True Colors

After about 2 months of living with E, he finally figured out my colors.

At first he thought that I was black with white on the chest and chin (tuxedo pattern) and gold on the head. Then he thought that my fur was banding (gold-tipped, then black, then white or gold).

Well, today, upon close inspection of my coat (right after taking a bath), he finally found out that I have black topcoat and white/gold undercoat).


The undercoat is most apparent at the back (due to parting of hair). My undercoat is about an inch of gold and white hairs.

I would look much different when given a puppy cut. I'll be mostly gold with black and white.

KING, the sweet one.

Near E's Crotch

Sometimes, E sits on the floor and plays with us. Here are two pictures where we are near E's crotch:

KING: I was bending my neck so I can look into the camera.


KYLIE: It may look like I was smelling E's crotch but I'm actually not. I'm just hiding from the camera (and the white light that usually flashes from it). Enough pictures already!



KING, the sweet one, and KYLIE, the beautiful.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie (or Sleep in Whatever Position They Like)

As dogs, we spend the better part of the day sleeping or napping.

We normally sleep either on our side or on our tummy. Sometimes, we sleep or nap in other positions:

KING: I sometimes sleep in this position. It keeps my tummy cool and E can scratch my tummy easier.


KYLIE: I was just napping in this picture. I'm not sure if I can sleep in this position for long (imagine the stiff neck on waking up!).



KYLIE, the beautiful, and KING, the sweet one.

P.S., As we have said in several of our previous posts, E has already dismantled this playpen since we were housetrained (well, mostly housetrained). E also learned that sleeping and standing on wire flooring is bad for our paws, our backs and our skin.

Playing with a No-Name "Dog"

E gave us another "dog" to play with.

This dog is a big dog. S/He looks like a dog but somehow, s/he doesn't smell like a dog.

Like, Kata, s/he's very quiet. S/He only moves when E pats him/her in the neck.

These are our pictures. I am more interested in playing with this "dog" than King is (King doesn't seem to like playing with other dogs - only with me).




Here is a video of me playing with no-name dog. S/He's very calm and doesn't respond to my play invitations.



KYLIE, the beautiful

Give Me Human Food!

Ever since E gave me some corned beef (he gave it to me since I was not eating my normal dog food), I've always wanted to eat other human food.

Sometimes, E gave me pieces of cooked eggs or pieces of cheese. I eat all that E gives (since King just smells and ignores human food).

Do I smell human food?


Please give me some of that delicious-smelling chicken. Please....


KYLIE, the beautiful.

I'm Four Months Too - King

Today is my fourth month birthday anniversary!

This is my picture to show you that I can take great pictures too!



(Well, I'm still not used to being photographed. I usually look up or down whenever E shoots a picture. For this photo, E has to hold Kylie in his lap so I would look up and into the camera).

KING, the sweet one.

Picture Update

Here is our picture after we took a bath last Saturday.

Hmmm, my fur is not looking so great but I am still pretty photogenic (King still camera shy).



Since you rarely see pictures of King, I'm including these two pictures. I'm not very good looking in these pics but I'm still better looking than King (whose was bending down on one pic that his hair covers his eyes, and who seems to be smelling something in the air in the other pic).




KYLIE, the beautiful

I Turn 4 Months Today! - Kylie

Today I turn 4 months!

So just to remind everyone of how cute and adorable I was (and still am), here is one of my recent pics:



KYLIE, the beautiful.

The Big Yellow Pillow Part 2

In my previous post, I related about how I conquered the big yellow pillow E gave us (which he put in the living room).

E leaves us contained in his bedroom when he leaves the house (so we are closer to the balcony where we poop and pee) and he also contains us in the bedroom at night (E says for the same poop/pee reason, but I think E just wants us close at night just in case he gets lonely). When I staked my claim to this pillow, I didn't get the time to do it properly (as it was sleeptime and we went to E's bedroom).

Well, last night, while we were playing, I found my chance to properly take full dog-legal possesion of my pillow. I peed on it.

When E saw how I marked my dominion, he immediately got the pillow and put it on a chair (too high for us to reach). I'm pretty sure it will completely disappear from us in a day or two.

What was he thinking? Didn't he know that by peeing on it, I am marking my doggy territory? That by peeing on the pillow I am sending a message to King (and to all those dogs who may visit) that this pillow is off limits without my permission?

If humans marks their conquest by putting a flag on it (as Sir Edmund Hillary did when he climbed Mt. Everest and went to both poles), we dogs mark our territory by peeing.

Oh well, I guess humans will never really like our pee (and poop for that matter). I guess this will forever be a communication barriers between humans and dogs.

Here's a photo of me inspecting my new dominion. (If you look closer, you can see King being a mere spectator).




KYLIE, the beautiful

P.S., I'm pretty sure that Sir Edmund Hillary also peed at the summit of Mt. Everest and on the two poles

Begging to be Let Out

Before, E puts us in our playpen (where we don't usually play). Since we have already learned where to poop and pee, E has already dismantled this pen and let us roam around the house (or his bedroom when he is away).

This is me looking very cute, begging to be let out:



Me: How can you put such a cute dog in a playpen?

KYLIE, the beautiful

The Heat

As shih tzus, we are prone to heatstroke. We have short-snouts which impairs our ability to regulate heat effectively (through panting). Because of this, we need to be in a cool place most of the time, especially since we have thick double coats and since our ancestors came from Tibet and China.

E is very much aware of this, hence, he let us lie on the cool floor. He even leaves the electric fan on whenever he leaves the house.

This is me looking at an electric fan.


What is that thing going round and round inside this box?

KING, the sweet one.

Thank You for Following!

Kylie and I would like to thank our first ever follower, Mr. Felix Bricia, a friend of E.

Thank you for following and we hope you will not be our first, last and only follower.

Also, E told us to encourage you to get a dog so we can schedule playdates. GET A DOG! GET A DOG! GET A DOG!

Again, thank you!

KING, the sweet one.

The Big Yellow Pillow

E gave us a big (and I mean big) pillow last night.

Upon E setting down the pillow, I immediately took possession of this large yellow pillow.



I allow King up on the pillow...



but I want this pillow for myself (look at me triumphantly staking my claim to this pillow).



However, we do not want to sleep on this pillow most of the time. We like sleeping on the cement floor since it is cooler.

KYLIE, the beautiful.

P.S., E thinks that the food stains in the fur around my nose is not good for my beauty. He wipes it with a tear stain remover everynight (only 2 nights so far).

The Top Knot Saga

We have been waiting for our proper top knot. As shih tzus, we believe it is our right to get a proper top knot.

Here is E's first try on giving us a top knot (August 7). He's not yet trained and we are still uncomfortable on him combing and tying the hair above our eyes.



Not so good I must admit (and where's my other eye?)

Last August 9, he tried again. This time to prevent us from moving around, he wrapped us in a towel with all our feet inside.

I don't move around when we are training E to give us top knots. King moved around so much that E just had to give up. So only I was given a topknot (slightly better but still needs more practice). Here I am wrapped in a towel with my second topknot:



Last Monday (August 16), E finally figured that our top hair is still too short to give us one topknot. So based on what he saw on the internet (bless the internet), he gave King and I two topknots (one each above our eyes).



Much better. We like it so much better than the previous ones that King and I decided to both look in the camera at the same time.

We hope we can train E to give us good topknots (the kind that showdogs get).

KYLIE, the beautiful

Weird Things

JULY 17, 2010

Weird and strange things happened today.

As usual, E left in the morning to go to work.

In the afternoon, a lot of water came down from the sky (we see through the open bedroom/balcony door) and there were flashes of light with weird loud noises. We'll we are brave shih tzus and we did not get scared.

When E came home, he was wet. His pants were wet, his clothes were wet and his shoes were wet. Did he take a bath in the falling water from the sky?

During the night, E looks restless and seems to be twitching his nose. Is he smelling our poop and pee? Well, apparently, the smell was too strong for him that he got up from his bed, got the mop out and the red plastic thingy (where Kylie was first placed) and put some soapy water.

What's stranger, he moved our playpen to the living room when he cleaned the floor of the bedroom. He even cleaned the base of the electric fan (where Kylie is peeing when E is not looking). He even moved TV rack.

When he finished cleaning the bedroom floor, he put us inside our crate (the one he uses when he brings us to our vet). The strangest thing is that he proceeded to dismantle our playpen and eating area! Where are we going to eat, drink and sometimes pee!

We were quiet expecting that we'll be going somewhere. But it seemed we were not going anywhere, he put the crate on top of our grooming pedestal and proceeded on cleaning the living room floor with the soapy water. We waited for him to get dressed and take us out but he never did.

We even waited while he cleaned our poop in the balcony. Still we're not going anywhere.

After all this. He wiped his perspiration with a towel (not OUR towel, he has his own towels and we do have several towel all to ourselves). He then put the crate down on the bedroom floor (I can smell the rubbing alcohol he used on the floor - makes me sneeze!).

It seemed like he was going to sleep and he forgot to let us out of the crate!!! Is he going to let us sleep here?

Kylie seemed apathetic to where we are and just laid down. I, on the other hand, cannot bear to sleep in this small cramped crate (after all, I already spent more than a week inside a cage in the pet shop). I scratched and scratched the crate until finally he let us out.

We laid down very near the bedroom door as this is where the odor of the rubbing alcohol is weakest (he closed the door so we couldn't go to the living room).

He didn't put up our playpen again. Where will we eat and drink?

Oh, and by the way, here's a picture of us inside our playpen (which really isn't a playpen since we don't play that much when we're inside it (no room to run and run).



KING, the sweet one.

K&K in T-Shirts

AUGUST 10, 2010

E bought us some shirts! Don't we look soooo adorable with our shirts on?




Mine says "Bad Hair Day", which I don't think really applies since most of the days, I've got nice hair (especially after E brushes my coat). I love the color! I just wish King wouldn't bite my shirt.


King's says "Superdog". Well, nothing really super about him. But I must admit that he, too, looks cute in this shirt.

KYLIE, the beautiful

(P.S. - E cropped the picture as he did not like the way he looked in them)

Playing in the Rain

JULY 13, 2010

Whenever E leaves home (he says for work), he usually leaves the dog to the balcony open so we can wee and poop outside.

On July 13, there was rain and King and I decided to play in the rain. Well, it was only Tuesday and our next bath would be on Saturday so we decided to relieve ourselves of the heat.

After playing in the rain (which was a lot of fun), we played inside the house near the stairs. Since we played rough, Kylie fell to the first step down on the stairs. Good thing, she did not fall further.

Here is our picture when E got home:



We look like "askal" (asong kalye - street dogs), especially Kylie since her coat is cottony (which clumps easily) and the white color shows whatever dirt she rolled in while wet.

E gave us a bath which restored our beauty. Don't we look cute?





KING, the sweet one

King, a Pet Shop Boy

JULY 3, 2010

Hi, I'm King. I was bought by E from a pet shop in Cartimar.

I remember very little of my life before E. I also remember little of my litter-siblings or my mother. I don't even know if I have seen my father. When I about 2 months old, I was brought to Cartimar. I think sometime before I was brought to Cartimar, I had a wound or infection near my tail, hence, I had a small bald spot at the base of my tail (which thankfully is now gone).

I have a love-hate relationship with Cartimar. On the one hand, there are lots and lots of dogs (mostly shih tzu). But on the other hand, there were so many of us that we don't get much attention. Also, most of us were put in separate cages so we really couldn't play. We can just see each other and bark at each other.

One good thing is there were also many people looking at us that sometimes it gets confusing who our human is. There were at least two humans in the pet shop where I came from. One is sort of the pack leader of the humans there as he gives orders to the other one. The other guy cleans our cages and sometimes combs our hair to make as presentable. He says he needs to make us look cute so other humans can bring us to their homes. Well, I did try my best to look cute so I can find a home immediately.

The worst part is, we were left alone at night in our cages in the pet shop. Nobody to bark at if we need something. What if something bad happens to the place? What will happen to us? I can't bear to think if there is a fire there, we will be toasted dogs.

Anyway, I tried my best to look cute and about a week after i was brought there, E looked at me and liked me (I think he fell in love with my black coat with tuxedo patterns). He bought me and took me home inside a small carboard box. During the taxi ride, I kept panting as it is a little bit hot. But more importantly, I was anxious what my life will be life under E.

We reached his home and I smelled and spotted another dog. She (I can tell by the smell) is another shih tzu but she has white, brown and black coat. We smelled each other and she tried to play with me but I'm still too anxious to play. I just put my head on E's legs trying to find out if I can dominate him. He wouldn't let me and instead urged me to play with the female dog (which he calls Kylie). I played with her a little but kept to myself.

This is my first solo (well almost solo) picture that E took of me. The sort of blurry hamster/guinea-pig-looking thing behind me is Kylie, trying to smell me.



Then, a strange thing happens. E took Kylie and went up the stairs. They were gone for quite sometime. I got more anxious. Was E trying to kill and eat Kylie? (Well eating us dogs is kinda rare now and would he paid a large sum of money to buy and eat us when he could get a very sumptuous feast with the money? Well, you can never tell).

After a while, they went down the stairs and Kylie looks damp. She was wrapped with a towel. E then brushed her hair and she looked nicer after that. I smelled her and she smelled nicer, not doggie nice but I guess human-nice. E then took me upstairs and doused my beautiful coat with water. He then put this soapy bubbly liquid in my coat and massaged it to me. He then rinsed the soapy liquid and wrapped me in a towel. Downstairs, he did the same thing to me as he did to Kylie. Boy do I smell human-nice!

After that, I got more confident that E will not do bad things to me and I played and played with Kylie. We played rough and she doesn't seem to want to play rough. (After a month, Kylie plays rougher than me and she's almost always on top when we play).

E also brought out food for both of us to eat. Look at us drinking. And look at all the wee on the floor (we were not yet housetrained that time).



It has been more than a month now and I'm quite happy living with E and Kylie.

* * * * *

Oh, and the main reason E bought me was because Kylie gets lonely whenever E has to leave everyday. Well, I showed Kylie that I'm such a good playmate and I showed E that I'm much more than a companion for Kylie, I'm a sweet adorable puppy too.

* * * * *

KING, the sweet one

Kata, My First Playmate

JUNE 28, 2010

Before came along, I was lonely whenever E leaves the house. He gave me Kata.



Kata looks like a dog (actually s/he sort of looks like a shih tzu puppy) but s/he doesn't smell like a dog (because he lacks a dog smell, I don't know if Kata is a he or a she). S/He doesn't bark, he only moves when I or E touches him. S/He doesn't even yelp even when I bit him. And bit him/her did I, s/he lost both of her eyebrows and most of her fur.

E tells me that this dog-looking thing is named by his officemates. They named her after another officemate whose mouth seems to be always open (bad case of underbite - in shih tzu it can look cute but doesn't really look nice on humans).

When King came, E took him/her away. I don't really mind since King is a better playmate (though he sometimes plays rough).

I wonder where Kata is?

KYLIE, the beautiful

Kylie Meeting E

JUNE 26, 2010

This post is about the first time I met E. Before E, I was living with my doggie mother, another mother and father (my breeder) and their kids. Alas I never met my father. E tells me that my mother was brought by my breeder to a place where she (my doggie mother) was impregnated. My breeder tells E that my father is a small (they say imperial shih tzu). Maybe that's why the eldest in our litter is quite small (at 2 1/2 months, she's half my size).

My breeders have lots of kids and they like play with us. However, I noticed that first one of my littermates was gone, then another. I wondered where they went?

On June 26 afternoon, E got me from my breeder and her family. The kids were sad, I was too.

E brought me to his apartment (just above my breeder's apartment) and put me in a red round container with doormat and a piece of silky fabric.

He took these pictures using his camera phone.







Ain't I cute? Because of the black stripes above my eyes (which sort of formed eyebrows), E thought that I looked like Madonna (circa Material Girl moments).

That first time, I was curious about this new home. I was looking and looking and looking at his room. I even climbed out of this red plastic thingy (E learned that such a small thing cannot contain a phenomenal beauty.) I didn't cry that first night or the following nights since somehow, I can smell my former humans (they're just downstairs after all).

Oh, and what happened to that circular red plastic container? Well, sometimes E uses it to put soapy water when he's mopping the floor (he hates the smell of our poo and pee).

KYLIE, the beautiful

Our First Meeting

JULY 3, 2010

These are our very first pictures when King and I met.

At first I was surprised to see another dog. Finally a playmate!





I smelled King and tried to play with him but he wanted nothing to do with me at first. All he wanted was to lie down with his face on E's legs. But after E has given both of us a bath, he went crazy and played rough with me. Good thing I'm not a damsel-dog-in-distress type of a female - I can take him!

This is our very first video.



Well, this all happened on July 3, 2010. The day E brought King home and exactly a week since E got me from my breeder (E's landlady).

KYLIE, the beautiful

Getting our Vaccination

JULY 14, 2010

Today, King and I, with E, of course, went to our vet in Tiendesitas. Our usual lady doctor was not there so her associate guy doctor served us.

We went there to get our third shot (actually my third shot plus rabies vaccine but I think this is King's fourth shot if his vaccination book is to be believed).

The assistant in the clinic had a hard time finding our records since the last assistant did not put our files in the correct alphabetical place. E forgot our vaccination book. He put it in his black backpack he takes when he leaves everyday but he forgot to bring that bag (talk about senior moment!).

Anyway, before the vaccination, we were weighed first. I weighed 2.4 kg (up from 2 kg two weeks ago. King weighed 2.55 kg (he weighed 2.2 kg last time). He's always been fat one.

So here we are on the vet's table before vaccination. I'm looking at our records - curious to know what is there. The black-dish-rag-looking thing behind me is actually King.



Well, the vaccination went uneventful. I had this sort of flat raised thing under the skin where one of the vaccine was injected. (We received two shots - one 5-in-1 and another for rabies).

There were so many dogs in Tiendesitas. They are in cages and play pens. We wanted to stop and play with them but E went only to ask about (and point at) this funny looking dog (She's got the sort of color similar to what E drinks hot). E calls him a poodle and the saleslady says he's standard size - don't really know what that means. We did not get to play with other dogs.

KYLIE, the beautiful.

* * * * *

Well, Kylie, I do not look like a dish rag. I sort of look like fur, the expensive kind that ladies on TV put around their shoulders. And I look like that because my head is down low so my eyes cannot be seen.

Oh! And I'm not fat! I'm just heavier because I'm male.

Also, when we were vaccinated, I took both shots like a man (well, actually like a dog!) while you made some small racket when you got your shots.

Remember last time when we were vaccinated, you got a lump near the place where you were injected (a week after the injection) and E got scared? Well, he eventually found out it's related to the injection and eventually goes away (I'm glad it's smaller now).

Regarding the poodle, I think E's planning to get us a playmate (but she looks bigger than us). I hope she's not bossy. You being bossy is sometimes too much for me.

KING, the sweet one.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog. This is about our life in a city in a third world country.

We are both shih tzus and we live somewhere in Makati City (Philippines). I am Kylie. I am the tri-color shih tzu (white, brown and black). My playmate is King (black, white and gold). We live with our human, which we shall call E.

We hope you enjoy our blog!

KYLIE, the beautiful, and KING, the sweet one.