Shih Tzu Week 118: Dahlias & Dogs

Sept. 26 – Oct. 2, 2013 

We have been spending a lot of time working on our garden. I especially love the dahlias. I like to think the shih tzus enjoy them too. Candy spends the most time in the backyard, usually sunning herself on the bridge John made for them.

Sunday, Sept. 29: Spotlight on Nigel

Tuesday, Oct. 1 

Flower coming to visit us in bed each morning. Actually, I think she comes to visit John, with an ulterior motive of trying to steal Nigel’s pre-breakfast treat, if he happens to bring the leftover bone back to bed with him. Sometimes John lifts her up, but she does pretty good jumping up on her own usually. 

Wednesday, Oct. 2:

Morning Dog Walk behind Wal-Mart

 

Shih Tzu Week 117

Back to the Past: Sept. 19 – Sept. 25, 2013

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Friday, Sept. 20

This morning when I went to grab the leashes out of the basket, Nigel wandered back to his bed and Candy wandered under the table. They probably need walking the least, so I decided to just take Dottie and Flower. It’s always easier with less than four anyway. When we got back, I opened the back door so the shih tzus could wander in and out. I so wish we could get Dottie and Candy to use the doggy door, because I am constantly trying to get flies and bees out of the house. I swatted a fly near Candy and she didn’t even run. Sometimes she still startles easily, but she is getting better.

Sunday, Sept. 22

We took the dogs for a walk this morning at Majestic View. I always get a kick out of Flower’s excitement during the car ride. Nigel gets pretty excited too, but Flower is more verbal. If I say, “Are you excited we’re going for a walk?” Flower squeals.

Monday, Sept. 23

We have done well with many areas with the shih tzus, including their relationship with us. I have also noticed that most of their tear stains are gone, although Dottie still has a little brown on her face. However, partly because of the fact that Candy and Dottie won’t use the doggy door, we still have housebreaking issues. It’s not unusual for me to try to figure out where the urine smell is coming from. I realized today that Flower had peed on her couch, so the cushion cover went into the wash. Also, it looked like someone peed on Dottie’s thick blanket that I sometimes sit on. Ick. Candy had been relieving herself on the carpet in our bedroom so I started shutting the door. Then she started peeing on the rug in the bathroom. At least I can wash that, but I also started shutting that door.

Shih Tzu Review Board: Orijen Freeze-Dried Dog Food

Our Human, whom we call Mom, makes us “meatloaf” every couple of weeks, and we get it every morning for breakfast with our kibble. We love it! She makes it with lean ground beef, lean ground turkey, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, green peas, and she throws in other vegetables, like zucchini and squash from the garden. Sometimes she adds fruit. It is soooo good!

However, once in a while she gets things from Chewy.com and lets us try it. This time, she got Orijen Regional Red Freeze-Dried Dog Food. We weren’t sure what she meant when she told us it was “freeze-dried.” We thought it had something to do with our last name, which, ironically, is “Freeze.” Well, it doesn’t. It’s the process they use. Why Mom wanted us to try it was, first, because it is a “whole prey diet” containing really fun “wild” stuff: angus beef, wild boar, ranch-raised lamb, heritage pork, and free-range bison, and even fruits and vegetables. The second reason was that she said that since it is “freeze-dried,” it is fresh and has no preservatives.

Before Mom gave it to us, she did some weird things. First, she took these “medallions” out of the package, broke them into four pieces (one for each of us!) and then poured warm water on them. The hard part was that we had to wait about five minutes while the medallions “un-dried.” Then, Mom divided it into four bowls as an “afternoon snack.”

Orijen Freeze Dried Food

Today we tried Orijen Freeze Dried Food.

What happened next? Well, Mom set the bowls down. First, she set one down for Nigel, and then one for Flower, Candy, and me. However, in the few seconds it took for Flower to get to her bowl, Nigel swallowed his piece and came and stole hers! Mom scolded him and then had to split up the last two pieces for me, Flower and Candy. Mom was surprised we liked it, because she didn’t think it smelled as yummy as her meatloaf. The good news is that because of Nigel’s bad behavior, she fixed us another one to share!

You are not going to believe what happened next! Mom had us girls go outside, since we are better behaved than Nigel. She put his bowl down on the kitchen floor, quickly went outside with our bowls, and shut the door so he couldn’t come out and steal our food. Then, she put down our bowls, and FLOWER ate hers and then ran and stole my piece before I could get to it! Sometimes it just isn’t fun living with three other shih tzus! I hope Mom feeds that stuff to us again!

Shih Tzu Review Board: True Chews Dog Jerky

Shih Tzu Review Board

We have recently made a decision that we want to be famous dog food/treat reviewers, and we are going to call ourselves the Shih Tzu Review Board (unless we think of something more clever)! We want to do that because we think we know a lot about dog food/treats! Also, we like to get packages in the mail with our names on them. What are we reviewing today?

True Chews Premium Jerky Cuts

We have a very good friend at Chewy.com. He writes us whenever he needs expert reviewers to honestly judge dog food and treats that Chewy carries. I have to admit, though, that our Human doesn’t let us review just any food. First off, she says we can only review dog food and treats that say Made in U.S.A. or Made in America on the package. As for us shih tzus, we really, really like to try different types of jerky the most. Our Human says as long as we don’t find some we like as well as her homemade dog jerky she’ll let us keep testing others!

We got a package in the mail the other day that contained a bag of True Chews Premium Jerky Cuts. They are made with real chicken, and, of course, made in the U.S.A. We were really anxious to try them, but our Human thought she would be clever. She put the bag up in the Baby Russian Sage Garden and sat us up there one at a time. Each time one of us got up there, she pulled a piece of jerky halfway out of the bag to see what we would do. Well, I can tell you that not one of us walked away from that bag! We all loved True Chews chicken jerky! Our Humans say that these pictures should prove it!

A shih tzu taking dog jerky from a True Chews bag.

“I wonder if I could take the whole bag of chicken jerky and run!

Flower shih tzu with a True Chews dog jerky bag

“Hey, Dottie, Nigel, Candy! This chicken jerky is really great!

Dottie shih tzu eating chicken jerky from True Chews bag.

“I am so glad that Nigel and Flower left me some chicken jerky!”

 

a shih tzu taking dog jerky from a True Chews bag.

Finally my turn!

 

 

 

Shih Tzu Gardens: Flowers Galore!

Shih Tzu Gardens

Our four shih tzus will tell you it’s been a busy summer with lots of changes! One of the biggest ones has been their backyard! When they arrived at our home in June 2011, they had a very big backyard with nothing interesting to look at. Not anymore!

Over the last several months, we have added to our deck, invested in patio furniture and an umbrella, planted a vegetable garden and planted lots of flowers. I think we will all be sad when cold weather hits!

Candy and the Secret Garden

Candy Shih Tzu in the garden.

Candy rests near the “Secret Garden” of mainly coneflower (Echinacea) varieties.

Flower and the Blanket Flower Garden

A shih tzu investigates blanket flowers (Gaillardia).

Flower investigates the blanket flowers (Gaillardia).