FOR THE LOVE OF A SHIH TZU, OUR JOURNEY

 It is December of 2004, our beloved shih tzu Holly had passed away earlier in the year and we missed having a dog. We searched the web and found Sasha, the description said she was very active, house broken and needed a lot of attention. Between my husband, daughter and I we were willing to give her all that she needed. Little did we know what we were in for.

 The first few weeks well months actually with Sasha were quite a challenge. She could be the loviest little girl and then if you touched her wrong, she would just bite you. Believe me her teeth are sharp. We took her to our vet and she was very healthy and we were told she just needed a lot of patience. When I think back now I wish we had taken her to a trainer to learn how best to handle her. We just kept trying, it was hard to sleep at night, because she would get into so much mischief. I would wake up and there would be torn kleenex every where and food that she would dig out of the cabinets.  If we would try letting her sleep in a crate she would just cry for so long we couldn't stand it. So we took turns sleeping on the couch with her in a sasha-proofed room with a baby gate up. She was still so lovable though but the biting was becoming a problem, we were afraid to have guests over. One night my daughter and I snuck out for a movie and when we returned my husband was holding a bloody rag over his arm and said in no uncertain terms your ******* dog bit me. Those were the bad days, he wanted to send her back, but my daughter and I said no! His arm was ok, no stitches. That is when I learned about using a spray bottle of water for discipline. The naughty bottle.

 It certainly didn't happen overnight and over time she is still quite a sassy dog at times. But we don't regret not one minute. It was a challenge, our first shih tzu was an angel but had a lot of health problems. Sasha is very healthy but not quite an angel. The love she gives us is worth it. We do crate her when we go out because she still gets into too much mischief. She is now very protective of us and makes us laugh often. The journey of rescuing a dog is not easy at times but in the end it  feels so good. We think she has obsessive compulsive disorder and has a very sad and sometimes funny cry every night after supper. She sleeps with me almost every night and I don't know what I would do without her. I plan to write more about the funny things she does. If Sasha could talk I know she would tell us she loves us and tell you to bring home a rescue animal, it will do your heart good.