The Tzu Zoo of TraMar: Shih Tzus, Shih Tzu Puppies and their daily life

TraMar blog has moved.....

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 04:03:12 PST

I've moved this blog to my web site: http://tramarshihtzu.com/blog/

Please update your bookmarks and feeds. Thanks!!

X-ray results

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 03:30:01 PST

We have at least three puppies!! It's possible one or two more are hiding, but there's at least three. Rosie is getting quite large and waddling. :-) I have everything ready for puppies to arrive, we're just counting down the days. According to the x-ray, it looks as though she conceived on one of the later two days they tied, so we could have puppies here anytime between February 10th and 14th.

So stay tuned for the litter announcement. :-)

20 days and counting......

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 09:34:48 PST

Only 20 more days (approximately) and counting down until the puppies arrive. Rosie is being super wiggly and not wanting to pose for photos in her present, delicate condition. :-P So this is the best photo I could get to show her growing belly. It doesn't really show her size that well, but you can definitely tell she's pregnant.

I'm wanting to get a side shot of her standing, so you can see how low the belly hangs. She's gettin' big!!!

No doubt about it - puppies on the way!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:13:03 PST

This is definitely a pregnant belly! This particular photo was taken two days ago, I'm seeing changes daily.

We're going on Thursday, January 26, 2006 for an x-ray to see how many puppies she's having. :-) I can tell she's carrying them more up under her ribs, so she might fool me and have more than I think. I'm guessing three at the most.

Preggo belly?

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 16:54:02 PST

Well, the trip to the vet last Friday proved inconclusive. He *thought* he felt one puppy, but said it could've been her bladder. However, as the week has progressed, I'm noticing a definite change in Rosie's belly. So what say you: pregnant or not?

If so, she's still got four weeks left and puppies would be due around February 10, 2006. Stay tuned! :)

This dog has issues

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 16:06:34 PST

Oh my stars - this is the funniest video ever!!! hehehehe

Time for puppy prozac and some serious therapy!

Happy Birthday to Romeo!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 08:01:06 PST

Romeo turns 1 year old today. What a sweet, sweet dog he is!! Truly, he's the perfect dog and loves everyone!! We are so blessed to have him. :)

Yummy Toes! Sophie's Foot Fettish

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:03:43 PST

Sophie is the goofiest dog - she LOVES feet! Here's a shot I got of her yesterday, licking Hannah's toes. Sophie also has a thing for shoe strings, she's always untying my tennis shoe strings. LOL

As you can see from this photo, the Sophster is getting to be a bit "fluffy" (and I ain't talkin' fur!). She eats like a Golden Retriever!! I've never had a Tzu eat like her. I have to measure out her food and watch it, or else she'll get overweight. She's still a puppy now, but my goodness - she's solid like a brick!

Canine Christmas Treats

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:57:19 PST

So what do you all get your dogs for Christmas? I have nine human children to buy for, so going all out for my four Shih Tzus is a bit of a stretch for the 'ol Christmas budget. So I'm going to buy them their Booda Velvets (spearmint and peppermint) and will make them some dog cookies. I have a bazillion dog cookie recipes; but here's the two I'm making:

Peanut Butter Cookies
4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 - 1 1/4 cup water
2 cloves of minced garlic
3/4 cup Jif peanut butter with honey

Mix ingredients to form dough. Knead dough until dry using extra water or flour as necessary. Roll to 1/8" and cut with cookie cutters. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350F for 25-30 minutes. To make treats extra crunchy, turn off oven and let cool with the door shut.

Cheese and Garlic Bites
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. soft butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk

Mix flour and cheese together. Add garlic powder and softened butter. Slowly add milk til you form a stiff dough. You may not need all of the milk. Knead on a floured board for a few minutes.

Roll out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Let cool in oven, with door slightly open til cold and firm. Refrigerate to keep fresh.

So there ya have it - some simple, easy treat recipes. Enjoy!

{*Edited to add the photos of the finished product!*}

The Princess and the Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 07:37:21 PST

It appears that Princess Sophie does not care for snow. This is her first snow experience, and well, she is protesting. The white stuff started coming down around 7:30 am this morning, and now, a mere one hour later, it's coming down good and we have a light covering everywhere. When I opened the door to let Her Royal Highness outside to potty, she stopped, sniffed, looked up at me and whined, as if saying, "I am a Shih Tzu. I do not potty in snow! Humpf!"

So there ya have it: the official royal position on snow. :)

Dogs Can Heal Your Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:16:27 PST

Dog lovers already knew that, but here's an article where a doctor confirms it!

Dogs Can Heal Your Heart

Happy 5th birthday Bear!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:14:41 PST

Today is Baby Bear's 5th birthday! Here's a photo of him, fresh from his grooming session this morning. He's such a good boy!

Rosie's in heat!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 11:08:40 PST

Just discovered today that Rosie is in heat. So keep checking back here to find out if we're going to be having puppies! :) If so, then I'm estimating puppies to be born around Valentine's Day! So if you haven't already, get your name on our waiting list (it's free and you're under no obligation to put your name on the list). I can't promise how many we'll have available, as I do have folks on the list, however, circumstances change for people, so you never know!

Dog Clothes

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 03:56:11 PST

Do your Tzus wear clothes? You know, cute sweaters, shirts, etc..? Mine normally don't, but perhaps they should. I keep the Tzus cut pretty short, and when they go out in winter, I'm sure they're cold. But the thought of getting coats/sweaters on four dogs for them to go out to potty, seems like a boatload of work! Would they then be too warm to wear them inside? Mine don't seem to want to keep the sweaters on inside, so I guess they're warm enough in the house.

What do you do with your Tzus? Clothes or no clothes in the winter? I'd love to get some feedback on this.

A new bedroom

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 05:19:33 PST

Yesterday we finally moved all four Tzu kennels out of our master bedroom and down to the new puppy room. I was most concerned about Rosie, thinking she'd whine and fuss all night, as she's such a momma's girl, but she did awesome!! I spend most of my days down in my office, with the dogs sleeping at my feet, so they were used to being down there anyway, but at night we were all coming upstairs to bed. That's fine, except it was a little crowded in my room!

So now we have all the dog food, treats and stuff, down in one spot. Sweet!! :-) There's a spot reserved for the whelping box for when we have puppies and plenty of play room for them to run around. With the floor being concrete, it's easy to sanitize and clean up those puppy piddle accidents. However, there is access to their fenced yard through the door in my office, which is right off the puppy room. With the grooming room just on the other side of the bathroom, that makes this whole end of the house dedicated for the dogs (and my office ;-). Perfect!

Now we're just waiting for Rosie to go into heat (probably witin the next 2-3 weeks) and then we'll see about getting some puppies!! :-D

Shopping Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 05:39:23 PST

So Rosie - where should we head first? Walmart? Petsmart?

I don't know Rome, let's head to Treats Unleashed and see what sales they've got there.

What ya think mom?

PMS abounds

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 06:29:17 PST

Wow - I've heard that some female dogs can get hormonal like human women - that is the truth! Rosie is certainly being a tad bit hormonal these days. She's due to go into heat again very soon - can't wait until that's over. This is reminding me of the days when my now adult daughters were teens. YIKES!! Somebody pass the Midol!

A Puppy Room!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 06:38:17 PST

This week, has brought about some changes in our home. My husband had the week off, and finally had the time to reorganize our basement area, specifically the area outside my office, and we now have our puppy room! This was the plan since we first fell in love with this house and put a contract on it. After many months, our old house finally sold and we closed on this one. However, my husband works a great many hours each week, and with the extended driving time, hadn't gotten around to organizing things in the basement and storage areas. No more!

The room is now cleared, at this time, it's just concrete floors, and we may leave it that way for ease in cleaning after puppies arrive. ;-) It's about a 12x10 or so room - so not huge, but plenty big enough for Shih Tzus. :-) I have an area I will use to place the whelping box, complete with an outlet for heating pads, lamps, etc... There's also plenty of play room and I will be moving our four Tzus' kennels down here as well. Since this is open off my office, the dogs have free run between their new room, my office and their private fenced yard out the French doors off my office. So quite a bit of room for them. Also next to this new puppy room is my grooming room and a full bathroom. So this whole end of the basement is for dogs and my office. :-D SWEET!!

We still need to put in a drop ceiling and finish off 1 of the walls that's still concrete - but that will happen in time. Until then, the puppies have room to play! Rosie is expected to go into heat again in December 2005, so we will breed her to Romeo then and hopefully we'll have puppies whelping around Valentine's Day! So if you'd like a TraMar puppy, please visit our web site to fill out an application - we do have a waiting list! http://tramarshihtzu.com

Controversial Stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 09:29:07 PST

I am not normally one to get into controversial topics. I don't like debate. I'm an eternal optimist and peacemaker/mediator. However, there are a few things that do get my dander up, so to speak. One is folks who think they're all that and a bag of chips and feel they have the right to impose their opinions onto others.

Case in point: those against dog breeding. Some folks call them "animal rights wackos" (ARW) - perhaps a bit harsh, but none-the-less accurate. These ARW's are often associated with the group PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals). Now, I love my dogs. They are spoiled and much pampered. I'm all for ethical treatment of animals. My definition of ethical being defined as: give them food, water, shelter, love and medical care. PETA perhaps defines ethical differently. I believe some PETA folks would like to see no one even own an animal as a pet! While I do eat meat, and don't plan to give that up, I can see why some folks choose not to. That's their right. But to insist that no one eat meat. No one even own a pet?! That's more than extreme, that's absurd at best and just down right bizzare!

So what does all this have to do with breeding. Plenty. If you frequent any dog related message forums, email groups or web sites, it doesn't take you long to see which camp the folks there are in: breeder friendly - or not. I have seen some pretty heated discussions centered around opinions on breeding. Everything from no one should breed at all, to, if you don't do A, B & C as defined by this group or that, then you should not breed and then others that have their own twist on breeding prerequisites. Some of what is stated has strong basis in good information and truth, others are just spouting their opinion as "gospel" and the only right way. Hog wash!

But the ultimate accusation that I absolutely can not stand is when someone calls a breeder a puppy mill. This is often what commercial breeders are accused of being: puppy mills. That gets my blood to boiling! Why? Because it's a falsehood and horrible accusation to put on anyone, and to do so is slander, if you don't have concrete evidence to back up what you're saying.

What is a puppy mill? Here too, you may find many different definitions, but mine is what I'm using as the basis for my commentary, so here it is:

1. Deplorable conditions: dirty, horried living conditions.
2. Lack of proper food, water, shelter and medical care.
3. No socialization.
4. No physical exercise.
5. Poor breeding stock: as in, not up to breed standard, with many breed faults and health problems

Notice I did not state how many dogs one has, nor how many breeds they have. I also did not mention anything about how much money they made. Personally, I do not see anything wrong with someone in the business of selling puppies. Folks sell cows, goats, pigs, horses, etc.... any number of other types of animals for profit without anyone claiming them as a "mill" or any sort.

Stay with me now, I'm getting to my point: commercial breeders are not puppy mills! As a matter of fact, true puppy mills, purposely stay 'under the radar'. They don't want to be commercial, because commercial breeders have to undergo inspections by the USDA. They have standards they have to live up to, and they are held accountable to those standards!! Puppy millers don't have standards, and certainly aren't going to live up to those imposed by the USDA. Yes, they are in business solely to make money on selling their puppies. Their fault is not in the wanting to make money in selling puppies, it's in the improper care and treatment of the dogs in their care!!! That's a very real, and key difference over commercial breeders.

I know a few commercial breeders - every one of them are fine folks. They are in the business of selling puppies. It's not good business practice to have poor breeding stock and not to take good care of the dogs you have. If you don't take care of them, and don't start out with good quality dogs, then you're going to end up with poor quality puppies and you won't make any money, or not for long.

Hear me: just having a lot of dogs, in a commercial facility, even having a lot of different breeds of dogs, does NOT make someone a puppy mill! Making money by selling puppies does NOT make someone a puppy mill!! It is not the purpose behind their breeding, nor the number of dogs they have that makes someone a puppy mill.

A puppy mill is someone who does not provide adequate food, shelter, water, medical care, socialization, exercise and/or sanitary living conditions for their dogs. Period.

And if you think that only country hick folk, living in the boonies are puppy mills - think again. I've known more than one AKC show person whose dogs live in what I would consider puppy mill-like conditions. While the show dog, being actively shown or planning to be, may be kept clean, fed and watered, many show dogs live in their crates nearly 24/7, to protect the precious show coat. Some even kept in dark rooms, for reasons I can only speculate or only have hear-say on the reasons why. The coat and the shows are often more important than the dogs themselves. The hobby of showing seems to become more of an addiction than a hobby. The dogs often suffer as the result and in almost every case, it's been AKC show people who are the meanest, most opinionated bunch of them all when it comes to who should and should not be breeding. It's as if they think they have all the anwers and should dictate the breeding world. The second group that falls into this category are dog rescue groups.

Now here me, I've volunteered for dog rescue (Golden Retriever rescue, to be specific) and adopted senior rescues for years! So I'm all for rescue, and firmly believe pets should be spayed and neutered. I do not think for a minute that everyone with an intact male and female dog should breed to educate the children, or to have cute puppies or whatever the other usual reasons are for folks who decide to breed. But just because I believe those things, does not mean that I think anyone who chooses to breed is wrong to do so.

So too, I do not think all AKC show folks are bad, horrible puppy-millers wrapped up in an attractive package! There are some wonderful AKC folks out there too. I've met and talked with them. I may very well show my dogs some day, whether in AKC shows, APRI shows or both - I don't know yet. But I know that I would regret not having a run or two around a show ring before I die. If it has to do with dogs, I'm game to give it a go, because I love dogs! Not because I think I must before I breed.

As you all probably know, I intend to breed. We're expecting that we'll have our foundation litter whelping around Valentine's Day 2006. I researched breeding for 2 years before I got my breeding pair. Starting out and trying to do research, and find mentors, was tough. Very tough. First I was criticized for wanting to breed in the first place. Then my web site was picked apart and I was criticized for not already having my policies established for my breeding program, then for changing my mind in what those policies were and a whole host of other things. Remember: I haven't even had my first litter yet, and I'm getting heat!! Good thing I've got thick skin, because I have a feeling it's going to get worse.

So what's my point to this long and rambling post? To make you think. Please don't buy into all the rhetoric touted on many dog web sites. Do your own research on what puppy mills are. What commercial breeders really are. Go to some dog shows yourself and talk with show breeders. There are no always or nevers in this world. You can't lump a group of people into a category and say they "always this" or they "never that". You will find good and bad within any group of folks. Do your own research. Decide for yourself what you think is a puppy mill or an ethical breeder. If you look past the pre-package rhetoric, you might be surprised at what you find. :-)

Hello world!

noreply@blogger.com (Mrs. Traci Knoppe) — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 14:28:56 PST

Our first posting here at the Tzu Zoo (pronounced Zoo-Zoo; or as I like to say Shoe-Zoo). This is the official blog of TraMar Shih Tzu and our four faithful Tzus: Bear, Rosie, Romeo and Sophie (shown in order below).

We hope to have puppies with Rosie and Romeo around Valentine's Day. Until then, they live the much pampered life of spoiled Tzus. :) They spend most of their day sleeping at my feet in my home office. They have their beds, toys, food and water all here in the office, as well as, their own private fenced yard out the French doors in my office. So they can go out and bark at the birds, squirrels or whatever, at their leisure.

Stay tuned as we begin to build this blog by sharing the adventures and lives of our beloved pets.

Licks and tail wags,
The Tzu Zoo Crew