Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, Dear Flower! Happy Birthday to You!
Flower is now 3 years old! This is Flower’s first birthday at her forever home. She spent her first birthday at a puppy mill and her second at a foster home.
So glad that Flower, Candy and I have a Forever Home together! Nigel too, although he didn’t come with us from the puppy mill!
Mom says she will have pictures later of our birthday party, including the homemade chicken jerky!!
I have been saying for months that I wanted to get the shih tzus personalized dog tags. When we adopted Candy, Flower and Dottie from BFF Rescue, they came with a generic red collar and tags saying BFF Rescue, with the animal rescue’s number. Nigel did too.
I didn’t think about it that often, but sometimes when I saw a tag in a picture, I would think that it looked like they were still rescue dogs, and not dogs that had found their forever home.
Buying tags — and collars to match — for four shih tzus is slightly more expensive than buying them for one dog, so I kept putting it off. Today was our wedding anniversary, and after we celebrated with a nice Italian lunch, we did some Christmas shopping for our furry children. John and I looked at PetSmart for tags, but I wasn’t that thrilled about any of them. We went into Petco and I liked their selection better. It took us a while to decide what we wanted, but I eventually got Flower a peace tag, Candy a princess tag, Dottie one with a crown and Nigel one that said “stud.” We picked out a purple collar decorated with flowers for Flower, a pink one with polka dots for Dottie, a black one with skulls for Nigel and a blue one with a pink, paisley design for Candy.
I know the dogs won’t understand the significance of personalized dog tags, but I am happy that we finally accomplished that task. Of course, I hope no one ever has to identify the shih tzus by their tags, but just in case.
The girls are celebrating their one-hundredth day at their forever home with us! I think we’ve come a long way. If I look back to the beginning and how they responded to me, after spending their life in a puppy mill, there has been vast improvement. They are also getting more used to John, especially Candy. The grooming has gotten easier. Potty training is going okay, but the lease walking still needs a lot of work. I can’t wait to see what the evaluation is after the shih tzus have been at their forever home for a year.
We left the dogs alone with various things to chew on for most of the morning, because John and I had errands to do. When I settled down to work this afternoon, Dottie came to the couch and waited until I picked her up, then sat beside me all afternoon, as usual. Nigel sat with us too.
Later, Nigel stayed outside with Candy for awhile. I was a little worried, since he is kind of rough and tumble, so I went to check on them. They were running around the yard together at a good speed. It looked like Candy might actually be having fun. I’m a little overprotective of her, but she wasn’t squeaking, yipping or yapping, so I went back inside.
Nigel continues to think that anything that the girls have belongs to him. When they aren’t at Shih Tzu Central, he goes and rounds up anything he can chew on that is lying around and takes it to his dog bed, or carries it to the door and if it is opens, runs outside and hides whatever he smuggled out. I haven’t yet come up with a way to prevent that from happening. I wish he’d start taking them things instead. Maybe then they would like him more.
We have been talking to Delores for a while about BFF Rescue finding Shiloh a more suitable dog foster home. I think that he would make someone a wonderful foster dog or “regular” dog. I don’t, however, think that we’re a good fit as dog foster parents for him.
Anyone who has come to visit over the three and a half weeks that Shiloh has been here has liked our foster dog. Everybody loves the fact that he is so playful. I like that he is playful, too, although I don’t like that the playfulness causes lots of scratches on my legs and arms.
This foster dog loves attention, and it is hard for me to divide my attention between the shih tzus and him. He also loves to ride in the car with me, but pet-friendly places are out, since he barks aggressively at other dogs. I like the fact that he wants to sleep with us, since the shih tzus haven’t shown that desire, but it does make for tension in the morning when I am trying to play with the shih tzus when they come upstairs and he jumps into the middle in his clumsy and playful way.
Delores agrees that the girls have waited for a good forever home for a while, and that things might be better without a foster dog around. She suggested we take him and another BFF Rescue foster dog, Oliver, to the farmers market in Golden and walk around, with the foster dogs in their “adopt me” harnesses, to see if anyone might be interested in adopting one of the rescue dogs.
It was a good idea, but Shiloh was the wrong foster dog to bring. He exhibited dog aggression, barking at random dogs. Delores suggested he might be barking at non-neutered dogs, and it did seem like that was mostly the case, although not all the time. We decided our foster dog wasn’t making many friends and ended up putting him in the car for a while. I think Lia is right in that Shiloh could benefit from discipline classes. Oliver, on the other hand, displayed a sweet disposition, and a few people stopped to inquire about him.
Being at the farmers market and seeing all of the amiable dogs wandering around made me more determined to teach the shih tzus to walk on a leash. I brought Dottie out back and put the leash on her. She did go a few steps, in her attempt to get away from me, and then fought me. Candy was next. She actually ran around the yard a little, again, trying to escape, but making me believe that she might be the first leash dog. If it had been cooler out, I would have tried a little more, but I thought that was enough practice for the day.
Since Candy was nicely groomed and all ready on her leash, I picked her up and carried her next door, where the neighbors were having a post-wedding party. I didn’t set her down on the ground while we were there, but I did keep her there for about ten minutes. She didn’t seem to be nervous or afraid. I set her down when we got ready to leave, and she trotted back home behind us. Too bad I didn’t have my camcorder or camera handy.
When we came back home, I noticed that we had a call. Delores had talked to another foster parent and she was willing to take Shiloh in for a while. She came by and picked him up at 6. She asked if she could take the safety gate back that we had taken from Barbara’s. We had hooked it to ours to keep the dogs from climbing up the landscaped area in back and getting out of the yard, but we realized that Shiloh was the only one who could or would try. We unhooked it and rearranged the fencing
When Delores left, John cooked up the rest of the steak from last night’s dinner and used it for quesadillas. We shared a little of it with Candy and Dottie. For some reason, Flower wouldn’t come to get any. She is acting afraid of John again. When he called them, they ran right to him; she ran out of their safe zone with them, but ran right past, and then turned around and ran back to Shih Tzu Central. Some times I wonder if she’s just a little bit off — in a very cute way, though.
I have known for a week that Delores and I would be discussing something very important today: adoption. She brought over the paperwork for me to sign after the visit to the vet.
Although it was a very momentous occasion to me, and the shih tzus — ! — things were a little too hectic at the house when I signed the papers to be able to pause and celebrate the moment.
First, when we got home, we let Shiloh out of the kennel, and she started roaming around the house. While she explored, Delores and I took Candy and Flower into the kitchen to give them a bath, blocking their exit with a baby gate. I couldn’t catch Flower right away, so we bathed Candy first. She was nervous, but she, like Dottie, she did fine. I was surprised that Flower did too. Both were very docile while wrapped in the towel for drying.
As soon as I let Candy go, she took the first opportunity to go and roll in the dirt in the garden.
Although Dottie and Candy mainly acted as if Shiloh wasn’t there, Flower looked at the intrusion differently. I was concerned when it looked fisticuffs was inevitable, but Delores thought they were just playing. I’m still not sure about that.
In the meantime, Peek-a-boo found a way to get up on the table, and decided to lounge there. Miss Muffett made herself at home on the couch. With so many canines in the house, I feebly asked her to get down, but then gave up.
When Delores asked if I was ready to sign the papers, transferring the shih tzus from BFF Rescue to us, I realized that I was. It was a big step — a lot bigger than being foster parents — but it was a step I was ready to take. I love these little ewok princesses!
As I looked over the paperwork she had brought with her, I noted their names: Dottie Rose Ann, sired by Ringo Boy Stein, and the dam, Kiyanne Rose Stein, on 9/17/2005; Frosty Iris Candy, also sired by Ringo Boy Stein, with dam Saki Grace Stein, on 4/30/2009; and Golden Flower, sired by Ringo Boy Stein (busy, busy boy!) and dam Sasa Nicole Stein.
I was happy! I was now the Forever Mom of three precious, although slightly dysfunctional, little girls!