Shih Tzu Day 66: Are We Moving Outside?

The Patio Looks Like Our Living Room

Sometimes it takes a along time to get Mom out of bed. Dottie and Flower went up to get her while I waited downstairs to surprise her at the steps. They didn’t come down until an hour later. I think it was a little after 6 o’clock.

Me and Flower wait for the Treat Man to give us a goodie. After Mom fed us, I stayed out in the yard to investigate. I love all the smells! There is a big building at the very end of the grass, and I like to go sit over there sometimes and just think about what I want to do next. I was sitting outside when I saw Mom bring our dog beds out onto the porch. I thought that was strange. Sometimes she takes our dog beds away and when she brings them back, they smell really pretty, but she never puts them outside. She also put our toy box out there, and some of our treats. I wondered if we were going to live out there.

Shih Tzu in front of a shed.After a little while, I heard that loud noise. It’s some machine she or the Treat Man pushes across the floor. When I hear it, I always run upstairs, but I was outside, so it was okay. Dottie and Flower came outside when the noise started, although they don’t mind it like I do. They didn’t stay outside with me all the time, though. Mom let them go in and out. I waited outside until I was sure the noise wasn’t coming back.

Shih tzu in front of a shed.Mom also brought something else outside. It’s a big, brown thing with a picture of a horse in the middle. I think I heard Mom say it’s a carpet. We like to sit on it and play on it or chew on our treats. I don’t think Mom knows, but we don’t always like to sit on that white square when we have to pee, so sometimes we just pee on it.

Mom and the Treat Man came out and I heard Mom say that it smelled really bad and she didn’t think it could go back inside. I wonder why she thinks it smells? It smells okay to me. They went back inside and called me to come in.

A little while later, someone knocked on the door. It was a male human. Dottie and Flower would have normally growled and barked, but he went right by us and sat down at the table with Mom and the Treat Man. They were eating something, but they didn’t offer us any.

After the other human left, Mom and the Treat Man came back outside. They put the carpet down on the porch. I sat on it for awhile. It was kind of fun. When we went outside and had treats later, the carpet was still there. Maybe it’s going to live outside, but it looks like we’ll still live inside, because Mom put our dog beds back inside.

Flower Had A Poopy Butt!

Shih tzu upside down on dog bed.Flower had to have a bath because she had a poopy butt. I don’t usually get a poopy butt, so I didn’t think they’d make me take a bath, but just in case, I went and sat in my corner in the dining room where it’s hard for them to see me. I couldn’t get to it for a while, because it was blocked off. We can also sit under the table again, but they moved that carpet outside too.

Flower always gets grumpy when she has a bath. Well, I do too. After her bath, Mom held her for a while. I was waiting to see if Mom was going to go and get that other thing that makes loud noise, that blows air at you, but she didn’t. Flower was lucky! I hate that thing!

Shih Tzu Day 57: Shih Tzu Askew

Lessons Not Learned

Mom calls this my "frog dog" position.John and I watched the first night of grooming class, since we were going to Lia’s this afternoon. We decided to trim Flower. Too bad we didn’t start with the paws and private areas. We started with the easy part, clipping the body and then switched to pulling hair out of her ears, which we accomplished.

She was doing so good that we decided to take her collar and leash off, to trim her neck better, but she got crazy, tried to jump off our makeshift grooming table, and succeeded.

We should have stopped there, but Cesar says to stop training sessions on your terms. I think that would include teaching them to be groomed. I tracked her down and put her collar and leash back on her. I should have probably just put her back up on the grooming table, but instead, I decided she could have another walking lesson.

She pulls out of all three harnesses we have, so the leash had to do. She wore herself out fighting John and then pulled out of her collar and scampered across the yard wildly for several minutes. I opened the door to lure her inside, but when she came in, she saw I had blocked her flight into the living room. She ran back outside and in several times, until finally she gave up, panting heavily.

John sat down by her on the porch and stayed there for several minutes. I went inside and cut up some hot dog pieces. She took them from me when they came in. She also came up to visit me on the couch several times, even after the grooming and leash incidences.  I think I should be the one to try to get her to walk next time. We might have better results, and John won’t look like he’s always the bad guy.

The Potty Patch

When I took back the last contraption I bought (Wee Wee On-Target Trainer) with the intention of house training the shih tzus, I asked the girl at PetSmart about the Potty Patch. The commercial says, “Is your house one big doggy bathroom?” Well, it seems like it is, so I was interested. This one looks like grass. A plastic tray sits on the floor, with some type of layer above that and a layer that looks like grass above that. It is supposed to make them think about the grass outside, I guess. I ended up buying one, hoping it would save on the cost of Wee-Wee pads and stop them from peeing on the carpet.

Since the girls continue to get us up early, and John is on vacation, we have been taking naps in the afternoon. For the most part, they let us sleep. Dottie came upstairs this afternoon and sat by the bed. She didn’t fight me when I picked her up and put her on it. She sat for a while and then lay down. When I woke up, she had jumped down.

The Independent Shih Tzu

Candy pauses on the communal doggy bed temporarily.Although Dottie was outside and saw the goings-on with Flower, Candy was upstairs in her room. She alternates between there and the corner in the dining room, but we had to take away her dining room option. We can’t do much about them tinkling on the living room carpet, but we decided to block off the dining room carpet by surrounding it with their plastic gate. That also blocked off one of Candy’s favorite spots, sorry to say.Since things are usually calm, unless we are trying to train someone, I don’t know why she feels the need to be alone so much. Is she trying to escape us and her sisters?

John has a theory that she chooses those places because they are probably cool, and it has been so hot this month, even with the swamp cooler. Also, there is a lamp that puts off quite a bit of heat near their corner in the living room. When she goes in the spare bedroom, she sits between the bed and the wall. John says she might like it there because the swamp cooler makes so much noise that she can’t hear anything else. She is so afraid of most noises, however, especially vacuums, that I would think she wouldn’t like the cooler noise. Maybe she is just used to it. When Candy did come downstairs, she went to her dining room corner and stayed there for a good part of the afternoon.

I have been wondering if I should move their beds to Candy’s dining room area, but that might prompt the other dogs to be more reclusive.

Shih Tzu Day 7: The Doggy Circus is in Town

You'd be having a bad hair day too!The shih tzu sisters have been doing great. We had Leticia and the grandchildren over all day Sunday. The dogs weren’t thrilled, but they didn’t seem traumatized.

We ate outside in the garage and let the children come in one by one to meet them. They behaved when Rema, Junior and Evita came in to meet them. They even came out into the room when Oriana was inside, but Flower did growl at Dulcea.

We were afraid how they would react badly to the Fourth of July activities, but they came through with flying colors. We tried to get them to go outside to do their business early in the evening, but fireworks went off and they scurried back inside. After that, we stayed inside and watched movies. They handled the gunshots and loud noises from “The Mechanic” well, so action movies shouldn’t be a problem. I think the noise on the TV blended in with the fireworks outside, so they were fine.

I saw you hide the chicken jerky!Candy did a little dance across the carpet last night that was adorable. I don’t know what it meant, but she sure is entertaining. They all dance around when I come downstairs in the morning, although they get serious when John appears. I know they will warm up to him, as soon as they realize he won’t hurt them.

When they continue to be most excited, however, is when they hear the Milo’s Kitchen bag rattling. Flower jumps around like a dancing horse and they all rush me. I’m not sure if that’s acceptable behavior, but I prefer them to be rambunctious over shaking in the corner of their exercise pen.

Don't even think you can jump higher than I can!Candy is pretty good about going outside willingly, but the other two still think they should do their business in the pen or on the carpet. I bought some training pads for them, but as soon as I put one down, Flower began wrestling with it.