Monday, February 20, 2006

Jewel and Willow Go To Poulsbo

Yesterday we took Jewel and Willow to our friends in Poulsbo. Poulsbo is a rural town, so the girls had lots of room to run and play. At first Jewel played fetch and Willow chewed whatever, but later in the day Jewel fetched and Willow chased. I haven't seen them run so hard in so long. Jewel, of course, graceful as a bunny. Willow hobbled to catch up, but she is getting faster. Watching them run, you could really see their Shih Tzuness because of their longer hair.

Willow saw her first horses.

They were two lots over, but Willow sat and barked at them for quite a while. (video coming soon)

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Growing up


Play Mom!



I LOVE you Momma!



Willow on my knee: Lookee Momma! I got the ball!




Girls and Daddy: Jewel



Girls and Daddy: Willow



Girls feasting on carrot tops, YUM!


They're getting so big! I try not to look at their 'baby pictures,' rather I imagine they haven't grown at all. I think their long bone growth has levelled off, and Willow's turning into a little fatty, so I'm starting to restrict them by not refilling their food during the day. I imagine I'll be feeding them separately to control portions since Willow either eats way more than Jewel, or Jewel's got a killer metabolism, because she's still lean and mean.

I've totally spoiled them. I haven't stayed on Willow's case for potty training and she just does whatever in her favorite spots. I did so well with Jewel, I don't know why I'm so lazy with Willow.

The next thing is spaying them, since they're 5 months (WHAT!?!?) old now. I think I want to trim Willow's weight down a little first: she's got a buddha belly!

Willow talks all the time. I want up, I want down, I want that, Jewel took my chewy, I want my Daddy, I wanna go outside... Her vocal inflections crack me up everyday. They both have their play growls: I don't know quite how to describe them: but their like little motors running with occasional squeaks and yips. Willow also bays occasionally, like a beagle.

They are growing more beautiful everyday, too. As far as their coats go, if I have to have them clipped when they blow their puppy coats I'm going to just eat my head. There's this shih tzu group that Dot's mom participates in that I read and there are so many people talking about their matted dogs and some didn't know it!
I just don't get it (All in due course, I suppose). I brush them both daily (Jewel loooooooooves it) and you can either see their skin or not, right?

Their expressions are also developing. Willow's had a bit of a strabismus (googely eye) but it seems to be going away: she's looking at me straight on with both eyes. I think it's in part because her eyes are relatively wide-set.

Jewel has lion-set eyes: they are closer together and look straight on. Her eye sight is very keen and I think the forward set orientation is part of what makes her so crazy about chasing and fetching as well as her speed and agility. (You'd think I was talking about a Rhoades scholar)

Their play is getting more complicated. In addition to their wrestling, Willow saunters around baiting Jewel who crouches not unlike a cat and pounces her. Willow also runs around telling Jewel 'Chase me! Chase Me! Betcha can't catch me!' and Jewel whines and whimpers as she chases her around the couch.
It's absolutely hilarious!!

They've also taken to sniffing each others' butts, so I think they may be reaching puberty.

Willow's lower front teeth are in, I just noticed Jewel's gums are irritated in places. I don't brush their teeth (they gnaw on lots of carrots) which are enviously white and I honestly don't know if it's the growing teeth (lots of it!) or gingival disease. I just looked at Willow's and the only places her's are irritated are where the tooth buds are, so I'm not concerned for the time being.

Willow's got a visible underbite now.

Jewel pulled Willow's hair-do off 3 times this morning. BAD puppy. Momma wants to see her pretty eyes.
Willow begs relentlessly whenever I'm in the kitchen. They don't really know to beg when we're at the table.

We've gotten rid of the puppy condo. It's NIIIIICE to have our living room back. We woke up to 3 poops on paper, one pee on and one off. Daddy's not happy. He doesn't realize that at least the pees are happening in the SAME places, so it's less floor to fix.
(Daddy LOVES to complain about the state of the floor. Mom says to shut up, there's nothing to be done about it until we move so stop wasting your energy and my patience)

We got rid of the fake green grass out on the patio since they peed all over it and it reeked. I scrubbed the patio and laid 2 pads adjacent to each other and, wow, now they hit the pad out there everytime. What a concept.

We were in New York and Connecticut over the weekend (yes, during the 26 inches of snow fall in less than 24 hours) Here's what it looked like: We're at Ian's Uncle's place, here.
Before the snow...


After the snow...



Cottage before the snow...


Cottage where we stayed after the snow. Actually, I think that's the pool house.




Ian at Ground zero. Big construction hole in the ground. They're building a memorial park down in there.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Doin' it my way

Our babies enjoying the view...



It all started when Willow went out on her own to write poetry....



Our girls never cry when it's time to go to bed, they just drag themselves into their crate and plop down.



HOW-EV-ER, Willow has become quite vocal in the last week or so. She sits and SWEARS up and down that There's Something Out There (In all fairness, as Boyle often says, I did see a fat white cat with a gray tabby face staring at her from the fence yesterday)

She also started barking in the middle of the night. Bad dog. Bad bad puppy.
Last night we had a little bit of a reprieve, one of them just whined for a few seconds.
So, believe it or not, there would be benefits to having the pups sleep in our room, since they wouldn't whine if we were all in the same room, but it's the potty training thing.
I don't think we had any pee accidents yesterday: Willow still craps wherever she feels like it, Jewel gets it on a pad for the most part.



Daddy seeing what kind of trouble the girls are getting into...

I've started getting up and finishing sleeping on the couch with the pups it the morning rather than listening to Jewel whiiiiiiiiine. They LIKE this a WHOLE lot.

Willow wandered off and pooped in the bathroom, right by the toilet. Hmmm, maybe she's onto something....