Maize is 10 years old, very petite, weighing only 10 lbs. She is a teacup or imperial shih tzu. The little sweetheart was born with bad knees. The pet store had her in a cage in the back of the store. They could not sell her because she wasn’t perfect. When we went back a second time to see her, the store said the breeder would rather give her up at loss than put her down.
Maize became the perfect pet for us. We may have spoiled her. She thinks that she is a little princess. Because of her knees, Maize can’t jump, so she barks and we pick her up and put her on the couch. She barks and we put her down. She barks at the foot of our bed to tell us that she is tired and ready for bed.
We were perfectly happy with one furry child, until our son Peter decided he wanted a puppy. He found a litter of Shih Tzu puppies online near Hillsboro. He asked if we wanted to go along to look at them with him. The litter of 8 was only two weeks old, and all but two were already spoken for. The two left were both completely black, like their mother, a girl and a boy. Peter wanted a girl and put down a deposit. We told ourselves that we did not need another dog. They were so cute. Only one left. We couldn’t break up the family, right? We put down a deposit too.
Chris and David share the same middle name, Lee. And we both liked the name Finn, So we named him Finnlee. He is now 3 1/2 years old. Finnlee is a smart little boy and knows lots of tricks. Among his favorites are: sit, shake, high five, dance, speak, play dead, rollover, then rollover the other way, and being a deacon’s dog, his favorite is “say your prayers”!
Finnlee and Maize are lucky because his litter mate sister Ellie also lives in New Town and she comes over to play often. They enjoy scraps from the table, waiting patiently for us to finish eating. We save the last bites for them. Finnlee thinks that he likes everything that his Daddy is eating or drinking. He even likes coffee and beer, but only a sip though.
Finnlee and Maize are lucky to have a small fenced in yard, so they can go out to go potty. But for some reason, Finnlee doesn’t like to poop in his own yard, so he has trained himself to hold it until he goes on a walk with his Daddy. He seems to think that Daddy enjoys bagging up everything that falls out of his butt.
We know that we have spoiled our puppies. But they have spoiled us. They give us so much love. They are always so happy to see us when we come home. Unconditional love is what they give us, kind of like the love of God. And we love them back. See them in the issue.
Have a pet you would like to feature? Send Pet Bios to: zac@370valley.com