The Shih Tzu Whisperer

You don't own a Shih Tzu, they own you....

Having been the proud owner of 3 Shih Tzu’s, our first was “Bayou” who stole our hearts at the now defunct Pet Store. There was no chance of getting out of there without this little puppy. This was while my husband Dean was recovering from a severed Rotator Cuff, extremely painful physical therapy and lots of pain. He’d come home and lie on the floor with Bayou who gave him kisses, licks, wags and wiggles and comfort.

My parents moved in with us as my mother had Dementia from heart surgery. Bayou laid on my Mother’s legs as she passed away, he loved her so much.

Bayou was with us for 12 years, even moving to the funky ranch house we moved into in the country in a small town called “Harmony”. It was a 500 acre Cattle Ranch and Bayou and the cows watched each other and wondered. The cows wondering what this little Black & White bundle of love and beautiful hair was all about and he in turn wondering what the cows were about.

Sadly Bayou was diagnosed with Cushings Syndrome and had a major stroke in front of the fireplace, I wrapped him in a towel and Dean and I drove to the Emergency Vet where I told them, “You’re not taking him from my arms, I will hold him and tell him I love him and to look for me because I will find him, they put the IV in his precious foot and the light went out of his eyes while I, teary eyed, told him to look for me.

He had brought so much fun and love to our lives and to that of my parents who were getting older.

The next morning we buried him under the Lemon Tree he watered everyday and I put ancient stones around the tiny grave, stones I had found in Harmony and planted flowers around his grave. I felt like a Druid, like I was performing some ancient Ritual.

“If you were born without Wings do nothing to impede their growth.”

-Coco Chanel

Shih Tzu’s are always telling their owners what to do, with moans and groans, and begging. We don’t have a chance with these little bundles of Love. Therefore I learned to speak fluid Shih Tzu. We had many amazing conversations.

My father sadly passed away one month after Bayou and we cried gallons of tears for both of our loved ones. We mourned and could not bear the thought that they were gone. Black & White Shih Tzu’s have a white tuft of hair on their crown chakra, meaning a connection to the Divine.

So one day I looked online, as advised by my vet, and found this beautiful Black & White Shih Tzu puppy with Bayou’s eyes, I made arrangements to have him flown to us unbeknownst to Dean.

You see I had read many incidences of re-incarnation of our pets and believed this new baby was just that. It was when the Mississippi bridge collapsed and the owner lived in Iowa, so she had to drive him to Rochester, NY, put him on a plane there to Minneapolis. I purchased VIP treatment with the Airline where this precious package flew from Minneapolis to John Wayne Airport in Irvine, CA. He was hand carried from the plane to the receiving agent.

I asked the agent if I could take him out of the crate, and he answered, “If you don’t, I will. I opened the door to the crate, and Oh My God, this adorable little 6 pound bundle of love attacked me with kisses and licks and jumped in my lap.

As we strolled through the airport with him in my arms on the way to the Garage, we received oohs and ahhs and loving beautiful remarks. In the car, he kept trying to jump into my lap and I had to use all my energy to make him sit on the passenger’s seat. Oh my, how lovely, we had a new baby to love.

My neighbor and I called my mission, Operation Puppy Chow, I stored some things in her garage and some in the cabinets in our garage where Dean wouldn’t find them. I stopped at a florist and had a red and white poka dot bow put on his new collar and we were in business prepared to surprise his new Daddy.

I prayed Dean wouldn’t have a heart attack at the surprise. I walked in the house went into Dean’s study, his back to me, and said “Honey, I brought you a surprise!”.

He almost did have a heart attack, but I put our new baby tethered to his chair with toys and said, you have to take care of him and play with him while I go to a design appointment.

When I returned, he told me, Deb, I couldn’t stand having my heart broken again, but you did the most magical thing for me with this little baby. Let’s name him La’Bayou which means “The Bayou” in Cajun french. You see Dean was “Born on a Bayou” as the song goes, so the name fit the lineage. He was smitten!

He must have told me that was the greatest gift I every gave him over 100 times. We were so happy. The first night we put a baby gate between the opening from our Master Bedroom to the bathroom and La’Bayou was behind it with puppy pads and toys. Later in the middle of the night Dean woke me up and said Deb you’re snoring, I tried to laugh under my breath and next to me with his head on my pillow, upside down with his feet in the air, was the cutest puppy snoring and every time I turned toward him, he’d give me a lick on the nose, then he would go back to sleep. We laughed so hard under our breath. We were a family again, complete.

It didn’t take long for La’Bayou to take over telling us what to do, we didn’t rub his

Dean Dancing to “Born on the Bayou”

tummy enough, did we feed him on time, we did, but he didn’t think so, so begging ensued. He immediately took up Bayou’s routine of having treats with his Daddy at 5:00, sitting up on the loveseat begging for a treat, while Dean on the sofa that was perpendicular to it fed him gingerly one by one.

La’Bayou set the precedent, from then on he slept with us every night on my pillow, first there was La’Bayou on the right side of the bed, then me and then Dean on the left side of the bed, and that’s how we slept in peace with our little bundle of love.

We again got used to being told what to do and when and picking him up when he was afraid of the stairs and when he got stuck, so he thought, behind the potted petunias in the corner of the patio leading to “his yard”. They do require a wide berth for some reason, these little fluffy, talkative Shih Tzus.

Sadly, Dean was diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma Stage IV, we were both in shock and he had to undergo tortuous Chemotherapy for months on end, until the last batch he received was an extra Toxic Batch, and he changed over night. He was angry and forgot how to brush his teeth, how to shave and more.

I called in Hospice and he was put under my care and theirs in a Hospital bed in our living room. La’Bayou faithfully slept at the foot of that be by his beloved Daddy’s side. The last night I had been up for 48 hours and he went into Death Rattle, I called the nurse who flew to our house to be with me, did what she could and left me giving the last doses of Roxinol.

I sat beside him holding his hand and reading his beautiful book he wrote about the 7 Ancient Archangels I had painted. I told the nurse who had been up for 60 hours to rest in my bed.

As dawn approached the stairs creaked although no one was walking on them, except Angels, I know. The light at the front door kept flickering and the beautiful butterfly was still perched on my Aphrodite statue on the patio. At 7:49 am I turned to look at the clock, and as I turned back, I heard nothing. My beloved and La’Bayou’s beloved Daddy had taken his last breath in that instant. I kissed Dean on the forehead, kissed his lips and his hands and said, “you’re finally not suffering and that makes me happy although I walk alone now with our precious La’Bayou.

Later that day I took La’Bayou out to his yard and there was the beautiful huge Black, Gold Rimmed Butterfly laying open on the Angel Trump Tree as if to show me she took Dean’s soul to Heaven, she then flew off and I never saw her again.

More to come…

Deborah, The Shih Tzu Whisperer, and La’Bayou