Pets - Animals - Photo's - Health - Discussion

Sprite wrote:@HavaDrPepper He is a shih tzu. We suspect he may have been a puppy mill dog.

I thought I saw shih tzu but wasn't sure if he was a mixed breed dog.

I have a friend that has had multiple shih tzu's over the years.  Her first one "Boo Boo Bear" was a buddy to my Pepper back in 2000. Those 2 loved to play together but that stopped once I got Paige. Then a couple years later she took in a girl that belonged to a friend's elderly mother that could no longer take care of her.  I think in the last 20 years she has had 5 different ones.  2 died of old age and another one had an illness.  Not sure how the 4th one died.  But now she has Scudder who is a little pistol!

for you @Sprite for helping this little guy. Oh my gosh he's adorable! How old is he?

My 13 yr old ShihTzu when he was a pup, used to snap once in awhile if you were doing something he didn't want you to do. I think it's just their temperament because it didn't take long for me to train him to stop.

Every time I see dog pic's especially Shih Tzu's I want another one, but I'm not going to!

ETA: NM I read your story again, 8 yrs old. Precious!

@GuardianAngel In Winston's case it is more than just his temperament. We have all noticed that he reacts to being touched/brushed in the spots where he had open sores. We don't know how long he was in this state since he arrived that way and we know he had never been to the vet and had fleas and allergies which only aggravated one another. The other hot spot is his ears. Again we don't know how long that had been going on, but the head of our rescue who has been doing this for a very long time, said it was one of the worst ear infections she had ever seen. Poor guy had to be on medication and they had to sedate him to clear everything out.

He has had proper care for the last few months and they had been hoping that his skin would improve. It does look much better and nobody would ever know what he has been through just looking at him, but we think it was so bad, for so long, that it may never fully improve to the point that he is no longer sensitive in those spots.

I have a little muzzle for him when he needs his ears cleaned and has to be brushed. He has no issues with it. He is fine with me touching/petting him gently for short periods. Again, I am hoping with more time it will improve. It took years for him to get to that state and it may take years to fully heal. This is why it was hard for him to be adopted. He needed a home where he wouldn't be over stimulated by touch, no little kids and someone who has the knowledge and the patience not to need to be playing with him. I had already dealt with all of that when I adopted Macey over 10 years ago. She had been abused and didn't even let me touch her for over a year. She would stay in the same room, but as far away as she possibly could and now she is a cuddle bug. Fortunately Winston, even though he wasn't cared for very well, at least seemed to have been loved because he is very friendly. Hopefully with time and the proper care he will improve.

@Sprite poor little guy. Thanks for all the background info. Makes sense that he would not want to be touched in those sensitive spots. It's fantastic that he has no issues with you. That's a great start. With time he will improve I'm sure as he builds up his trust.

Is he still on raw and what kind do you buy?

@GuardianAngel Yes, he is still on raw. They determined that he is allergic to grains so no kibble or any raw animal that eats grain. Chicken, duck, pork, even some beef is fed corn, so by process of elimination lamb is the one for him.

ABCR works with Raw for Pets which is based in St. Thomas...about a 20 minute drive for me. You can buy in bulk and package it yourself or you can get the already packaged. The price varies depending on what you buy and the size. I don't have a ton of room to keep the big bulk so I got him the prepackaged 1 lb x 12. It ends up being around $80 with taxes and lasts for about 5 weeks. We have had a lot of success with it for our animals with allergies and they all just love it.

This is the first time I have ever fed raw and it isn't as much trouble as I had anticipated. It also makes for easy to clean stools!

@Sprite I should have started that long ago. I was told at the pet store since Louie is 13yrs old I shouldn't start now. He's perfectly fine, knock on wood, but with Shih Tzu's they tend to have skin issues. The older he gets, he's loosing fur and has the odd bump here and there. The vet said it's age, like brown spots on the elderly. It doesn't bother him at all. A friend of mine has two small dogs. That's all she's ever fed them. Their coat is remarkable. Thanks for the info!

This is the most sweetest thing I've ever seen!

It was a happy Christmas at a zoo in Valencia, Spain after Santa delivered gift boxes filled with treats for the animals.

ALSO SEE: https://t.co/AtljMr1pFy pic.twitter.com/5VwVFTgEvm

— Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) December 24, 2019

https://twitter.com/globalnews

Australian authorities airdropped thousands of pounds of sweet potatoes and carrots to ensure animals have enough to eat as bushfires continue to engulf the country https://t.co/rMqYWclU6o pic.twitter.com/KMogZpXIvZ

— Reuters (@Reuters) January 13, 2020

https://twitter.com/Reuters

For those who love dogs, I just found this show. Reality tv without the manufactured drama.

It is a series where the episode winners eventually compete for the top dog spot. A lot of them are law enforcement dogs, but they also seem to have regular dogs who do agility.

In my area it is on Wednesday nights on A&E.

https://www.aetv.com/shows/americas-top-dog

A very happy puppers!

golden retriever or kangaroo ?
(golden_george_ IG) pic.twitter.com/XpaOP22hZX

— Humor And Animals (@humorandanimals) January 14, 2020

golden retriever or kangaroo ?
(golden_george_ IG) pic.twitter.com/XpaOP22hZX

— Humor And Animals (@humorandanimals) January 14, 2020

Sprite wrote:For those who love dogs, I just found this show. Reality tv without the manufactured drama.

It is a series where the episode winners eventually compete for the top dog spot. A lot of them are law enforcement dogs, but they also seem to have regular dogs who do agility.

In my area it is on Wednesday nights on A&E.

https://www.aetv.com/shows/americas-top-dog

@Sprite I love this show. Most of them are so in tune with their dogs. The dogs are all so smart, too.

So cute!

Coco the Curious Corgi was snooping around in the snowfall in Woodstock, GA!

Anyone else's pets saw their first snowfall ever today in the Southeast? #snow pic.twitter.com/hqH35VLp85

— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) February 8, 2020

https://twitter.com/WeatherNation

Mum was fed up of the squirrels stealing all the bird food so she greased the feeder! pic.twitter.com/k2eAyqSWvK

— The Cute Plug (@TheCutePlug) February 11, 2020

https://twitter.com/TheCutePlug