the backyard. They are especially high down the middle of the yard, where the water flows down. The girls seem to love jumping the water and the weeds. Candy and Flower jump pretty high for small dogs.

While I worked on my laptop, Candy amused me by doing stretches across the carpet. She’d stretch out, walk a few steps, stretch out, then walk a few more steps. I think she is bored. Later, she amused herself by taking bites out of the newspaper I put under the training pad.

three shih tzus on a large dog bed.How to get them to do their business on the training pad still remains a puzzle. Since we took our large area rug out to the backyard and drenched it with cleaner and rinsed it well, it doesn’t have that lovely urine scent. Still, I know that the girls use it at least occasionally. I had tried setting three training pads out next to each other, but only two training pads ever got use, so I stopped that. I started trying to put newspaper under the training pad, sticking out at the edges, since they seem to like to squat at the edge. Candy still prefers to run upstairs to our bedroom or the spare room and relieve herself, however, instead of using the training pad.

I have more ideas. We might roll up the big rug at night, to remove that temptation. Also, I am thinking of trying doggie litter in conjunction with the training pad.

 

 

 

Shih Tzu Day 72: Cats and Scary Noises

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shih tzu – cat excitement

two shih tzus at a kneeOur new morning schedule is going well. John got up at 4:30 when he heard jingling in the hall and went downstairs to see which shih tzushe could get to go outside. He only succeeded in getting Candy to go out. I got up a little before 7.

two shih tzus at a kneeA big grey cat and a black and white cat added excitement to Flower’s breakfast. The other shih tzus kept eating obliviously, but the guard shih tzu had to keep running and checking the backyard.

I had to throw a dirt clod near the feline visitors to make them scatter, so she could finish her breakfast.

home alone

A <em srcset=shih tzu close up” width=”300″ height=”225″ />I left the shih tzus alone for about 6 hours while I took mom shopping. As I expected, they were excited to see me when I finally came home. I took them outside for their apple and sweet potato treats. Although I saw her relieve herself outside, about an hour after we came in, Flower squatted down on the carpet.

shih tzu with squished face.

 

I told her no, but by the time I pushed my laptop and table out of the way, she had already peed and scrambled under the table. I don’t know if this is what you’re supposed to do, but I blotted the spot with a paper towel, sat the paper towel on the training pad and pointed to it, since I couldnt’ reach her. I got out one of Cesar’s treats and lured her out, then took her to the pad. Who knows if she understood or not.

scary noises

Later in the afternoon, the dogs heard noises outside and rushed into the middle of the living room, barking like crazy. A little later I noticed that someone had pooped on the carpet. My guess is that it was Flower, since that’s what she does when she gets scared. I moved the poop to the training pad, hoping they would get the message.

The girls were all excited when John got home. Once we had finished giving them treats, he picked Candy up and held her for awhile. She seemed very relaxed.