Daily Archives: July 9, 2011

Shih Tzu Day 10: Eating Out of John’s Hand

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I guess I'll see what happens if I take this chicken jerky from Him.

We had a big victory this afternoon. John attempted to offer the girls the Milo’s Kitchen chicken jerky, but they huddled together at the far end of their pen. First, when they didn’t respond, he threw a couple of pieces to them. I asked him to get closer, and he walked into the pen. When he did, Flower began growling.

I pushed back the couch so they didn’t have a tunnel, and it freaked them out. Someone knocked over their water bowl. I asked John to sit down in the pen with them, as I had done at Barbara’s. Although they were frightened, Flower bravely reached for a piece of chicken jerky. Candy finally responded and took a piece from John. Then, Dottie took some. After a while, they all had taken several small pieces from him. Candy also let him pet her while she ate her jerky. Dottie also let him pet her. When he tried to pet Flower, she froze with the jerky half in and half out of her mouth, but eventually, he was able to stroke her a few times.

That was pretty good!

Later, I decided to remove the towels that had gotten wet from the water. I pulled the flexible gate out, making the space larger. Candy, the Inquisitor, started roaming in and out of the pen. Even Flower came to the end, wagging her tail, which she usually doesn’t do when John is nearby. Eventually, she went back to their communal doggy bed, where Dottie was sitting. As for Dottie, she had been shaking earlier, but she stopped while John was feeding them.

Shih Tzu Day 10: The Lawn Mower Monster

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John and I didn’t go to bed until after midnight. Since the shih tzus have been leaving “gifts” on the carpet for John to find, we formed the Superyard into a closed pen, instead of leaving it open. However, I didn’t go to the trouble of securing it shut.

When John got up this morning, at about 6, at least one of the shih tzus was running around out of the pen, thankfully, without leaving any reminders. If we really don’t want them to get out of the pen, we will have to try harder.

I knew I should go downstairs, but I slept for about thirty more minutes. When I came downstairs, the dancing began again, even though John was sitting nearby on the couch. They must be getting a little more comfortable.

I didn’t see any evidence that they had done number one or two, so we herded them outside. The exercise pen was still muddy, so we used the safety gate from Barbara’s to make a smaller pen on the porch. However, again, we didn’t secure the end, so Dottie went around it and down in the mud. The other two stayed on the porch.

I fed them their breakfast outside. After that, they stayed quietly in their pen for awhile. When John was upstairs, Dottie decided to wander around. We went to lunch and to get the girls some more cottage cheese. I couldn’t find any Pork Chomps, so I got them some treats that looked like chicken wings. I gave them  each one when we got back. Dottie didn’t eat hers, probably because of her missing front teeth, but Candy and Flower did.

Later, we took the girls outside again, although they never seem to do what we want them to do out there. John gets them outside quickly, as long as I block off their “tunnel” once they get through it, since Flower always wants to turn back. Once outside, they were okay until they heard John start up the riding lawn mower in the shed. They scattered and then all of them came back to sit by me. They let me pet them while they watched John intently, and Flower let me hold her for awhile without fidgeting.

Candy didn’t seem scared, but just inquisitive. Flower seemed nervous and Dottie shook like a leaf. I put Dottie on my lap for awhile. They stayed on the porch with me for about ten minutes.