# Social butterfly ears



## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

She is 10 months and 6.4 pounds. Phoebe was named after Annie Oakley, who was born as Phoebe ann Mosey.

I can't get over how big her ears are in comparison to her head. I'm in serious squee mode. I hope she will fill out. She's holding her ears at attention here, they usually lay like chi ears are supposed to.

We've had her a week. She likes kibbles right now and will not touch other food. She is very food cautious. She won't sit with me and eat seaweed snacks the way foxxy and taggert would. She likes natural chews and won't touch anything that smells like mint or vegetables. She likes cheese. So far she has chewed up her step in harness, the waist band of my pants, the end of her slicker brush, and the jewels off of her leash. She has discovered every last hidden kleenex and q-tip lurking in the dusty corners of my apartment. 

She spent the first couple of days piddling on all the dirty pants and underwear, right in the crotch, and messed her crate twice but we have her on a 3 hour walking schedule now and she is not having many accidents at all. In all it's been a suspiciously easy prospect to widdle train her. pooping is another story. She likes to hold it. She gets distracted. After we got her, she didn't poop for three days and when she did it was in the kitchen. 

And today she got her first bath 

Today I miss my foxxy very much. We took taggert and phoebe on Foxxy's favorite walk, out to the convenience store on the corner where everyone adores them and wants to pet them. 

We spent the afternoon comparing phoebe and Foxxy. We talked about what we missed about our little girl, and what we're not going to miss. We gave my mother in law a paw print. Foxxy was her rescue too. She helped pay for her spay and our dog fees. We were very poor when foxxy came to us.

Foxxy was a challenge. She was feral, hard eyed, and reserved with other dogs. She was a communicator. She was stubborn, suffered from first dog syndrome, the lack of consistent training, overindulgence at times, but fierce, loyal, happy, like a chihuahua should be. Her teeth were bright and shiny even up to her death. 

Phoebe is none of that. She has gentle, trusting eyes. SHe corrects easily. I don't think she has ever been treated badly, which was not the case with Foxxy and Taggert.

Do we get rewarded for having a challenge dog like foxxy by getting a dream dog like phoebe? I think I'm going to be spoiled having a dog like her


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

A great tribute to Foxxy. She led you to adopt Phoebe, I'm sure!


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

This is the soul sucking chair. If you sit in it, you will instantly have 2 chihuahuas on your lap. You will be required to pet their little heads and let them feed off of your will to get up and do anything. Whatever you do, don't give into the temptation to extend the footrest. DO NOT RECLINE.

You reclined didn't you. Chihuahuas on either leg still sleeping and your eyes just closed. Just one commercial break, that's what you thought, didn't you. And now three hours of your life has been siphoned away, the dishes are still dirty, and broadcast channel court TV is nattering but you can't change the channel because somehow now your arms are also underneath the dreambeasts and it wouldn't be right to disturb the peace. 

I warned you, you fool.


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Oh yes! I relate to that post alright!


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

Warrior Chihuahuas

Chihuahuas are all, 100% warriors. The aztecs believed that the soul of a man was very tiny in the afterlife, but the soul of a chihuahua was so big that you could ride it down the path to their version of heaven. In fact, you couldn't get there without at least 3 or 4 of them.

Warriors are peaceful yet valliant, willing to be gentle, yet brave enough to go down screaming defiance. People at the AKC think that Chihuahuas have a "terrier" like personality. They don't. No other dog in the world was deified like the chihuahua and they've completely lived up to their reverence. Cats can only stare jealously. Cow can only stop traffic and demand attention.

If you have a chihuahua's love you have everything. Period. End of story.


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## K8emcgee (Oct 25, 2015)

I love pheobes big grin she's adorable. Little warriors they certainly are and i have the same problem, if you can call it that, when I sit on my couch I instantly have a fur ball curled up on my lap. I got Padme after losing my first chi boy and nothing helped me more than having her love and giving her mine I think Pongo brought her to me and me to her either way he had his paw in it. I'm sorry to hear about Foxxy but I'm glad she sent pheobe your way and you Ihave her to love on and she you. Who's the pup on the chair?


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

Oh that's Taggert, he's my 8y/o that we got in 2010. Taggert was my shy guy. they found him running stray too. I thionk wherever he was he was not treated very well. He's headshy. he hates quick movements, but he's gentle and introverted so he has these lighning fast reflexes to dodge where a lot of dogs would nip. We joke that Taggert is an old people's dog. He is content to be loved forever, slowly and gently, in quiet places with no children anywhere. He does like to sprint around the leashless park. He' a funny thing when he does, his sickle tail turns upside down like a question mark and he runs flat out like a goofball. He's outpaced rabbits.

He's a love mooch. He's the one that tries to bully the other dog out of the prime petting places. I actually had to train him to "back off" when he gets pushy for attention.

Taggert is my corpophage, he used to get into the litter tray and steal foxxy's poo, he used to overmark foxxy on the walk all the time. He's good with other dogs, but as long as they are polite with him. He doesn't care for big, bouncy dogs but he's never started any fights. 

He also answers to buddy, bud-bud, handsome, and grr-guy (as opposed to grr-girl)


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## K8emcgee (Oct 25, 2015)

Hes so cute! wow he is a quick little guy to outpace rabbits I bet that's funny to see with a question mark tail how adorable. Seems to me that although he didn't start out with a good and loving home he sure ended up with one. I can't believe anyone could abandon and hurt such a cutie pie.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

i know. and his ears have two modes, up and halfsies. When the one flops over all the ladies coo over him. he likes to be told how handsome he is

Oh he also says hello on command
https://youtu.be/eg3_gLa8D1U


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## K8emcgee (Oct 25, 2015)

Oh my gosh my husband and I just watched it like five times he really says hello! that's so crazy my daughter keeps asking me to replay it for her now she loves it too. He is such a handsome man please tell him I said so  what an awesome little guy you've got. Quite a duo I'm glad ges got phoebe to cuddle with now too sol cute.


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## Manny and Lola (Jun 12, 2016)

Lyredragon, I absolutely LOVE reading your posts! Your tribute to Foxxy, and your musings over Phoebe and Taggert are priceless. What a blessing you are to these babies!


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

*Zoom? Zoom!*

It's 3pm. Now, I work the overnight shift, so this is about the time that I get up and make breakfast. But first comes the morning ritual. The dogs are always happy to see everyone awake. It takes about 10 minutes to get out of bed The reason for this is the morning song.

We sing to our chihuahuas all the time. They love it. They come crawling on the bed dragging their legs and wagging their tails madly. 

The song goes like this:
Good morning dear taggert
Good Morning good morning
good morning dear taggert 
hello my happy puppy
good morning dear Taggert
hello my handsome dog

and then you repeat it for the other dog, except pretty instead of handsome. This is a tradition going back to Foxxy, who was my good morning girl. She had that nickname because she wanted to be the first thing you saw every morning.

It is an ancient thing to do. Wolves get up in the morning and greet each other in the pack and then they sing together. Singing your dogs awake brings up something primal and good in the dynamic of the pack/family. They love it.

Foxxy and taggert then go off to the races. And that's quite literal. Phoebe just did it for the first time too. Because they both need to go out, but the humans need to toilet first. They are anticipating the morning walk, and they are all happy from waking up. There is a chihuahua highway in my place. It stretches from one side of the place to the other, some 36' of straight traffic zone between the bedroom and the sliding door in the dining room, and it's just long enough to get a sprint on. 

Now in the middle of this is the bathroom. And if you leave the door open, (as you do because otherwise you're not only incapacitated, you can't see what they're getting into) the dogs whiz by in a blur of galloping paws, followed by playful grownling, then a blur of chihuhua and some more growling. It's like the scene from aliens where the alien is in the ducts and it's just a blur of motion. It's just that fast. play bow, pounce, grab the toy, shake it; this will go on until the outside clothes are upon the humans and the leashes are in hand.

I'm sure my neighbor thinks we're raising elephants in here. Did you know that a chihuahua's trot can rattle the pictures on the wall of a sturdily build 3rd floor unit?

Phoebe has added a vertical element. Foxxy was never a jumper. She was lucky to be able to clear the couch when we had a couch. you had to extend the footrest to help her get into the recliner. I used to think Taggert was athletic. Phoebe might just have him beat. She can ump up onto the bed (40") and then jump down, race across the room, leap up onto the back of the recliner, (48") and then pounce on Taggert from above. She might have been an acrobat in a previous life.


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## zellko (Jul 3, 2013)

Love your insight into Chihuahua love! Thanks!


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

Chihuahuas are spirit dogs.

You really have to honor this fact about them. I think that is a large reason why they get a bad rap with small dog syndrome all ensconsed in the purse of some rich lady's shoulder bag. Yes, chis like to be pampered. It's their birthright as representatives of bloody Aztec and Mayan gods every bit as much as cats were pampered as representatives of Egyptian gods. But chiahuahuas, like cats, had to earn their food more often than not. Sure you could give them a tortilla now and then, but they still got rid of the vermin that plagued every civilization. Native Americans didn't have cats. Cats were domesticated after the advent of agriculture and have only been with mankind for about 10,000 years. Chihuahuas are descended from dogs that were domesticated by hunter gatherers well over 20,000 years ago when those hunter-gatherers came across the bering sea and into the West. 

Chihuahua ancestors were there for the clovis people, and every civilization that made its way South. They were traded across the continent, with small dog skeletons even turning up in places like Cahokia in Missouri. They were essential. They were important. They survived wave after wave of dog diseases and the displacement of native dogs by European bred street dogs brought by settlers, missionaries, and conquerors. 

Chihuahuas are survivors.

This is why it stuns me that the AKC is encouraging the breeding of apple heads, when deer heads have always been present in the breed, even back to ancient depictions. It saddens me that the weight cap for what is supposed to be a healthy and lively dog at 6lbs with a preference for smaller being better. Chihuahuas are technically a pariah breed. Quite a lot of their history was spent being bred without human intervention. 

Humans always mess up what nature made perfect.

as tiny as they are they still have to look like they could survive without you. Sorry AKC. that borderline hydorcephalic, short nosed kind is not the survivor type.

What does the spirit of dog talk about? It talks about unconditional love. Self-sacrifice. Kindness and compassion. Family bonds. Also exploration, optimism, bravery, innocence of mind and unbridled joy.

But also a kind of magic. The kind that makes you wonder if they really see spirits. Phoebe has been doing things a lot lately that remind me so much of Foxxy that I wonder if foxxy is giving this pup some lessons on being a true native dog. I see it in a lot of things, from the way she plays with Taggert to the way she's starting to want to bark at other dogs. Her bark is softer and lower in pitch, not the piercing yap foxxy had. Still, the resemblance is eerie.

John and I joke that she's not quite our pocket wolf. Maybe a pocket coyote. she is certainly getting into tons of mischief.


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## K8emcgee (Oct 25, 2015)

I had the same feeling when I first got Padme she acts identical in behavior to my chi mix Pongo who passed around four months before I got her. Something's were odd quirks I'd never seen in other dogs and she started doing them and the way I came to find her and the extra care she needed in the beginning I'm almost certain Pongo had his paw in that. Even the way she looks at me sometimes with her head just barely cocked to the side and the depth of her eyes the whole look and stance identical to Pongo. She has separation anxiety like he did too but what she does when I get back exactly what he did even the way she gives me kisses and sleeps with me I can totally see pongo guiding her probably knowing I needed him to bc I was so crushed when he died I stayed by him and refused to leave his side I knew he was gone but just in case there was a part of him still there I wanted him to know I'd stay by his side and that I loved him. but I lost it until my husband got there to help I just didn't want to leave his side and I couldn't stop telling him how much I loved him and didn't know how I'd go on without him so the first time I met Padme and she didn't cry or whimper when I took her from her brother and mama her brother cried but not her and it felt like we already knew each other she already trusted Me and I already loved her. Then I knew Pongo had to of planned this from above. I am Christian but I in no way can look at a dog and believe they don't have a soul I like to picture heaven with every breed of dog and of all ages all dogs go to heaven I believe that. But that's a great way to explain little dog syndrome they have big hearts and big spirits they also have the biggest brain of any dog in comparison to their body size which ibfound incredibly interesting maybe that's another reason they feel alot bigger than they are I also believe it's bc of how ferociously loyal they are and territorial over us so around other people and dogs they don't care what size either of them are they want them to know we are their humans. I had a toy poodle who did the same thing even to a great Dane he wanted him to know I was his and so was the yard lol. I love reading your comments they are so informative and I will definitely start singing to Padme I do with the kids so I'll just add her to the songs the kids will love it.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

The butterfly is a papilo polyxenes. That's a black swallowtail. and it was the last one. I was growing them out on the deck. They eat carrots, parsley, parsnip, cilantro, and other apiaceas. They're a great big beautiful pest if all you want is a bit of dill, but they're beneficial when they attack the hogweed. If you find them in your garden, go out to a weedy lot and find some wild apiaceas to put them on. Hogweed, hemlock, parsnip, lovage. Just something other than your plants, because they will absolutely decimate them. They killed off my curled parsley and I had to go buy parsely and cilantro for them just to get them done with their cycle. I had 34 of them and 30 of them lived to adulthood. All in all it was beautiful to watch them fly off.

It was the last one. The larvae are mean to each other. They will fight for a good spot to pupate, and I didn't catch one in time to save this one's chrysalis from getting damaged, so one of its wings was deformed. It still flew, but it took so much longer than the others I thought it was not going to make it. Foxxy was so interested in what was going on. I tried to set it on her head, but she wasn't going to have any of it.


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## MelodyoftheForest (Sep 11, 2015)

My rescue Chi puppy is absolutely the pariah type, smooth coated, and now I find the show-bred type less beautiful. This from someone who was planning to show and breed that type! A Mexican gentleman even said Gobo was a real Chi, not the chubby, stubby type of the other Chis in the park that day!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

*The secret of the universe*

There is an old native myth that says once, the gods told dog the secrets of the universe. Dog, being a great big gossip, went around telling all of the secrets, happy as he could be because people were paying attention to him, and this angered the gods. So one day they trapped Dog and switched his tail and his head around. So now he could only bark out his mouth, but whenever he thinks about telling a secret of the universe, his tail wags.

So there you go. when you see a dog's tail wagging, he's trying to tell you the secrets of the universe.

Or, don't worry, be happy. Which IMO is pretty much the same thing. Happiness is a warm chihuahua


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

*Lumps and bumps and vets*

Poor phoebe still has her lump from her rabies vax. The vet said it should be gone in a couple of weeks. She's already had it for a couple of weeks. The skin around her spay site is all healed, but underneath, the sutures haven't dissolved yet. And she's having a reaction to that too. 

and she went from 6.8 lbs at the Humane society to 6.4 on the 18th to 6.0 lbs this morning, even though we are feeding her 1/4 to 1/3 cup per meal (2x per day) of puppy kibble. Her body confirmation is good though. She had squishy puppy fat to spare, I guess. Or the swelling has gone down and she's an ounce or two lighter after her spay for obvious reasons, her stress levels are down and she is getting 6-8 walks a day but yes, the ribs are not prominent, the vet thinks she is OK, but seeing a dog like her lose 8 oz in one month is kind of troubling. 

Ok to be fair, when we got Taggert he was a hefty 9 lbs, and we walked and regulated his food because Foxxy was on a diet, and he went all the way down to 6.8 which was very healthy for him. He needed to lose that weight because of his right patella and since we've been able to hold his weight to somewhere between 6.8 and 7.5 he is doing wonderfully with little trouble. Phoebe has the same trouble on the same leg. swimming and stair climbing are the best two exercizes for this problem, and our dogs get plenty of the former, but none of the latter. There's not really any good places for a chi to swim around here.

I am used to bigger chihuahuas. having a dog that can safely be under 6lbs is kind of weird, but I expect that as she loses her puppy squishiness in favor of good solid adult muscle, she will bounce back up to around 7lbs. Right now she's around 11 months and all gangly, skinny teenage dog.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

TOday I am sitting down to Beverly hills chihuahua with Phoebe. I hadn't thought about it but it's a big chihuahua tradition.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

The infinite chewing is upon us. 

It started Saturday. and it hasn't stopped

I tried to exhaust her with walks. we have had cuddle time and play time.

But still she saw fit to chew the bissel spot bot cord while the thing was running. And yes, she was zapped for her effort. She got into the trash and transported kleenex to her grotto under the table. By the way, where she has ferreted away all of the favored toys. So, pick up the toys from the grotto. 

take the bissel to the vaccuum repairman. 

SHe shewed the end of Taggert's buddy belt. Brand new buddy belt. 

Bought her a petstages dogwood. Big mistake. It took her precisely 3 minutes to begin chewing bits. Took it away. Which was really sad because she seemed to like it. Like. . .a lot. 

She put tooth marks in a screwdriver handle.

There are new tears in the old blanket.

She has discovered old socks, the waistband of my pants, and the bling off of the leash


of course, she won't touch the nylabones we gave her. or the antler. Or the kongs.


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## MelodyoftheForest (Sep 11, 2015)

Bully sticks and beef tendons are the most durable chews that Gobo will consistently go to on his own. I did have to hold the bully stick for him for a while until he figured out how to hold it. Of course, he will still grab anything he can if I leave things out!


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## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

have you tried freezing her kibble IN the kong? Put the kong in the freezer with broth/and or peanut butter. It should keep her busy for a little while. Meantime, if she is as destructive as you say, it is pen time. I use the iris pen as it is roomy enough to put her crate, food and water into with a few toys. Like a kong!


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## zellko (Jul 3, 2013)

I have been buying Blue Dog Bakery LARGE dog cookies for the chewies. It takes Peanut several hours but sounds like you have an Olympic chewer there. I didn't know chis could be such voracious chewers.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

I think this may be our first CHEWahua

We have oinkies for now. pizzles are expensive. Foxxy loved to chew but she was predictable. It had to be a natural product like oinkies or rawhide or salmon roll, or duck feet, pizzles, hooves, antlers, and RMBs. The worst damage she ever did was to pull up the carpet nap in one little spot about a week after we got her.

I am not prepared yet to try most of that stuff with miss phoebe yet. Foxxy was my test dog. she chipped a premolar on a hoof and I never bought another one. I will never buy round steak bones for them. I have watchedthem put their whole snout through the hole in the middle. I used to let foxxy raw whole raw chicken wings and necks, but phoebie is a lot smaller and a lot more cautious about actual food items. This wierdo dog won't touch dog biscuits. She completely snubs ice cream, and it took us two days for her to trust us enough to eat her actual dog food without supervision, but somehow kleenexes and wadded foil are a-ok.

Taggert won't touch bony things. He just flat refuses to eat anything that isn't soft tissue. We occasionally give them a digestion meal. Our butcher gives us a raw grind of turkey necks, feet and gibs. Taggert flat wont touch it, but foxxy would chow until her poop turns white. I don't know, something is just making me cautious for no rational reason.

I've never done much with the kong except peanut butter. the kong they have one's a wubba so it squeaks, and th other is a dental stick type kong so there's not much room for anything but goop.

I think (hopefully) most of this is just her being mostly a puppy and a bratty developmentally "adolescent" one at that. Her hormones are all settling down now that she has had a month post spay. I have noticed that some dogs do sort of revert to more puppyish behavior when the hormones are no longer raging. Basically, honeymoon's over. She's all healed up, settled in and ready to cause mischief. . . .I mean, test her boundaries. At least that's what I hope. We can deal with that. Foxxy and taggert were adults when we got them so I completely forgot what it as like to have a puppy around that actually lives in my home.


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## lyredragon (Jul 28, 2010)

Where did summer go? Oh well, there is always room for Dairy Queen soft serve. Phoebe absolutely snubs it. All for Taggert mwahaha


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