SCHIZ IS 7 ! ! ! !

Schiz is seven years old today! We've come a long way, baby. Schiz was more-or-less a puppy-mill dog. From an indiscriminate breeder. A skank!

I've kept a "baby book" on Schiz since the day I got her. She was 5 months and 1 day old when she came to me. I worked with a guy "whose mother raises show quality Shih tzus... but once in awhile if she had one that wasn't show quality she'd place it in a home." BS! The son told me that there were 21 dogs in her kitchen.

Schiz came to me "sight unseen" for $50 from Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. No pictures were ever sent, even though I had requested them several times. I knew she didn't have a full mask so I began to look in a psychology book for "split personality"..etc. A line from the book was something like "a lot of people confuse split personality with schizophrenia because the Greek verb 'schizo' means to split or separate." Thus she became Schizo.

She's "pet quality" at best. She still has front dewclaws and doesn't quite fit the AKC standard. She DOES have coat...she has three times what she needs. She can DO full Shih tzu look with hair! But don't you even think about no ugly topknot...won't happen!

Anyway..at five months, she'd never been held. Scared her to death to be picked up. She'd never been outside on grass...freaked her out. She was stained with urine and feces half way up on her body...with large chunks of hair cut out (assuming to remove clumps of ???.) She was in dire need of a lot of love and a lot of socialization. She didn't pick her tail up over her back for several days.

Day Two was a trip to my veterinarian. He saw no problem with the unmasked eye. No sign of parasites, worms, or fleas. He even commented that she was a "caged pup...needs lots of love."

Day Three was a bath. She did not like it at all. She hated the hair dryer even more and I wound up letting her pretty much air-dry because I was afraid she'd have a heart attack she was so panicky. She also hated the vacumn sweeper...anything that made noise scared her to pieces.

Great neighbors with a super little dog named Wally...and Schiz was socialized and IN LOVE! These two dogs played together everyday..sometimes all day long. Great buddies! Schiz became a completely different dog.

Today...just mention "sweeper" and she'll beat you to the closet. She loves it...well, what she actually loves is the yellow feather duster that hooks to the sweeper. While running the sweeper I have to say "move...move...move it" several times usually.

She the best, most perfect house-broken dog I've ever had. I think she decided she'd waded around in that stuff long enough and she is VERY good about getting the message to you when she needs to go out.

Schiz is super spoiled. Barks too much. Somewhat picky eater (wonder why?) She recognizes vehicles..just tell her who's expected and she'll watch for that person. She won't bark until the right car gets here...they don't have to be in the driveway..just on the street...she knows! She's still not tremendously fond of being picked up (but it happens several times a day...she just doesn't totally relax into it)...but she totally understands "smoochies"; however, she prefers I get down on the floor (or chair) to provide smoochies. She won't sleep on the bed. I think she gets too hot. She sleeps on the floor. Yes, she has a little bed....sometimes she'll even sleep fairly close to it. She sleeps on the floor.







But...she OWNS this chair and this window:











"Did you say candy for my birthday?"






Yeah...this is Schiz on her 7th birthday...happy, outgoing (OMG!), loves everybody and pretty much everything. She's even beginning to like Bandit...the little black/white mentioned in an earlier blog. She actually played with him a few days ago...it could happen!!! (Clairification: "It" means play...both dogs have been altered.)


Happy Birthday, Schizzy! You're my Sweetpea and I love you dearly!!! Happy, happy birthday!


Yeah...she IS one of my blessings. Don't forget to count yours!