Spotlight Thursday – Meet Tink

Spotlight Thursday

Welcome my friends to SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY.  This is the time that I will introduce you to one of my fellow anipals so you can get to know them better.  Some of them, you may already know.  We hope that you enjoy this series!

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Name:  TinkerToy (but everybody who wants to live calls me TINK)

Age:  2 last October (that makes me a teenager, according to Mom, and that’s when she promised I could get my learner’s permit and start blogging, so I did – and I do)

Location:  A great big apartment with a teeny tiny porch facing a little tiny yard next to a really noisy road in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mom works there, too – so we spend most of our time together. In her office.

Web/Blog Page:  Mom hogs our only computer (no offense meant, Bacon!) – so I only get to be a Guest Blogger on ADDandSoMuchMORE.com every once in a while.  Here’s a link to my very first blog post, Blogging Tips from a Shih Tzu    

You can find others from there, using the Guest Posts drop-down on the bottom center of Mom’s menu bar – at the top of every page – scroll down to my name, and then click for a blog roll of what I’ve blogged (so far).   

Except for just a few other 2-legses guest posts, she wrote the rest herself – 2-legs stuff, mostly (and kinda’ boring if you ask me), but she did write a GREAT one on the day she went to pick me up for the very first time.  ALL I want for Christmas is . . . A Shih Tzu Puppy

What were your first thoughts when you met your new parents?  At first I was sort of confused.  Aunt Peggy took the trip with Mom to come get me in upstate Ohio.  I’ve since figured out that Mom could get lost in a bathtub, so Aunt Peggy came to keep it a day trip instead of a weekend with a hotel stay in Kansas, she says. 

I thought they were both really nice, but Aunt Peggy was holding me and making little cooing-clucking noises while Mom did some other stuff with my birth-Mom’s Mom. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until after the l-o-n-g ride in that big noisy wheelie thing that I now know is a wanna’-ride-in-the-car.  

Mom held me on her lap wrapped in a really soft blanket inside a big purse with windows for the whole long trip — while Aunt Peggy pretty much ignored me, kinda’ dizzy from the whizzing in the big front window she kept staring at, I guess. 

I wasn’t really sure we weren’t on the way to a new vet or something until Mom and I got out and Aunt Peggy kept on going.  I was even more confused when we went inside.  There was a big tree IN the house, with lights on it and a bunch of other stuff – and she kept putting me in scarves and things to take my picture. 

NOW I know that’s how she celebrates Christmas, but I don’t mind sayin’ it was really weird that first day.  But I figured Mom was a pretty understanding two-legs, since she didn’t leave my side for several days and nights. So I knew I’d be okay until somebody came to take me back home where all the trees stayed outside.

What was the defining moment when you knew you were in your forever home?  That one’s easy – the treats.  Mom already had my food, a couple of special beds, blankets, toys and stuff for me, and she knew that I was used to going potty on peepee pads. But I was afraid I’d have to go without my treats in this new place. 

The first time she came near me with a piece of banana, I suspected that maybe I wasn’t going back home – that this WAS gonna’ be home now.  When she finally noticed I was getting a bit tired of bananas and handed over the carrots and the broccoli, I knew my suspicions were right — and I pretty much figured that I had it made! 

Not having to share helped me get over missing my brothers and sisters too. FAST.  I didn’t even cry once.  I actually love to be with mostly two-legses now.  None of the four-legses ever have any treats.

What has been your biggest “Oh no, now I’ve done it” moment so far in your home?   That would have to be a tie between shredding the toilet paper,, tearing up the peepee pads, and pulling the stuffing out of one of the couch pillows and burying it in special places all over our apartment.  (I think the two-legses aren’t as fond of a change of texture now and then, and they get crazy when we four-legses LOVE it).  

I could tell Mom was really mad because she used her bad-dog voice when she turned her eyes from that little box thing with the sounds and earmuffs she talks to all the time and caught me at it — and she growled every time she found another little bit of something I’d hidden somewhere new.  

She still hasn’t put the stuffing back in that couch pillow, by the way. It’s on some list, she says – even though anybody could see it plain as day on the table.

 Who do you have wrapped around your paws more – mom or dad – and why?  I don’t have a Dad . My friend Xander doesn’t have a Mom, so I guess some dogs only get one or the other — and boy am I’m glad I got the one I did.  Uncle Jason is great and all, but Mom’s a push-over.  

She plays frisbee with me, fetch toys down our long hallway, and is pretty much always good for a quick game of find the ball under the furniture. She also keeps the tangles out of my coat (mostly), cooks special treats like sweet potato chewies, and fixes special food so I’m not stuck with those dry health-food chunks all the time.  

When its nice outside and I’ve been really good she takes me to play with these little two-legses in the park. But the best thing is when we walk to a lake near where we live – and I get to play with the big 2-legses who are trying to rescue the fish on these sticks with strings.  Before we head home I get up on one of the benches and she gives me a big drink of water – and treats, just for being such a great dog! 

Oh yeah, and her bed is MY bed now.  The ones I started out with are now reserved just for naps.  I even have one on my own chair next to our computer – with a little step stool so I can get down if I get bored watching her work.  Since we’re in the same bed anymore, I can sometimes even wake her up (when she’s still sleeping and the sun is really bright and some dogs want to go outside!) But not always. 

I wrote all about the pain of having to deal with her sleep disorder in my extra-special article for N-24 Awareness Day.  Sleeping with the Enemy: Mom’s N-24

What’s the biggest misconception that humans think about you?  That I am a GIRL!  There’s this great Cheers bar on my route (where everybody knows my name). My fan club hangs there, and we check in during our night walks. But they keep saying “she.”   Haven’t they ever seen a topknot before?  It’s not just girls who want to be able to see, for pete sakes – and my bangs grow really fast. Sheesh!

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Hope you enjoyed meeting my friend – check back next week for another Spotlight edition!