Finally a day in a park

It's finally not over 90 degrees and the doggies get to walk around the park.  Lilo definitely misses all the car rides.  Last summer, we hit the park at least twice a month.  This summer, we've only been there once. 


Lilo riding in the car.  Sitting at her usual spot of course, perfect block to the rear view mirror.  Good job Lilo!


Must be something interesting over there.


Gizmo and his gigantic tongue! 


This is June, our foster dog with Schnauzer Rescue of the Mid Atlantic.  Her first time out in the park with us.  Pretty happy girl.  (we put ribbons around her neck, in case you wonder)


Trying to make all three dogs walk in the same horizontal plane.  Obviously failed.



All three dogs resting a bit before we walk on again.

Gizmo and the A/C vent

I may look stupid, but I'm totally not! Guess what I found out last week??? C'mon, make a guess!

I discovered the wonder of air vent. The record heat waves in the east coast have been driving Lilo and I crazy. After all, we are the ones walking outside with thick coat of hair on. One day last week, I came home from walking, so so hot! Panting excessively! Then suddenly, I felt this cool breeze from the floor. I followed the breeze to an air vent, and I sat on top of it. Wooohoo! Nice and cool!

Gizmo and June playing...kinda

June the miniature schnazuer, is our latest foster dog. Despite being roughly the same age as Gizmo, Gizmo was totally nervous about her, not to mention about playing. Poor Gizmo, tail down, spent the entire time running away. And Lilo simply wanted to be no part of this. Too funny!

He has a cute face

So I did Gizmo's hair today because I couldn't stand his messy hair anymore. It stinks. Anyway, we can now see his cute face. =]

Bed is broken

The bed that my sister Claire and Cameron bought on Saturday is already broken. Gizmo chewed on it downstairs while everyone was upstairs doing stuff.


He chewed through the zipper and went into the inside bed.


Claire is trying to fix the bed.


It couldn't even be zipped up. This is unbelievable.

Gizmo's signature & New bed pictures

Gizmo has been to our family for 4 months now, but I hadn't made him an electronic signature. I'm very very sorry about that. Now, I finally made him one. Since Gizmo is black and white, I used black for his signature. Here it is.





Okay. Claire and Cameron bought Lilo and Gizmo a bed yesterday. I'm going to post some pictures of them sleeping together.



Lilo enjoys having the whole bed by herself.



They are struggling to get to the most comfortable spot.



After all the struggle, Lilo just lays down there, not interested in the camera at all, while Gizmo looks at the camera and smiles.

New Bed

Here's Gizmo blogging!  Claire and Cameron brought home a new bed.  It's HUGE, both Lilo and I could fit on it.  (I guess that really doesn't mean much b/c Lilo and I sleep in the same crate sometimes)  But it really is huge.  It's green and brown color, circular bed, yin-yang design.  It matches the rest of the furniture in the living room.  (not that I really care about matching, but the family does) 

It's a lot more comfy if only ONE of us sleeps on it, stretch out right in the middle :)  so Lilo and I take turns.  Sometimes we snuggle with each other.  The family tried to make us to curl up in the yin yang shape, yeah, you guess it, they took pictures of us. So I guess I will have to hunt down those pics to put on this blog. 

*Gizmo

Park Day!

Today is park day!  Yay!
Cameron and Claire took Gizmo and I to the park this morning.  The weather forecast says rain and thunderstorm all weekend.  It was nice of them to get up early and took us out for a nice long walk.  I have to say, I'm quite out of shape.  We usually walk at least one full loop around the park, longer distance when Mickey was around.  (He was so overweight and we had to help him lose a few pounds so he could get adopted.)  Today, we only did 1/2 the loop, and I was panting quite a bit.  I blame it on this winter's multiple snow storms. 


Hello everyone, here's Gizmo blogging.
Today, I went to this place and walked very far.  Lilo said it was a park.  I don't know what park means.  But it was very exciting, with all the smells, people, and lots of walking.  I love walking and running, and playing with Lilo while running.  Claire and Cameron get annoy when I do that.  hehe!  But it's so exciting to be outside and rolling around on the grass.

I still hate riding in the car.  I don't like it!  I spent half a day in a crate with my sister, inside a van, along with 30+ other dogs, traveling from South Carolina to D.C.  NOT A FUN RIDE!  all the barking and darkness.  Too stressful!  So yea, it will take me some time to adjust. 

Alright, gotta go now!
*Gizmo*
(Karen has yet to make me an electronic signature)

Geisha Girl - Adopted!

The latest shih tzu renter is finally leaving.  Congrats to her!  (and to me and Gizmo.) 
The whole family has been paying so much attention to Geisha Girl, Gizmo and I felt very neglected.  Now we can run freely in circles without being chastised by Mother Geisha.


I hope Claire doesn't bring home another dog any time soon. 

New Foster - Geisha Girl

We picked up a new foster pup on April 10th from Lucky Dog Animal Rescue.

Geisha Girl is a 6-year-old black shih tzu.  She is rescued from a backyard breeder in South Carolina.  Currently weighs 6.6 lbs, she needs to gain a few pounds!  My estimate is that she would be around 10lb once she is no longer malnourished. 
She only has a few teeth left since she didn't received proper vet care at the breeder.   But that does not stop her from eating.  Geisha Girl is capable of crunching hard food.  (although I have been soaking her food in water during the past few days). 

She is a cutie.  Check out Lucky Dog's website for more info on the adoption process. 

From Lilo The Shih Tzu

Gizmo and His New Discovery...

Gizmo is such a funny dog!  He made a new discovery about our spray bottle.  When I brush him or Lilo, I use the spray bottle to wet their hair a little, to make brushing less painful for them.  Also, with spring's arrival, we started growing yellow peppers from seeds, which we use the spray bottle to water as well.  (You can read more about our garden here:  http://cookingpossibilities.blogspot.com/)

So now, Gizmo prefers to drink out of the spray bottle than the bowl on the floor.  lol  too funny!

Farewell Lucky!

Lucky went to his permanent home yesterday.  He was a great doggie and our family enjoyed our one week with him.  I was sad to see him go, especially when he gave you that "why are you leaving me behind?" look when we dropped him off.  But he now has a huge yard to run in, rooming with a similar size black and white shih tzu sister, and a nice doggie neighbor :)

Gizmo was very sad to see him go as well.  Lucky helped build up Gizmo's courage with other dogs.  At first, Gizmo tucked his tail and was snappy towards Lucky.  After three days, they chased each other in circles and played crazy! 

Lilo on the other hand was quite happy.  She now has Gizmo all to herself.  When Lucky and Gizmo play, they were very focused on each other.  Lilo wanted to join in a few times but was ignored.  So I'm sure she is quite happy to get to play with Gizmo again.  Hehe!


Kudos to Lucky Dog Animal Rescue!  They offer us many opportunities to help other shih tzu's.  (we just love that breed!)  Along with meeting other big dogs at the weekly adoption events. 

Little Lucky and Gizmo

Little Lucky is the biggest among the three of us.  He is so playful and keeps trying to play with Gizmo.  We haven't had any foster ever since Gizmo moved in.  So he is not used to having other dogs around besides me.  I, on the other hand, ignores all the incoming dogs.  If I decide to like them, I will play with them more in a week or so.  (Just like what I did with Gizmo) 

I guess Lucky thinks he and Gizmo are long lost family members...since they are both black and white, despite the size difference.   

Little Lucky - The Foster

We have been holding off from fostering since we had just adopted Gizmo in January, and wanted to give him enough time to adjust.  (he is finally house trained after 10 weeks!  yay!) 

But Mirah asked us if we could foster a shih tzu after Sunday's adoption event.  How could you say no to a shih tzu?!  So we took Little Lucky home yesterday.

Lucky is such a sweetie.  He was definitely a house pet before.  I wonder how he made his way to the shelter.

He knows his name Lucky, and some basic commands, like sit, no, drop it, off and come.  What a smart little guy.  He seems house trained and definitely crate trained.  He is super friendly and playful, loves squeaky toys.  The only time he barks is when people leave the house. 
Would you provide Little Lucky a forever home?  Check him out on petfinder!

http://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/15993788?recno=17

Herbie Update!

Herbie Update!

Claire and Cameron told me the story of Herbie.  He had a few rough months living in the wild in Virginia.  His former family left him behind when they were forced to move.  Herbie was also attacked by other dogs when living on the streets.  But he survived the attacks and multiple snow storms here in the mid-atlantic region.  Herbie eventually made his way to Lucky Dog Animal Rescue.  He is now recovering and rehabilitating so that he can find a family to provide him a safe place to live and never be left behind again!

Check out his blog here at
http://healingherbie.blogspot.com/

Herbie along with many other dogs need your kindness.  Please consider adopting from your local rescue groups.  Both Gizmo and I are rescues.  (If you live in MD / DC / VA areas, check out my links on the right on this web site.) 




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My Lucky Days

When Karen is in rush to leave the house for school, she forgets to push her dining chair in.  Those are my lucky days!  I would jump on the chair when no one is looking.  Open the curtains with my paws.  Spend a few hours staring out of the window.  I love looking out of the window.  Nothing really happens outside, until the mail truck comes.  Our kitchen window has the perfect view of the community mailboxes.  I would bark at the postman, just to say hi, you know.  Gotta have proper manner to be a good canine citizen!

Then my next round of excitement comes at around 3pm, when the school bus arrives and kids walk down the side walk.  That's also the time Cameron kicks me off the chair.  He says I am being loud and barky.  ::sigh:: I go back to laying on the floor.

We're tech-savvy dogs!

Gizmo and I are very technologically advanced dogs!  Just this past weekend, we spent some time with Claire and Karen's mom, half way around the world in Hong Kong, through web cam.  Maybe one day, we will get to meet her in person. 

I have been doing this for quite some time now, so I would say I'm pretty good at this web cam stuff.  But this was Gizmo first time.  After some much needed training, Gizmo took over the computer.

 

Me training Gizmo how to work the computer.  First we positioned ourselves so both of us fit in the view of webcam.  

Gizmo graduated from intro to webcam class and took over the keyboard.

Tug of War

Lilo and Gizmo love to play tug of wars.

Best Buddies

Lilo and Gizmo's friendship update:
After living under the same roof for 7 weeks, they now share Lilo's apartment. 

We are so grateful to have Gizmo in our family.  He is such a funny dog.  His tongue is too big for his mouth, he snores while awake, he loves ice cubes despite all the shivering.  When you talk to him, he always tilts his head.  What a cute face! 

Lilo and Gizmo play every day.  The only other dogs Lilo played with were Cody (bichon across the street) and Angel (mini poodle in my neighborhood).  Even though we live on the same street, we don't always see each other.  And Lilo didn't have much luck playing with our mini schnauzer fosters.  They simply weren't interested in Lilo.  I'm glad we finally find a dog that Lilo likes and enjoys being around. 

Spa Day

Spa day doesn't sound as good as you think.  I absolutely hate getting baths.  I think Gizmo feels the same too.  Gizmo finally got his first bath after moving into this house.  I heard him sobbing in the bathtub, while I waited unwillingly for my turn. 

Here's the routine, Claire gave us baths, dried us off, opened the bathroom door, we chased each other down the stairs, ran in circles for like 30 minutes.  Then the brushing began.

Claire brushed Gizmo for almost an hour.  He had a lot of mattes.  But now he is all soft and fluffy!  My hair was in a lot better condition, so my brushing session was a lot shorter in comparison. 

The worst part about spa day is the coldness.  My hair takes forever to dry, so I'm cold for hours.  And today, the sun only came out for a short period of time.  So that didn't help.  Even with blankets wrapped around me, I still shivered. 

At least now we are all clean, no more dirty paws from all the salt and snow on the ground (until we go out for our evening walk).

Taking a nap after very exhausting brushing sessions!  Gizmo stayed close to keep me warm. 

Tunnel?!

Ever since flyball training ended in December, I have been bored out of my mind lately.  Claire finally came up with some new things to challenge my mind!  Plus, it's just nice that she is paying attention to me, and me only, not Gizmo!!!  (Lilo is still a little jealous of Gizmo.)

Ok, this new thing is called tunnel.  All I need to do is run through a tunnel, sounds simple, huh?!  Well, it's really not that simple.  I'm not too fond of going through enclosed area.  Unlike some of my terrier friends, they love going through tunnels in order to dig out rodents and kill them.  I certainly do not have that instinct in me, so it makes the learning process more challenging.  And there is just so much static between my long hair and the tunnel, I simply don't look good with all my hair standing straight up!

So, where this whole tunnel idea come from, you may ask.  I think Claire has been thinking about teaching me to run through a tunnel for a while.  She saw some dog agility shows on TV, did some research on equipments, found out the expensive price tag, and shelved the idea.  But I guess she is always in search for substitutes.  She spotted a play tunnel at the kids section of IKEA, and quickly made the purchase.  It's just a straight popped up tunnel, about the length of a couch.  (The technical term would an open tunnel)  So it's a little shorter than the ones used in agility shows.  But it will do for now until I fully understand the purpose of tunnels.

I'm very much food motivated, so as long as I get a treat, I will do it!
(Claire will do the rest of commenting for this post)




Ok, so I have the tunnel out sitting around for a few days, just to get Lilo used to it.  For the first few days, she didn't really go through it.  I tried to set her up on one end, and gave her a pad on the behind.  But she ran right around the outside to the other end. 

I crawled through the tunnel once myself, just to show Lilo it was fun and caused no harm.
I also set her up in the middle of the tunnel, so she would only have to run through half of it.  Now, she is no longer afraid of the tunnel and I start to perfect her skill.

We put some treats in a small clear tupperware.  We've been using that tiny container to store treats for training related activities during the past year.  So Lilo knows yummy food is inside. 

I know you can't really see the other end of the tunnel (sorry for my poor picture taking skills).  Cameron is holding the container I mentioned above.  See Lilo's undivided attention on that container?

Cameron tossed the container across the tunnel.  You can see the lid of the container on the bottom right hand corner of this pic.  And take a look at Lilo's eyes in this pic, very focused on the container. 

Through the tunnel she ran!  Just to chase after the food :)  Once she came through, I opened the container and gave her a treat and told her "good tunnel" 

I'm using Tunnel as the command for this activity.  This exercise is more effective if you have two people on each end of the tunnel.  It's easier for the dog to understand what is expected of her, since you're not setting her up on one end, running along side so you can get to the other end to reward her - if she runs through that is.  This adds to the distraction while your dog is learning a new skill. 

We do this for about 5-10 minutes a day.  And I always end the training before Lilo loses interest, so then next time I set up the tunnel, she will stay interested.  Lilo is getting better at this.  Our goal is to have her run through without us tossing the treats. 

-Claire

Lilo and Gizmo are getting along

Still remember Lilo and Gizmo's relationship a week ago? Lilo was trying as hard as she could to hide from Gizmo. Now, Lilo and Gizmo seem like they are getting along. They play for a little bit every day. It first looks so scary to me. I always thought that they were fighting, but they were just playing. I now really love watching them play. It's so entertaining.

Gizmo's Progress

Gizmo has been living with us for 2 weeks now, and we still have a lot to work on.  

He is not totally house-broken yet.  He is pretty good on the most part.  He didn't have any accident for the first week we had him.  The rawhide may have upset his stomach, and he started going inside last Sunday.  Good thing it was during the MLK long weekend, so I had more time to attend to him.  We now make sure he is always within sight, and take him out 4 times a day now.  When his tummy feels a little better, we will begin to reduce the frequency.  The vet said everything is fine, and everything tested negative for him.  His sister Lucy (formerly known as Jill) is having trouble as well. 

Gizmo is definitely getting more comfortable about his new home.  He learned to climb the stairs (I taught him by pulling him gently with his leash on), and there was just no return.  Now, every time someone walks upstairs, he follows.  Sometimes I wish he isn't running up and down all the time.  When I first got Lilo, she wasn't allow upstairs.  And now, she doesn't go up except for bed time. 

My New Friend - Gizmo

My family decided that I'm too lonesome for being the only dog, so they got this tiny shih tzu - Gizmo - as my playmate.  It has been a week now, and I'm still adjusting to this little dog.  Ever since Mickey - my mini schnazuer friend left in early December, I have been enjoying being the only dog, getting all the attention.

Gizmo is quite a cute dog, very petite in size...pressuring me to skip a meal here and there so I can keep my body shape in line.  ::sigh::  it's too much competition.  But I think things will get better.  Today, we played some while walking, and chased each other around the house.  At least our play style is similar.  I tried playing with my schnauzer friends before, but they didn't seem to like the way I play.

My family found this funny, and I certainly disagree.  I was hiding underneath a small table, trying to stay away from Gizmo.  They were shocked that I could fit my body in that tiny space.

More not-so-funny picture :-/

Jill and Gizmo (formerly Jack)

We fostered a very cute shih tzu for 2 days.  Jill, along with her brother Jack, were rescued from a kill shelter in South Carolina.  They rode a van from South Carolina into DC on Saturday, Jan 9th.

She is such a cutie!  Her brother is just as cute...and...we decided to adopt him.  We have been thinking about getting another shih tzu for almost a year, but they are pretty hard to find.  (Actually, there is a shih tzu rescue in Virginia, but I don't think they EVER want to adopt their dogs out.  I applied for a one-eyed dog last year, and that dog is still out on petfinder.com today!)

We renamed him Gizmo.   For two days, we were calling him "no name".  The two of them bonded to each other.  They spent the whole day licking and cuddling with each other.  It was very sad to separate them.  Luckily, Jill's new home is really close by, so they can still see each other if both families are ok to meet.

Here's a picture of Jill in our kitchen.  She is TINY!  weighing only 8 pounds.  What a cute monkey-face :)

Lilo and Jill resting on the couch together.  Lilo was excited to meet Jill and wanted to play, but Jill was unsure about this GIANT dog.  lol  (Lilo is only 13-lb)

Gizmo and Jill laying on the same pillow.

The East Coast Snow Storm of 2009

Let's face it, I really do not enjoy snow, especially when it is almost 2 feet tall.
I didn't know what to do for a long time.  It was white everywhere, I couldn't see very far, couldn't smell anything.  I was having such a hard time locating a good bathroom spot.  It was way too cold outside, I froze within a minute of leaving the house.

Claire finally just shoveled out our immediate neighbor's walkway, to connect with the other two neighbors' walkway, to essentially make a small canal.  Then Claire chased after me, back and forth in front of our group of four townhouses to get my exercise in since we couldn't walk very far. 

Lilo is BIG

I would never think Lilo is big before. She is always the smallest dog around other dogs. But my thought has changed since our new foster dog Jill came. Jill is so tiny with only 8 pounds of weight. Compare to Jill, Lilo does look kind of BIG. XD (The little white dog back there is Jill)

The Nice Doctor

Claire found me a very nice vet through her co-worker's recommendation.  Dunloggin Animal Hospital is located less than a 5-minute drive from our house.  Despite the fact that I hate those metal examination tables, everyone treated me very well.  I got all my shots and tests done yesterday without a lot of discomforts.  In the past, I got upset stomach and muscle pains after shots.

The great thing about this vet is that they do everything in front of my family.  No more taking me to the backroom to get blood samples.  Sorry Petsmart, but your pet hospital sucks. Your vets told me not to jump on furniture, or climb the stairs.  I may be a 13-lb shih tzu, but I am fully capable of moving and jumping around.  (I took flyball class and was doing just fine!)  And about my hair, Claire takes good care of me, with regular bathing and brushing.  And I get professionally groomed every few months.  (I don't like those grooming places b/c I always end up being separated from my family for 3-4 hours!)

I highly recommand Dunloggin Animal Hospital if you live in Ellicott City area of Maryland.  And their pricing is on the cheaper side. 

I am a semi-flyball material!

I proved to the world, or rather, my flyball teachers and classmates, that I am a POTENTIAL flyball material!

After a month of intensive training with Claire, I am more willing to chase after the ball and bring it back some...not all the way, just some. In today's class, I ran after the ball and brought it back a few times. Everyone was amazed at my progress. And Claire would no longer be ashamed of my inability to play with a tennis ball in front of everyone. I also did great with the hurdles, jumping two hurdles in a row for a few times. But I was a little out of shape today. After all, I thought flyball classes were over since we haven't been there for a full month.

I'm so proud of myself. I hope people would change their views about toy dogs. We are very capable of doing things if you humans would train us! I'm so thankful that my family values my companionship and tries very hard to keep me active and challenge me to learn new tricks.

Christmas time is here...

Watching the Charlie Brown Christmas every year is becoming a tradition in my household, esp the scene where Snoopy boos Charlie Brown. What a great human-dog relationship?! I wish I can boo Claire sometimes too.

We finally put up and decorated our tree. Underneath the tree is now my favorite spot. I love to lay on the tree skirt, bury my toys there, chew on my Minnie Mouse stocking. I can't wait for Christmas Day. I wonder if I would get anything from my wish list. I know they have it in the house. I see them in the pantry...