Here and now...

Well, here we are in the present..July 2007. Life is always interesting in our house. I have recently being going through some depression and I can honestly say, these creatures heal my heart! There is nothing like coming home to unconditional love and affection. I hope we can eventually find another small Shih Tzu to breed Bailey to. I think she will be an excellent mother. And one more Shih Tzu in the house can't be bad. Cocoa has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. I will be sure and post more photos.

Some unflattering moments...

"I hate it when I have a bad hair day!"

"Man, that meatloaf was good while it lasted."

Bailey is 2 years old!!!

Happy birthday to me!!!

Cocoa is 2 years old!!!

Happy birthday to me!!

Now I lay me down to sleep...

Hoping no one makes a peep

Chasing cats in my dreams

I have the perfect life it seems

A happy dog for all to see

Don't you wish you were me!

Mr.CQ (canine quarterly)

Mike is always saying what a handsome devil Cocoa is. We get a lot of comments on him when we take him out. I think Bailey is a prettier Shih Tzu because she has the dainty facial features but it's Cocoa that people comment on. You go boy!!

The supermodel...

Bailey loves to pose for the camera. She's very photogenic, don't you agree?

Bailey turns 1 year old!!!

My sweet little girl is growing up. She just turned one year old. How time flies. She has turned out to be the most precious being that ever existed. She loves to lay in my lap and sleep. When I come in from work, she is so happy to see me. She nuzzles my face and gives lots of kisses.

Cocoa turns 1 year old!!!

Cocoa turned one year old on 08/11/05. We had a birthday party for him. They weren't crazy about the Sponge Bob birthday hats. Oh, how he has grown.

The nightmares of dog grooming

It still amazes me how you can have two dogs that are the same breed and yet they are so different. Take their hair for example. Cocoa's hair is course and never gets mats. Bailey has hair like a Maltese and it's silky fine. She is constantly getting mats that are next too impossible to get out. I would love to keep her hair long but that has turned out to be unrealistic. I'm not sure how many hours a day it would take to keep her hair mat free but it can't be done when working full time. Not too mention she hates being brushed. She is a tomboy and loves to roll on the floor and the couch after she eats, thus creating terrible mats. I have yet to find a suitable groomer. The one we currently use hates long hair and refuses to try to get mats out. Her solution, shave her. Which, I hate. Above is a picture of Bailey with long hair. She is so beautiful. Below is a picture of her after being groomed. Cocoa looks very handsome after his grooming.

Two spoiled babies...

Life settled into a routine. I did go full time at work but Cocoa now had Bailey to keep him company during the day. They played well together even though Cocoa was twice the size of Bailey. She was a tough little girl. It's funny how dogs will take on the personality of their owners. Cocoa is so much like my husband. He is laid back and nothing bothers him. He never meets a stranger. Bailey is like me...high strung and nervous when outside her domain. She has turned into the lap dog I always wanted. Cocoa is very hot natured and will not let you hold him for long.

Cocoa and Bailey meet...

Cocoa was turning out to be quite a large Shih Tzu. We were worried when we brought Bailey home that he might hurt her because she was so small. We had absolutely nothing to worry about. This little girl could hold her own!! She gave as good as she got. Of course Cocoa has a very friendly and gentle personality. I know he was happy to have a companion.

Cocoa was also a very quiet dog. He never barked. But, all that changed when Bailey entered the family. She barked at everything (thus, her name). Cocoa learned to follow suit.

A playmate for Cocoa...meet Bailey!!!

Since we couldn't live without Cocoa, we decided to give him a playmate to help pass the time while we were at work. We new we wanted a female in case we decided to have puppies.
Allow me to introduce you to Bailey's Affinity for Barking (very appropriately named). We bought her from a nice couple in Des Arc. As you can see, she was too young to bring home. So, once again we waited. We were still about a week away from picking her up when my husband received a call at work from her owner. He asked if we could come pick her up that night. She was the last of the litter to go and he could not keep her in one place. It was storming like crazy but we went and picked her up. I held her all the way home and she cried, and wiggled. She was definitely not as docile as Cocoa.

To have or not to have???

Fall of 2004. Cocoa was a handsome little guy. I found out that I was going full time at my job. We felt sooo guilty about leaving him alone for so many hours while we were at work. I thought it would be better if we gave him to someone who would be able to spend more time with him. So, we sold him. It was a very traumatic experience. Literally!! The new owner picked him up at 7:00pm on a Wednesday night. I cried all night and all the next day at work. My husband was devastated also. We started calling as soon as we got home on Thursday asking if we could buy him back. Too make a long story short, we drove 40 miles on Thursday night and got Cocoa back. We paid $100 more for him than what we had sold him for. I guess it was for the fleas that came back with him. But, we had our fur baby back!!

Cocoa and his elephant

This is Cocoa with his elephant. He instantly grew attached to it. He would cry for it if we forgot to put it in the room with him.

For anyone thinking about getting a puppy, I would suggest this trick with the stuffed animal.

He still sleeps with it today.

Our first Shih Tzu baby...

This is Sir Cocoa Branson. He was born 8/11/04. We picked him out of a litter of six. I originally wanted a little girl but fell in love with him at first sight. He was only 4 weeks old at the time so we had two long weeks too wait before we could take him home. I went to Wal-mart and bought a stuffed elephant and took it back to the breeders house so that it would have smells he would be used to when we brought him home.