Day 112: Devil Dog Shih Tzu Puppy

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Mr. male shih tzu puppy is a handful

shih tzu puppy playshih tzu puppy playI have started getting a little impatient with Nigel, the little “devil dog.” During my morning ritual with the girls, our male shih tzu puppy decided to just start charging the girls, hoping they would pay attention to him. He’s taken to biting Candy’s tail constantly and he tries to boss Flower and Dottie. He’s quite a bit different from the sweet little boy who arrived here fresh over pneumonia and a sterilization and hernia operation.

shih tzu puppy playNigel has some fabulous qualities. For instance, thank goodness he is house trained. I am very happy that this little male shih tzu scratches at the door to tell me when he needs to go outside, and he would go out, hundreds of times a day, if I let him, particularly to smuggle out toys and bones. But, he also fakes that need a lot. Joey used to do the same thing: shih tzu puppy playscratch on the door to make me think she wanted outside, but as soon as I got up, run away from the door. It was her ploy to get me to give her food, and I think that’s what Nigel does too, many times. Like Joey did, he scratches at the door, and when I get up, he runs away from it.

Earlier, my little shadow Dottie sat patiently while I got my coffee, put things away, etc. The minute I sat down and pulled my computer table towards me, Dottie jumped up and ran to the couch, as usual. Today, though, the devil dog shih tzu puppy ran up and grabbed her tail while I was helping her up onto the couch. No wonder she growls at him when he comes to her side of the couch.

two shih tzusLater, I was working away when I realized that Flower was sitting with me and Dottie. Nigel had been on one side but crossed over to see what was happening on the female shih tzu side. Dottie wasn’t happy, probably because of the tail pulling earlier, so she jumped down. I’m sure she wistfully thinks about the days when it was just she and Mom on the couch, with no male shih tzu puppy in sight.

Flower tried to visit me earlier, but devil dog shih tzu puppy kept tackling her. I never know if she wants to interact with him. Today it looked like she was having fun with him, until she jumped up on the couch where he couldn’t get her. Bad boy shih tzu puppy didn’t like that and kept barking at her. I wanted to be a little kid and say, “Shut your big mouth; she can stay up here if she wants!” Well, I think I actually did say that.

To sum Nigel up, this shih tzu puppy is vocal, rambunctious, headstrong and pushy. But, whenever I find myself wondering what the picture would be like without him, he comes up to the couch with a bone in his silly little mouth and looks up at me with those big eyes, or begins to pull my socks off, and I have to smile. So, on the other side, he’s lovable, charming, adventurous, inquisitive and goodnatured.

Is it shih tzu puppy love?

a male shih tzu puppy and two female shih tzusCandy sometimes loses patience with Nigel too. But, like me, she still thinks he’s charming. This afternoon when Candy was outside, I heard a noise and quickly went to see if she was okay. Her and Nigel were sparring on the patio. I’m still cautious, so I opened the door to see if she needed an escape route, but they moved away from the door, so she must have been having fun.

I left the screen door open, and later, I could hear their heavy breathing. An hour later, the two shih tzu puppies were still playing outside. Still later, when the scuffling was getting quite loud outside, I opened the screen door, and they both looked at me and then ran around the corner where I couldn’t see them. I couldn’t help smiling. Is this puppy love?

When he came in later, devil dog seemed all tuckered out. He put his head on my lap and stayed there for quite a while. Candy didn’t come in when he did. I tried to approach her and she ran. She is a strange but adorable little thing. Later, when she did come in, she sat in one of the dog beds looking depressed. Did she wish she was still playing with Nigel? Another aspect of puppy love perhaps?

Candy and Nigel had another play date inside later. This time, Flower decided to get in on the action. She would get up on the couch and when she thought Candy needed help, would fly off and join the fray. I kept hearing yapping, but no one was trying to escape, so I let them play it off. Maybe none of it is puppy love. Maybe it’s all just puppy play.

Shih Tzu Day 111: Candy and her Boy Dog

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The trouble with boy dog friends

girl and boy dog friendsCandy and her boy dog friend have been frolicking again, inside and outside. I know she enjoys playing with Nigel, but there are times that she does not want his attention. I always know when that is the case, because she yips loudly and looks like she wants to bite his little boy dog face off. I have had several stern talks with him that when a lady says “no,” it’s not “maybe,” and he has to stop and not force her to play. If he learns that, she might like him better and go out on more dog play dates. Of course, it would also help if he stopped stealing her bones and the other girls’ dog treats. Then they might all like him better.

Nigel and the cable guy

I had to have Comcast send a cable guy out today because of trouble with my cable box. Nigel greeted him at the door with his tail wagging and was practically sitting on his lap when he sat down on the couch to do some programming. Not my girl shih tzus, of course. I was in the kitchen and heard a low growl. I asked him what happened, and he said, “I don’t know! All I did was make eye contact!” It was actually kind of funny. My girl dogs are definitely different than our boy dog.

I don’t really think it’s a case of girl dogs or boy dogs, however. It’s more likely because of their time at the puppy mill. From Nigel’s behavior, he probably had a good home at one point before ending up at a shelter, so he has a lot better social skills. He definitely wouldn’t make a very good guard dog!

A boy dog in Shih Tzu Central

a black and white shih tzu on a dog bed. After the cable guy left, I took Nigel for a walk to tire him out. I sure don’t have a lot of stamina since I stopped taking regular bike rides. Running up the hill beside him tired me out! When we came back, I had the back door open for the dogs and a bee came in. I was trying to figure out where it went and looked over at Shih Tzu Central; it was flying around near Nigel, and he was trying to bite it. I was thinking that he looked funny trying to bite at it, and then I realized something. He was “at Shih Tzu Central” trying to bite it. He was actually lounging on the blue dog bed.

Four shih tzusFlower and Candy didn’t seem to think anything about having a boy dog in one of their beds in their private corner, although Dottie seemed slightly put out. They all mainly just ignored him. Since that was the case, I thought I’d work on a little bit of togetherness and moved his bed in there as a test.

He lay in there for a while without any reaction from the girls. However, he didn’t stay very long and seemed lost without his dog bed being in the living room, so I moved it back out.

Dry training pad

The training pads I have down were dry all day. It’s possible that the girl shih tzus are learning how to hold it until they go outside. I didn’t find any evidence that they had gone anywhere else in the house. My fingers are crossed.

Shih Tzu Day 110: Dog Play and Dog Treats

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Experimenting with dog treats again

a shih tzu near a dog bed.I experimented with dog treats again today. I still haven’t quite figured out which dog likes which dog treats. I threw several out on the floor, to see who would go for what. Flower and Nigel seem to be the most versatile as far as dog treats go. They all seem to like pig ears, and Nigel and Flower really like the bully sticks. It’s touch and go with the Greenbrier Kennel Club mini red and white rawhide bones, pressed rawhide bones and retriever rolls from the Dollar Tree. Sometimes these dog treats lie around for days, and then someone picks up one and begins to chew on it and all the other dogs want it. Then it’s back to bone wars.

a shih tzu pulling a sock off. Today, the other three grabbed a Beefeaters pig ear strip, but Candy chose a red and white rawhide bone. Dottie usually likes the rawhide bones too. Nigel doesn’t seem to discriminate between dog treats. He likes anything, and is expert at unraveling the Oinkies pig skin twists, but something has to be eliminated from his diet, because he has been stinking up a storm. My guess is the rawhide dog treats, which I have debated giving the dogs, because I have heard such mixed opinions about rawhide.

Overall, at the top of the dog treats list is a good-old fashioned, real dog bones from the meat department with real marrow in the middle. I bought some this week. Five minutes after I passed them out, Flower had collected three in her bed, so I had to confiscate two and redistribute. They are a little pricey where I found them, at five dollars for five small bone pieces. Not bad if you have one dog, but giving them to four dogs makes a difference!

A different life

a dog stretched out on a couch.I was thinking today how different life is from a year ago, when I edited or wrote alone in my quiet house, sometimes with the TV on in the background. Now, it’s normal to have to pet a dog on each side between making editorial corrections. I also used to worry about forgetting to take my eyes off the computer screen for long lengths of time.

a shih tzu chasing another shih tzu.Jumping up dozens of times a day to open the door when Nigel scratches at it, to either come in or go out, changes that. Plus, watching the shih tzus when they start playing also gives my eyes the opportunity to rest from the computer. Definitely, I laugh and smile more than I used to, because how can you help it with so much cuteness around?

My couch gets more and more use these days. While I worked on my laptop this afternoon, Nigel rested on one side of me and Dottie and Flower on the other. Dottie seems to be getting used to the fact that she can’t always have the very end of the couch. She didn’t growl today when Flower sat there. Flower stayed on the couch for some time. Their body language is so different. Dottie lies down, her head down, Nigel cuddles up right next to me and Flower looks like she is always on guard.

Nigel still seems a little put off at times that he can’t always get them to play with him. He especially can’t understand that when I get up in the morning, they want to play with me. That is “our” time, from when I walk out the bathroom door until when I go into the kitchen and start putting their breakfast together. He lunges at Candy and then Flower, but they ignore him or yap at him. I always think of Rudolph not being a part of the “reindeer games.”

Since the girls were ignoring Nigel this morning, and I had gathered up all the dog treats, he decided to look for attention elsewhere. He sat at my feet and began pulling a sock off my foot. Sometimes I let him take them off, but sometimes I stop him. Today, I allowed him to pull one off before I retrieved it.

Candy and Goo Goo Doll

I was watching Candy trot across the floor today. With her fur longer, she reminds me a lot of the Persian cat we used to have, Goo Goo Doll. They could have been good friends.

two shih tzus on a couch.We got Goo Goo Doll, named after one of my favorite bands, at the same time we got our Yorkshire terrier, Joey. About a year later, we brought home a Rottweiler for my teenage stepson, who was living with us. Bo, who came from a farm, seemed like he got along with both Joey and Goo Goo Doll. However, our son kept him downstairs in the day when we were gone. One day, however, Bo got loose. Goo Goo Doll was dead when we got home. It broke my heart, and Bo went to a home without cats.

I think Goo Goo Doll even had the same type of temperament as Candy. After thinking about the similarities, I picked up Candy, hugged her and carried her around a while, and then I sat down and put her on my lap. She lay there for a while before she got restless.

I knew she had answered Nigel’s call to play a little later when I heard a rapid pitter patter of little paws and looked up to see her running by, Nigel behind her, with Candy’s tail in his mouth.

Flying Flower

two shih tzusI have a lot of nicknames for Flower, but John gave her a new one: Flying Flower. He calls her that because of the way she flies across the floor and leaps up on the couches, and because of the way she leaps and dances when I come down the stairs, when she is going to get breakfast and when I come home from somewhere. Sometimes she twirls around in the air in a complete circle before touching her feet to the ground again.

Shih Tzu Day 109: Touch and Go Leash Training: Flower Escapes!

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Leash training trials and tribulations

The girls started barking at 6:45 this morning. I got up a little after 7 so they would stop barking and John could sleep. Candy and Nigel played outside for a while after eating.

two shih tzus preparing for a walk. We decided it was time to do a little leash training again. Of course, Nigel needs no training. He would love to go walking everyday, and I hope we can accommodate him. Our leash training class continued this morning with Candy. There is a grass area behind our local Wal-Mart that is perfect for walking. She did okay, although ever so often, she stopped. i can’t say that she had fun, but she wasn’t as stressed out as she has been on previous walk attempts.

a shih tzu on a leash. We were brave and decided to continue our leash training with Flower. First, when I picked her up, I guess she knew something was up, because she pooped, right down my favorite light blue jeans. I didn’t want to postpone our walk, so I grabbed a microfiber cleaning cloth and water and scrubbed at the spot and then grabbed another one to clean off Flower’s butt. Once we rinsed her off, we put her in the harness we just bought from PetSmart.

a shih tzu resting on a porch.She seemed to be doing okay today, although I knew the leash training was stressing her out. She walked a little with me, very slowly, and then ran a while with John. Suddenly, though, she escaped her leash and harness. It was panic time. If she ran east, she would be running towards Sheridan, a busy street, and if she ran south, towards the apartments behind Wal-Mart. If she ran west, she would run towards our house, but have to cross one street and who knows where she would go from there. Running north, she could escape through an entrance leading to the back of Wal-Mart.

a black and white shih tzuI stayed calm, calling her name and trying to lure her with liver treats. She kept darting back and forth, while John tried to grasp her collar. I was standing near a tree, and she kept coming back to where I was, but if I took a step, she would run again.

In the meantime, I was still holding onto Nigel’s leash, and he was distracting me. John finally told me to put Nigel’s leash around a pole that I imagine was there to make the tree grow straight. I did that, and then concentrated on again luring Flower with the treats. She finally came close enough for me to grasp the ring on the front of her collar. I guess we will have to continue her leash training in our backyard for now. That was a little too scary.

The rest of the day

two shih tzusI was hanging clothes up upstairs after we got back when I realized that my little shadow Dottie was always one step behind me. She is such a sweetheart. When we went back downstairs, Nigel the bone collector had collected several of the girls’ bones in his dog bed. I took a few away and put them back at Shih Tzu Central.

I heard a pitter patter of paws a little later and realized that Candy and Nigel had another play date. They started their waltz-wrestle-boxing match near the dining room, but later moved on to Shih Tzu Central. Later, I noticed Nigel nuzzling Flower, attempting to get her to play. I wonder if Candy thinks he’s two-timing her?

Shih Tzu Day 108: Dog Bath For Four

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Dog bath time for the girls and Nigel

shih tzu on a grooming table.I decided this morning that it was dog bath time again. This time, though, we had to bathe four dogs instead of three.

After Nigel first got here, we put him up on our grooming table and trimmed his fur slightly.

shih tzu in sink.He had just gotten stitches, so we couldn’t do too much. He was no trouble at all, so we figured his dog bath would be a piece of cake. We were wrong, though. His good grooming behavior must have been because he wasn’t feeling good.

shih tzu in a towelWe got out the Tropiclean puppy shampoo, sat him in the sink and started our process. He fought us every inch of the way, splashing water on us and trying to get out of the sink. Although they have been a trial at bath time in the past, Dottie, Candy and Flower all seemed easy after dealing with him.

We are growing their hair longer, and I imagine there will be more tangles, so I plan to pick up the Tropiclean tangle remover I saw at Petco. However, for now, the next step was blow drying. In the past, I tried to do it in the bathroom, by myself, and whoever I was trying to dry kept getting away and running around in circles, trying to escape, while I pointed the blow dryer at them. This time, we used the blow dryer on all of them on the kitchen counter. I held on to each one while John dried them, and that worked better.

Home alone

shih tzu with a chicken and apple treat.We had to leave at 10:45 for Gabe’s baby shower, so Dottie didn’t get to sit with mom at all this morning. We were at the shower for several hours and then decided we would go see our grandson Keith’s football game. We didn’t end up getting home until after 5 o’clock. All the shih tzus were very excited to see us when we finally got home.