Nappy at the doggie park

Many dog owners have told me in the past, to take my dog to the doggie park so that he can get used to other dogs. I kept putting it off; most likely babying him than “manning him up” as my daughters would tell me. I always found an excuse for not taking him. Sometimes it would either be too much work and other times it was just pure laziness. In the meantime, Nappy, my little shih tzu, would become more and more scared of the other dogs in the neighborhood. While the other dogs would come to him to play, he would hide behind my legs, or run into the front door of the house, trying to get inside.

So one October day, I decided to take him to the doggie park. Both my husband and I got in the car with Nappy in the back seat. He was so excited going out, he didn’t know what was coming.

We arrived at the doggie park and saw an abundance of dogs running around and playing with each other. The owners let them off the leash and the dogs ran and drooled and roughed it with the other dogs. There were not that many dogs Nappy’s size. Most of them were labs, great Danes and a couple of medium sized dogs. There was one particular bulldog, a bit larger than Nappy, who wouldn’t leave Nappy alone. It was a cute bulldog named Bubbles that suited him just fine. We kept Nappy on a leash, afraid that the dogs will come after him and he will run and hide in some bushes. We just didn’t want to lose him. Even though the park was fenced, there were trees and high bushes, that you couldn’t get through if your dog went there.

We walked the whole park area with Nappy along with us. We let the other dogs come and sniff him, and Nappy, of course, would try to run away from them. We petted the other dogs trying to show him that we liked them, so that he will get acquainted with them. Alas, no luck. Especially, when Bubbles, the bulldog, tried to play with him, Nappy tried to hide behind my legs, wrapping the length of the leash around them. I have to admit, though that Bubbles was the cutest bulldog I had ever seen. He was not too big, but not too small either. He was solid and definitely not a lap dog like Nappy.

We didn’t stay at the park too long. We noticed that Nappy was getting anxious to leave (if you can believe that). Yes, as soon as we began walking towards the exit of the park, he walked, practically ran as far as the leash would take him, to the exit. We knew that he had enough and since it was his first time at the park, we didn’t want to push it. We wanted to be able to bring him back.

I am not sure if that park though, was the right park for Nappy. A few days later, while I was having lunch with one of my friends, I mentioned to her about the doggie park and she agreed with me that the dogs there are too big to take a dog like Nappy. So I think I will settle in taking him at other parks where there are not any dogs, and let him run around without his leash. This way he feels free and he can get his exercise.

Nappy and the Evil Bunny

Sometime ago, I found the stuffed bunny that we had given to my daughter many years ago on Easter. Well, she is much older now, and she doesn’t need a bunny to keep her company, so she left it behind when she moved out. One day as I was cleaning up her old room, I found the bunny and wondered why she left it behind. So I called her and asked her. She replied to me by saying: “That ugly bunny? I don’t want it.” I never thought that the bunny was ugly. So I brought it up and put it in the living room. I thought I’d let my dog play with it, but not in a rough way. The bunny can stay on the couch in the living room and my dog can sit either next to it, or just stare at it. It would be like it’s his buddy.

The days have gone by and the bunny sat on the couch, while my dog, Nappy, would either jump on the couch and sit next to it, or at other times would bark at it. At other times, Nappy would pull the bunny on the floor and get rough with it. The bunny is much bigger than Nappy, so you can imagine how it looks when Nappy puts the bunny on the floor and starts barking at it, or tries to pull it and drag it in the family room. On numerous occasions, I didn’t let my dog pull the bunny on the floor, so finally Nappy realized that the bunny was to just sit on the couch.

One morning, this past summer, I sat Nappy next to the bunny and took a few pictures. He just sat there content, sitting next to his buddy, the one that doesn’t bark or say anything, but just sits there. He reclined on the bunny’s lap and let me take the pictures.

As I look back at these pictures now, I realize what my daughter meant by saying the bunny was ugly. The bunny has this evil smile on his face and I can’t help thinking, how did I ever think it was cute. Looking at these pictures with Nappy, I can’t help thinking that the bunny wants to do some harm to the dog. No wonder, in the beginning when I sat the bunny on the couch, Nappy began barking at it. Of course, the bunny is not evil, only looks evil. With a great imagination we can all come up with a story about the evil bunny. But all is in good humor and we can’t possibly have Chucky the evil bunny.

The bunny still sits in my living room, just moved from the couch to the love seat. Nappy will jump occasionally to the love seat, sniff the bunny and he might sit next to it, until we realize that he is there and we‘ll call him to get down. Nappy feels content having a buddy – even though it’s almost twice his size – which just sits there and keeps him company, quietly.

When I decided to get a dog, I thought it would be a nice way for me to begin walking. Little did I know that Shih Tzu’s are not too crazy about walking. I didn’t want a dog that would run me out, but a dog where we can walk at a normal pace or walk as far as I want to walk, not as far as the dog wants to walk.

When Nappy was young I didn’t take him for walks. I waited till he became a year old before I started walking with him. In the beginning we would go just for short walks, so that he can get acquainted with the area and the fact that he is walking on a leash. Eventually, we started walking further, and further. But I always took those walks one step at a time. One day we would walk for 20 minutes, the next for 25 and so on.

Now that he is 3 years old, I am trying to walk with him for about a mile. In the winter I don’t take him walking, because it’s too cold, and besides I don’t even want to go for a walk let alone the dog. But when spring comes and the weather becomes warmer, we start walking slowly in the beginning, and gradually we walk a little further. When it’s too hot outside I still don’t take him for walks because he starts panting and I don’t want to overexert him.

Last Tuesday was a perfect day for a walk. The sun was shining there was a slight breeze and the temperature was in the high 60’s, low 70’s. It was a perfect day for a walk. The last time we went walking was a week before that and we walked for almost a mile. After about a week I thought that he would be ready for another long walk.

We didn’t even walk half a mile and he put his brakes on. Of course, during the course of this short walk, he stopped, sniffed every bush, every wild flower and every tree trunk in his way. I tried to pull him from the leash to go on, but he turned around and started walking back, pulling me with the leash. As if telling me “That’s enough, I want to go back home.” Finally, I gave in, since I saw that he was panting and his tongue was hanging out. I even picked him up and carried him half the way back. He weighs about 16 pounds. While I was carrying him he was very quiet and content. He didn’t even make a move showing that he might want to get off my arms, or show that he is uncomfortable.

We finally arrived home and as soon as he saw our house he started running towards the front yard. He didn’t even stop. He ran straight where the garage door is and waited for me to open it so that he can go inside. Once inside the house he went straight into his drinking bowl, drank as much water as he could handle, which within minutes he brought up (shih tzus are quite aggressive when it comes to drinking water and eating the foods they like, so it’s a good idea to give them everything in small portions), and then he plopped himself on the floor, all sprawled out to rest. I guess that was it for the walk of the week.

When I take my little Napster for walks, it usually takes him a couple of days to recover. He will sleep for the rest of the day and night, and will even feel tired the next day. As much as I like to take him for walks and keep him exercised I don’t overdo it with him, because I know how tired he gets.

The funny thing about this little guy is that he thinks he is human. He didn’t want to go any further and that was it. He stopped and started walking back. He definitely knows what he wants and likes. I tell the story to my friends and laugh about it, (it’s like having a child and brag about something they have done), but I am amazed at how smart they are. I read a lot about shih tzus and what fast learners they are, but I never thought that they would be this smart.

I am glad to have him as a company and laughable companion. Pretty soon I think he will start talking to me. (Really!).

Nappy – The Shih Tzu version of Lawrence of Arabia

“It is so warm and sunny here. I can walk on the beach without my leash. I can run up and down, back and forth to my mama and papa. I feel free. I am going for a walk every day, I play outside every day, and I get treats just for doing that. This is so much fun. If I feel warm, I can just run in the water and get cool. This water tastes kind of funny though. It makes me thirsty after I drink some. But it cools me off when I wet my paws. Oooops that big wave came and almost took me all the way in. I am not going back in there. I am just going to run in the sand and stay close to my mama.”

Well, this is what I think Nappy (my little white shih tzu) thought of our trip to Gulf Shores Alabama, last month.

This was the second time that we took Nappy on a road trip with us. When the day comes that we prepare for the trip, you know that he knows something is up. He is looking at us, as if telling us, that we had better not leave without him. If he could talk and think he would tell us what to take with us for him to play, or better yet, he would be getting his own suitcase ready for the trip. When the morning of the trip came, and saw our suitcases piled by the back door, he knew something was going on. But when we put his harness and his leash on, he was literally jumping up and down from joy. We couldn’t hold him back in the house to get the rest of our stuff before all three of us piled in the car. He was so excited and happy. He rushed to do his business, and ran back to the car, not the passenger side door, but the back door of the car where we usually let him sit when we take him for rides. I find it amazing of how much, just a little dog, can absorb after being with us for almost three years.

From what I have heard from other dog owners, some dogs have a hard time when they are traveling. That is not the case with Nappy. He is quite the traveling dog. He adjusts quite easily being in the car for hours. He sleeps most of the time during the trip. He might wake up and stand up on his hind legs to look out the window, just to see what’s going on, how come we slowed down, and why we disturbed his sleep, but then he will curl up at the corner of the back seat and fall asleep. Other times he will just lay on the seat and stare straight at us, knowing that we are in front of him; as if making sure that we are not going anywhere without him. Of course, these road trips are quite a treat for him, because he eats quite well.

Since he was a puppy, I gave him boiled chicken breast, per the vet’s instructions, so that he can grow strong. Ever since, he loves chicken. Therefore, when I cook it for us, I will cook a piece of chicken breast for him also. On this road trip, I made sure that I cooked some chicken, chopped it up in tiny little pieces, put them in ziplog bags, and kept them in the cooler. When we would stop and eat ourselves, I would take a bag, pour the chicken contents in his bowl and he will be in his glory. This way I knew that he would be eating something, since I noticed that he wouldn’t eat his regular dog food on a road trip at other times. Even though dog experts say not to feed your dog if you are going for long trips, just in case they get motion sickness, I decided against it. I felt more comfortable by giving him something. Of course, I made sure that he also drank plenty of water, and spent about half hour after his meal with a nice long walk so that he can digest and do his business.

When we first arrived at the condo, we weren’t sure how he would react to the beach and the new environment. He walked in every room, sniffed every corner, and then settled on the couch. The complex we were staying, allowed small dogs only, and since the owner of the condo had a small dog, we felt more comfortable being there with Nappy.

From the moment we took him for a walk on the beach, I knew he was in his glory. I noticed how much he loved the beach, the freedom he had to run without his leash. I saw him smiling, if dogs do actually smile, running back and forth, ahead of me, behind me, getting wet in the water, sampling it, sneezing and looking surprised as if wondering why it tasted funny. He made sure though that he stayed close to us. In the beginning, we were afraid to let him run without his leash, thinking that he might run away. But he didn’t. He ran just far enough, making sure that he can still see us. Like a toddler, staying close to his parents.

We spent a week in Gulf Shores, and I knew that Nappy missed the beach when we came back. If it was meant to be a vacation for us, it was definitely a vacation for Nappy. Ahh, it’s a dog’s life. In my next life, I want to come back as a shih tzu.

Just a note: In some of the pictures, you will notice that he has squatted down on the sand. That’s when he reminded me of the camels in the movie “Lawrence of Arabia,” thus the title of this article.