Shih Tzu Day 126: Let It Snow

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu snow day

I woke up this morning to Candy barking instead of Dottie moaning. I’m not sure why she was the furry alarm clock today. She was still waiting at the bottom of the stairs, instead of going upstairs with her shih tzu sisters. When I went downstairs, I realized that it had snowed quite a bit. Maybe that’s why she was barking.

The female shih tzus went out on the porch for their breakfast, since I still don’t trust Nigel to eat near them without taking their food. They didn’t mind it, but none of them wanted to get off the porch.

However, the shih tzus were up to the challenge — and fun — of romping in the snow this afternoon. I bought them all dog jackets from Ross Dress For Less and was excited to put them on them. Flower’s is black and has a pink skull on the back. Candy’s is also pink, but says “Biker Babe.” Flower’s is pink and white polka dots. Nigel’s is black and is plain, except it has a fur collar. I thought all the shih tzus looked adorable in their dog clothes.

I didn’t have much trouble bundling up Nigel, Dottie and Candy, but Flower didn’t make it easy for me. She kept running around, until I finally trapped her in the kitchen.

I stayed outside and watched the shih tzus romping in the snow. They looked like they were having a lot of fun. A few times, Flower froze in time and I had to pull her out of the snow. Beyond that, I think she loved it. I know I loved watching them!

Shih Tzu Day 118: Strange Shih Tzu Behavior

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Di Freeze

is that normal shih tzu behavior?

Dottie didn’t start whining until 7 a.m. That was an hour beyond when she started trying to wake me up yesterday. I haven’t been letting the shih tzus in the bedroom, because of past accidents, but I decided to give them the benefit of a doubt. I left the bedroom door open while I brushed my teeth, and Flower ran into the room and started circling. That was my cue to usher her out so she wouldn’t pee on the carpet.

Dottie, Flower, Nigel and I worked our way down the stairs towards the Candy Committee. They did their morning dance and I tried not to fall down the stairs while they did it. During the next part of the ritual, while I was allowing Candy to bite my hand at the bottom of the stairs, Flower jumped up on the couch, which she sometimes does in the middle of her dance. But, instead of jumping right back down, she squatted. I had never seen her do that on the couch, but I knew what usually came after squatting, so I hollered, “Flower!” and tried to get there on time. Too late. She left a big wet spot before she jumped back down. Sigh. Back to housebreaking 101.

I had towels under the red blanket, just in case, but it went through everything. I took the cushions off, sprayed cleaner on them and put up a gate around the couch. Flower lost her couch permissions for the day. She can still come up on our couch, but I have to keep an eye on her.

John thought the problem might have been the newspapers I put down when I ran out of training pads yesterday. Candy and Dottie seemed okay with it, but I have noticed that Flower doesn’t do well with change. John said maybe she hadn’t yet associated the newspaper with where she is supposed to pee.

One of the other shih tzus was acting odd today. While I was talking to Dottie this morning, she started flailing around on the couch. I could not see that anything was wrong with her. She was rubbing her face against the blanket on the couch at first, and then against my side. I thought her ear might itch, so I tried to help her itch it. When I went to move my hand away, she lunged to bite it; not in an aggressive way, but play bites. I petted her a while and then she settled down. Still not sure if she just wanted affection.

shih tzu squirrel! alert again

Candy has been alerting us to the squirrel again. I assume it’s the same squirrel, but maybe not.

Our own personal squirrel, Nigel, has been irritating Candy and Flower today. They have been yapped at him a lot. I am going to have to start yapping at him too. I can’t wear socks anymore, because he insists on taking them off my feet. My feet get cold, but I have to admit that his sock fetish is darned cute.

Nigel continues to irritate Dottie. She leans in close to his face and growls at him when he comes to her side of the couch and puts his paws up on it. I am afraid she might hurt him, so when she did it earlier, I went to move her back and him away and managed to knock my coffee over onto the couch. Well, at least the red blanket will have a companion in the washing machine.

Nigel irritates Candy the least, I guess. She didn’t push him out when he went to lay in her dog bed with her today. It was a very cute sight.

something good

I have this bad habit of forgetting to refill the shih tzus’ water bowls late in the day. Today, after I filled one of the bowls up, I went to put it down and two of the shih tzus excitedly ran over to it. John laughed and said they thought they were getting “something good.” When I sat the bowl down, though, they started lapping up the water. I told John it was “something good” after all. All that play makes the shih tzu quartet thirsty.

shih tzu beggars

Sorry to say, our shih tzus are officially beggars. Flower in particular jumps up on the couch at any hint/smell of food. Tonight it was Carroll Shelby chili, however, so I didn’t share.

Shih Tzu Day 117: Flowerlicious & The Shih Tzu Madhouse

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Di Freeze

shih tzu breath analyzer

I heard Dottie’s moan at a little after 6, but beyond that, there was very little sound until 7. Yes! I might slowly be training my furry alarm clocks to let me sleep a little later than the shih tzu sisters want me to.

Candy and Nigel stayed outside to tussle after breakfast. I am still getting used to Candy having a playmate, since she used to seem like such a loner, sitting outside on the porch or in front of the shed all alone. Maybe she didn’t really want all that alone time after all, but just wanted a little male shih tzu companionship.

I admit that my shih tzus are what people would call “beggars.” We feed them people food that we think is good for them or at least don’t think is bad for dogs. When we don’t feed them, the shih tzus sit and watch us eat. I admit that I eat in the kitchen sometimes to avoid those four sets of shih tzu eyes. Today, I had cinnamon toast in the kitchen. When I came and sat down, Dottie came very close and sniffed my breath, verifying that I was holding out on them. I made it up to the shih tzus later by giving them a small piece of bologna at lunch and giving Nigel some of my apple. I gave the shih tzu sisters one of their apple and chicken dog treats. Flower was happy with me, because she jumped up to see me afterwards.

Flowerlicious

Flower and Candy came and sat in front of my computer before John left. He decided to attempt to pet Flower and she didn’t run! Our progress is inch by inch, but it is progress.

Since Flower and John had a bonding moment, I decided to give her the remaining supermarket bone. They come five in a pack, at five dollars each, and I only ever buy one pack at a time, so there is always one bone left over. Flower was on her couch, so I smuggled it to her. I knew Nigel couldn’t get it from there, since at least so far, he can’t jump up on the couch.

I was looking at Flower on the red blanket on her couch and a new nickname came to mind: Flowerlicious. I don’t know why that popped into my mind. Maybe I read something about Fergie “Fergalicious” recently.

Flowerlicious has been a sassy shih tzu today. She gave Dottie some of her own medicine. She growled at her when she came up to the couch wanting me to help her up. Later, she sauntered over to Nigel’s bed, examined his loot and stole a retriever roll, although she had her own on her couch. Her stash on her throne prompted all the shih tzus to come see what she might be hiding.

Flower was sniffing around the dining room table this afternoon, standing up on her back legs and trying to access what was on top. I realized I had a treat bag there, so I moved it, even though I didn’t think there was a way to reach it. Actually, she could reach it, but I believe only if I left a chair out, because I’ve seen that happen when some foster doggies visited the house.

Flower took a jousting turn with Candy’s boy toy this afternoon. I looked down and saw her slide across the hardwood floor, at Nigel’s prompting. Candy wandered over to the couch while Nigel and Flower were playing, and I reached down to pet her. While I was doing that, Nigel and Flower play fought their way over to where we were. Flower left Nigel alone for a second to bite my hand, and Nigel promptly started biting Candy’s tail. Pretty soon, they were biting each other’s faces. Ouch. That always looks like it hurts. Fun at the Shih Tzu Madhouse!

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Shih Tzu Day 78: Love Fest For the Shih Tzus

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Di Freeze

stubborn shih tzus

John tried to get the shih tzus to go outside when he got up this morning, but they wouldn’t budge. I got up an hour later, at 6:30, and escorted the shih tzus, dancing outside my door, downstairs.

I love our playtime in the morning. The shih tzus jump up and down excitedly outside the door. I reach my hand down, and each of them vies to play with it. Candy clamps down with her teeth, until I pull it away, and then Dottie and Flower grab it, mouthing it gently. Then, the cycle begins. Once we have played a few minutes at the top of the stairs, I tell them it’s time to go downstairs. The shih tzus run down as I walk, turning every now and then to run up a few steps, and then turning around again, to run down a few steps until we get to the bottom.

Once at the bottom, the hand game starts again. Here, though, the shih tzus try to grab my toes with their mouth, too. Lately, Flower grabs my hand, or foot, and then jumps up on the couch to gnaw on one of their Oinkies, and then jumps back down to join the fun.

It rained last night, so I could’t sit down on one of the chairs. I fed the shih tzus and came inside, leaving them outside to play and do their business.

the possessive shih tzu

Dottie continues to be a possessive dog. Flower came and put her paws on the couch this afternoon, and Dottie, in their corner, ran over and crowded in. Later, I visited Shih Tzu Central with the idea of picking up Flower, and Dottie ran over and stood in front of Flower. I petted Dottie, picked up Flower, and put her on the couch on the non-Dottie side. Dottie came to the couch, and I helped her up. She tried to crawl over my lap, but I figured she was going to try to shoo Flower away, so I kept her on her side.

shih tzu love fest

I got back about 7:00 p.m. from picking up Spot Collins at the Denver Dumb Friends League and taking him to Mom’s. John got home a little later. After we ate, I decided to try an experiment — a love fest.

A lot of people try to keep their dogs off the couch, for one reason or another. We, however, are constantly trying to get our shih tzus to be couch dogs. Of course, Dottie eagerly sits by me, and Flower visits from time to time. She visits less now than she did, but I do believe it’s because of Dottie. Over the last ten weeks, Candy has only jumped up on the couch when I was there once, when something frightened her. She jumps up regularly after we go to bed, because I have caught her when I’ve come downstairs at an unexpected time. She just doesn’t jump up on the couch when the humans are up and about.

<u srcset= shih tzus on a couch.” width=”300″ height=”199″ />I went and got Flower from Shih Tzu Central and sat her on the couch, but she wouldn’t stay for longer than a few minutes. Then, I got Candy and put her on the couch between myself and John. She lay down and put her paw on my leg and seemed fine. After being there about a minute, she slowly raised her head, gazed into my eyes, and then slowly lowered it again.

Candy seemed cozy next to John, so I went back and got Flower from their corner, lay down on her couch and held her on my stomach. She relaxed a little while I petted her head and her ears and rubbed her tummy. While I was on the couch with Miss Flower, Candy didn’t move away from John.

I tease John because I have slim fingers and small hands, and I always tell him his “fat hands” are better for massages. I asked him to give Candy his fat hand massage, and he complied, rubbing her face and tummy and massaging her back.

While we were with Candy and Flower, Dottie sat on her end of the couch, watching what was going on. After I thought Flower had received enough love, I brought her back to Shih Tzu Central and went and spent time with Dottie. I’m not sure how much Candy and Flower enjoyed it, but I like to think they did and I plan to schedule regular love fests.

Shih Tzu Day 68: Furry Alarm Clocks

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Di Freeze

furry shih tzu alarm clock switch

Although I felt sorry for our little shih tzu princesses, we did something last night to try to keep the furry alarm clocks from waking us up at 4:00 a.m. We shut our bedroom door and the bathroom door, so they couldn’t come up to the bed.

That isn’t as easy as it sounds. I personally love the jingling sound of their dog tags as they fly up the stairs, and the scratching of little paws on the bed. However, I would love to sleep in for once. I guess many people would say you sacrifice that right when you get pets. I just want to know if all dogs get up as early as our shih tzus.

<u srcset= shih tzu face off” width=”300″ height=”225″ />I heard the frantic barking at 4:00 a.m., and was tempted to get up. How can I train them to not wake us up so early, though, if I do that? Intermittently, I heard barking and whining, until I got up at about 6:30. I think that Dottie and Flower were outside our bedroom door, while Candy barked from downstairs, asking her sister shih tzus what was taking them so long to get us up. Flower and Dottie flung themselves at me excitedly when I finally opened the door, and Candy joined the celebration once we came downstairs. That’s good, since I thought the shih tzus would all be mad at me.

I can’t say that we caused this whacky schedule. At the foster home where the shih tzus lived before coming here, the man went to work at 4:00, so I imagine they got used to that schedule. I would just like to know how to get the shih tzus un-used to it and on our clock.

It also doesn’t help that they get a treat almost every time that they go out, which makes them feel cheated when they don’t. That means that when I try to get them to go out merely to do their business, I’m not successful. I need to quickly learn some training habits before they get any older and more set in their ways!

time out

Last summer, I rode my bike nearly every day, and John and I made long bike trips on the weekend. However, this summer has been devoted to our adopted dogs. This morning, however, we made a three-hour, 30-mile journey. We came home tired, knees aching, and all we wanted to do was sit on the couch.

The shih tzus didn’t mind the lazy afternoon, once they got their sweet potato and chicken treats. Flower and Candy mainly lounged in their dog beds, while Dottie rested beside her mom.

Same Shih Tzu, Different Day

Journal of Three Former Puppy Mill Mothers / Shih Tzu Sisters … and Nigel

Category Archives: Furry Alarm Clocks Candy Committee & Morning Rituals