Can you believe Rosie, my Tibetan terrier puppy, turned six months old this week?! Twenty-six whole weeks! I can't wrap my head around how quickly she's grown or how quickly the last four months have passed since she came in to our lives. The time has zoomed by. One minute we were bringing this tiny little pup home from the breeder's and adjusting to life as new dog owners, the next thing we know, she's a big pup of six months old, entering puberty, and keeping us on our toes while her hormones turn her in to the canine equivalent of 'Kevin the teenager'. How did that happen?
A part of me is sad that her tiny puppy days are behind us, but at the same time I'm not because life is getting a little easier now she's house-trained, knows a few commands, and doesn't cry her heart out when she's left alone for a few hours. That's not to say life has been easy over the last few months; far from it. She's a terror! She only answers commands when she wants to, still has the occasional accident in the house... on the sofa cushions, gets up to all kinds of mischief, as puppies do, and loves to nip everyone. The biting is a daily struggle. She's a good, sweet-natured dog at heart, but she is a handful. We've got a long way to go until she's a perfectly-trained, well-mannered family dog, but fingers crossed we'll get her there in time. God help us, if we don't!
I've taken a gazillion photos of her since my last Rosie update post a couple of months ago, so I'm going to share some of my favourites today, plus a few anecdotes to go with them.
A couple of months ago, I was hanging out in the garden with Rosie, and decided to make a daisy chain crown so I could place it on her head and take some cute, Instagram-worthy photos. Of course, Rosie decided she'd rather eat the daisies and bit it in to shreds before it even touched her head. Apparently, they didn't taste as good as she thought, and she eventually spat most of them out. I didn't get the photos I wanted, but the ones I took instead are priceless.
I have so many photos of her with her little tongue poking out, tasting the world. It's kinda adorable.
She loves to run and only takes a few seconds to sprint 120 feet, from one end of the garden to the other. I think she could out-run most greyhounds. I love that her ears always fly behind her as she runs.
She may look like butter wouldn't melt, but she's the cheekiest little character imaginable. If you let your guard down for even a split second and leave something within her reach, she will seize the opportunity to steal it, and run off in to the garden with her prize, throwing it around and catching it again like the happiest animal that ever lived! Recently, I've caught her with socks, shoes, sheets of paper, cotton wool pads, the remote control, plastic plant pots, a garden cane, the clicker trainer, hair bobbles, mail, an old empty crisp packet, a tea towel, and even a fabric tape measure. I've ever caught her stealing mown grass from the wheels of the lawn mower! I always feel mean taking them back off her as they make her so happy, but she usually gets ten minutes of fun before we manage to catch her, anyway.
At the end of April, we had a freak hail storm that was so heavy and relentless that after fifteen minutes, it looked like we'd had snow instead. I've never seen anything like it. Rosie loved exploring the 'snow' for the first time, and was zooming around the garden in hyper-puppy-sprinting-mode, ecstatically playing in a half inch of slush. I was in my bedroom at the time, but I couldn't resist snapping a few photos out of the window as I watched. The washing line pole ruined my shots, but considering I was over fifty feet away indoors and upstairs, they came out pretty well.
Left: Mid-spin, learning how to heel with my Mum, in exchange for cheese. Right: Scruffy pup sitting patiently by the back door, waiting for my Dad to come back outside.
As much as we try to keep Rosie in the house, she prefers to spend most of her time in the garden. Given half a chance, I think she'd happily live out there. We've got a huge garden, so she's got loads of room to run around, play, explore, get up to all kinds of mischief, and burn off some of that crazy puppy energy. If she only got out for walks, she'd be bouncing off the walls.
I love the two photos of her above, as she was beginning to look like a little old English sheepdog. She looks huge in them both, but it was only because she was sitting right at my feet. The two photos above them were actually taken on the same day! She was 20 weeks old.
She still sleeps in the craziest positions...
I regularly catch her drinking from the bird bath, but this was the first and only time I've caught her using a plant pot to get a better reach, Watching her little hind legs feel for the ground to get back down afterwards was too cute for words!
1. Before. // 2. Getting her hair cut.
3. Almost finished. // 4. After.
Last month, she had her first hair cut with a mobile dog groomer. Long story short, Rosie behaved herself, and the groomer completely butchered her coat. She was snipping away at her like Edward Scissorhands, except the end result would never have been considered a work of art by the townsfolk. It's long here, short there, and there are tuffs of hair she missed poking out all over the place. It's awful! I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to walk her! A month on, it's beginning to grow back, but I'm still gutted as I loved her long shaggy coat. If it wasn't for the Summer heat we would've left it to grow, but it wasn't fair on her. Just look how happy she looked during her hair cut, when she could finally see clearly again! That photo melts my heart.
I took these two photos just after her hair cut, when she looked like a newborn lamb. I think she was super-excited to be able to see properly again, and was galloping around the garden like a loon with her (then) new favourite toy- a plastic plant pot.
I took this photo a couple of days later, when we were playing frisbee. She's great at bringing it back, but she hasn't quite learned that she needs to let go of it if she wants me to throw it again.
A few weeks ago, we left her alone in the garden for two minutes (but still in view from the house), and within seconds she'd jumped up on to the old rabbit run. I thought it was funny, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos. We then watched as she stood up on her hind legs, eyeing a piece of plastic we'd confiscated off her earlier in the week (which she broke off the storage bunker), and put on top of the bin 'out of reach'. Well, the next thing we knew, she'd jumped straight on top of the bin to get it, as easily as any cat! My Dad and I were both stunned! He rushed outside to get her down, but he barely took two steps in to the garden before she jumped straight down from the bin with her prize, landing a little ungracefully on the grass. I was scared she'd hurt herself when the side of her face made contact with the ground, but she was completely unharmed and unfazed and spent the following half an hour sprinting around the garden and playing catch. I knew she was intelligent and agile, but I still can't believe she did this; it was so calculated. I think I've got a pet cat crossed with a mountain goat instead of a puppy!
Gnawing on a stick in the yard. Although she has heaps of teething toys, you'll often find her lying in the garden chewing on sticks, stones, shells, snails, plants, leaves, garden brushes... what ever she can find.
If you're wondering about Rosie's pink eye, it's the result of an allergy, or so the vet believes. He put her on steroids and ear drops for a couple of weeks, but didn't give us any clue about how to find out what she's allergic to. It could be her food, plants, perfumes on our skin, the carpets... anything. I think it's just a process of trial and error. We think food is to blame, and she has been itching a lot less and eating more since we took her off Royal Canin, switched to a hypoallergenic puppy food, and cut out dairy. Apparently, she's been a fussy eater since she was weaned, and she was the runt of the little, so that might explain a thing or two; she'd barely touch her kibble. We're going to dig up any plants that she could be allergic to in the garden, to be on the safe side, and I'm trying to be conscious of what products I put on my skin around her. It's such a big worry. I hate seeing her rubbing her face against the ground, and scratching her face to death in discomfort. (Before you ask, yes, she has been wormed and protected against fleas). Does anybody know if there are any tests that can be done to diagnose the cause of allergies in dogs, like there are for humans? Any tips? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
A Few More Rosie Observations, 17-26 Weeks Old
♥ A couple of weeks ago, she ran in from the garden straight on to the lap of my napping Dad and head-butted him (trying to give him kisses). The poor guy almost had a heart-attack! It was hilarious!
♥ She's a tummy-rub whore.
♥ She's already worked out how to open the kitchen door, and I saw her try to open the patio door the other day! If it hadn't of been locked, she would have succeeded!
♥ Over the last two months, she's lost her puppy teeth and cut most of her adult teeth. I even found one of her little milk teeth on the carpet last week.
♥ Knows the words 'who's that?' means somebody has just come home, and will even sprint in from the garden in excitement to find out who.
♥ If she knows you've arrived home but you aren't getting in to the house fast enough because you're unpacking the car or talking to a neighbour, she'll sit by the door, throw back her head, and howl.
♥ When I played some music from my laptop around her for the first time, she got confused and looked around the living room, trying to find the singing person.
♥ Has decided she likes to gnaw on hands and fingers. If you try to move your hands / fingers away, she'll pull them back with her paws! It's beginning to hurt now she has molars. We're trying to train her out of it.
♥ She cries and howls if she's separated from my Dad at home but can still see or hear him, like when he's in the garden mowing the grass, and she's shut in the house.
♥ She got confused when I played some Fall Out Boy tunes on my phone in the garden, and came over to investigate the noisy contraption.
♥ Now she's found her voice, she's really vocal. She never shuts up! She barks at cats and birds, in response to other dogs, at animals on the TV, at strange noises, at the hoover and the hair drier, when she's playing... She cries, she howls... I now understand why Tibetan terriers have been kept as watchdogs by Tibetan monks for thousands of years! They're notoriously vocal dogs.
Some Information About Tibetan Terriers
♥ Tibetan terriers aren't actually terriers- they're sheepdogs. They're in the same family as lhasa apsos, old English sheepdogs, shih-tzus, and bearded collies.
♥ They've been kept as watchdogs, sheepdogs and companions by Tibetan monks for thousands of years.
♥ They're a medium-sized breed, weighing around 11kg fully grown. Rosie is smaller than average, as she was the runt of her litter.
♥ They're a hypoallergenic breed that barely sheds, so they can be an ideal breed for people with asthma and allergies.
♥ As they're a long-haired breed, they require daily grooming, and regular trips to the groomers to keep their coats in check. Left to grow naturally, their coats grow down to their feet, and will quickly become matted without daily brushing. They are high-maintenance, so if you haven't got the time, energy, or money to commit to their coats, this isn't the dog breed for you.
♥ They're very intelligent, and learn very fast. They need to be kept stimulated through play and exercise, or they can become destructive in the home.
♥ They need a couple of long walks daily, especially if you don't have a garden or live on a farm where they can run around and burn off some energy every day. As sheepdogs, Tibetans are best-suited to an active lifestyle, and homes with a yard or garden. They aren't ideal apartment pets, but I'm sure many people make it work..
♥ They're very affectionate, loving dogs, that lap up attention and love being around people of all ages, including kids.
♥ The breed is very vocal, which is great if you're looking for a watchdog, but the barking may drive you and your neighbours mad.
♥ Their average life expectancy is 12-15 years.
If you've got any other questions about Tibetan terriers, feel free to ask, and I'll do my best to answer.
If you've made it to the end of this mammoth post, thanks for reading!
Are you a crazy puppy parent like I am? Do you have pets? Tell me about them!
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