About Flower

My nicknames include Flower Girl, Flower Pedal, Flower Power, Flower Fu, Lion Queen, Lion Baby, Control Freak, Psycho Baby, Poophead Princess, Shih Tzu Head Princess and Maybelline Lashes. My Mom sometimes calls me Marilyn but lately calls me Flower Kardashian. I am not sure why. I think it has something to do with the way my butt looks in some of my pictures.

Shih Tzu Vet Update: Four Star Visit

I wanted to talk about flowers today, but Mom said I should talk about our annual vet exam we had yesterday at Clear Creek Animal Hospital. First, Mom tricked us. She knows that whenever we get in the car we think we’re going to the nice park for a walk, but we were wrong. It was too late to escape once we saw where she was really taking us.

She was happy I didn’t get frightened and pee on the floor like I used to. However, Nigel “marked” his visit and they had to rush to get a paper towel to clean it up. That’s probably why he got to be examined first. Before Dr. Lindsey did that, though, we all got weighed. Candy weighs the least, at 13.40 pounds. When we came to live at the Freeze Hacienda after living at the puppy mill, she weighed 11 pounds. The doctor says she is a nice weight. Dottie is a little more “plump.” She weighs 18.40 pounds! The doctor wasn’t that concerned, though, since her weight has hardly changed over the last few years. Mom says she is a “big girl.” When Nigel came to live with us he had been very sick, and he only weighed 10.80 pounds. Now, however, he weighs 14.40 pounds. Well, now I have to say what I weigh. I weighed 13.60 pounds in 2011. Now I weigh, gulp, 16.60 pounds. The assistant put me back on the scale because she didn’t think that was right, but it was. The vet says I should lose at least a pound so Mom says I am going to get less treats. Bummer!

We all got a Leptospirosis vaccination — whatever that is. Mom and the vet talked about Nigel’s eye scare earlier this year. He had a corneal perforation. We aren’t sure how well he sees out of it. I guess Mom needs to take him in for a checkup at the specialist for that. Beyond that, she thought Nigel was pretty healthy.

Candy might have a food allergy and Dottie might too, because of some problems with their ears. Candy’s ears are a little “thick” and Dottie has a lot of wax in hers. The vet asked if they itch them a lot. Mom said they used to but that she was cleaning them (with Vet’s Best Ear Relief) and Candy and Dottie didn’t seem to be having a problem lately. Dr. Lindsey said that if it gets worse, Mom might have to do some food tests to see what food might be causing the problem. Dottie is 8 years old and her vision might not be as well as mine, but otherwise, the vet said she was in good health. I don’t know why she didn’t say she needed to lose weight!

Besides the vet saying I need to lose a pound, she also said I have to go in to get my teeth cleaned. Ugh. I guess I have too much tartar on my teeth. Mom was disappointed since the vet always told her how good our teeth looked. Mom thought our teeth were good because of the chew sticks she gives us, but they must not be helping my teeth. I hope that doesn’t hurt!

The good news was that the vet told Mom if she had gold stars, she would give them to us! So I guess we did pretty good!

 

Flower’s Flowers Introduction

Hi, all! First off, we have to apologize for staying away for SO LONG. It’s been a busy year. Our humans, aka Mom and Dad, have been busy all summer making us a beautiful backyard. Since my name is Flower, Mom says I should talk about our flowers. So I am going to be doing that! Along with the flowers, I will be talking about other beautiful things in our garden, such as butterflies!

When we first came to live here, I don’t think there were that many flowers, but that has changed! I’ll be back soon, but for now, I thought I would share a picture of me, Flower, with some of my Flowers. Boy, I love my name, now that I know it means something really pretty!

2014_08_5_FLower_in_flowers

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 Valentine’s Day 2013

Hi Y’all! Flower here! We are trying to help Mom keep our blog up to date, so I am taking my turn to update it.

Today was Valentine’s Day. We got a Valentine’s Day gift, but it wasn’t anything with hearts or anything. Mom told us what she could have got us. She could have got us Valentine’s Day dog biscuits, but she said that Dottie and Candy would turn up their little black noses (even more than they are already turned up!). She said she could have bought us stuffed animals, but we already have a ton, and only Nigel usually plays with them. She reminded me that I only play with them when I have pent-up energy, and I just shake them around for a few seconds and then drop them. So, what Mom did do was make us an extra big batch of homemade dog treats: chicken wrapped apples, which we love! We could smell them in the dehydrator all day, and we couldn’t wait to have some!

Mom said to make sure to talk about Aunt Candace. Aunt Candace is staying with us for a while. At one time, we wouldn’t have known what to do about that, but now, we’re getting used to people. I even came up to her while she sat on the couch today and let her pet me. She laughed and told Mom that I was playing with her for the first time. I guess I was.

We went for a Valentine’s Day walk with Aunt Candace and Mom. As usual, Mom held the flex leash for Nigel and Candace held mine for a while. Dottie and Candy’s leashes trailed on the ground. When we got behind Wal-Mart, Candy tried to race me again. She ran fast and I could have beat her, but Mom can’t run as fast as Candy, so she won again! She always wins! Mom keeps saying she is going to get me a longer leash, so I can race Candy better. I think that’s what she should have given me for Valentine’s Day!

Shih Tzus: Off Leash at the Park (Don’t Tell!)

We had a very special day playing at the park on Sunday! Mom and the Man often let Dottie and Candy walk themselves, because they are so good about not running off. Nigel and I get jealous. By the way, dogs aren’t really supposed to walk themselves because the signs say they can’t be off leash, but Mom says they aren’t really “off leash.” They are on a leash, but it’s just dragging on the ground sometime!

Well, this time, there were no other dogs and very few people, so first the Man dropped Nigel’s leash. Wouldn’t you know it!! He spotted a man and woman walking far away and decided to run to greet them. Mom had to chase after him.

Later, though, the Man was running with me and Candy and Dottie were chasing after me, and the Man dropped my leash! Wow! I got to run fast without anyone holding my leash! The Man was in front of us and Mom was in back, so in case we tried to pull any funny business.

Here we are running!

Dottie Shih Tzu running at park

Candy Shih Tzu running at the park.

Flower Shih Tzu running at the park.

Nigel Shih Tzu running at the park.