Shih Tzu Puppies

Lion dogs of Tibet and the Forbidden City

The name means lion dog in Chinese, and the breed’s story runs along the old road between Tibet and China. Small long-coated dogs were kept in Tibetan monasteries and sent as gifts to the Chinese imperial court, where they were crossed with the palace’s own Pekingese and bred on inside the Forbidden City. The work was done by the palace eunuchs, quietly and for centuries, and the dogs almost never left the walls.

The Dowager Empress Cixi kept a large kennel and took a personal interest in it, and while she was alive the palace lines were held closely. After her death in 1908 the breeding scattered, and by the time Western visitors began taking an interest there were very few of the old palace dogs to be found.

Everything alive today traces back to a handful taken out of China in the 1930s. Lady Brownrigg brought a pair to England in 1930, a few more followed, and that small foundation was built up carefully over the next two decades. American servicemen stationed in Europe after the Second World War brought the breed home with them, and the American Kennel Club recognized the Shih Tzu in 1969, placing it in the Toy group.

The history tells you the important thing about the dog. This breed has never had a second job. It was not asked to hunt, to herd, to guard a flock or to go down a hole. It was bred to sit with people, and a thousand years of that shows in the puppy in front of you.

The chrysanthemum face

The standard asks for a small dog that is solid in the hand. An adult stands about nine to ten and a half inches at the shoulder and weighs somewhere between nine and sixteen pounds, and the first thing people say when they pick one up is that there is more dog in there than the coat suggested. The body is a little longer than it is tall, the chest is broad and deep, and the whole animal has real substance to it.

The head is round and wide, the eyes are large, dark and set well apart, and the muzzle is short and square. Hair grows out from the nose in every direction, which is why the face is described as a chrysanthemum — the flower and the face are put together the same way. The ears are large and heavily coated and hang down into the ruff, so they read as part of the coat rather than as ears. The tail is carried in a plume over the back.

Colour is wide open. Gold and white is the one most people picture, but the breed also comes in black, black and white, red, liver, brindle, silver, blue and combinations of all of them. A white blaze up the forehead and a white tip on the tail have both been admired for a long time. Puppy coats change as the adult coat comes through, and a gold puppy can lighten a good deal by its second year, so the colour at eight weeks is not the final answer.

The long coat, and the puppy cut

The coat is the breed’s signature: long, dense and flowing, a double coat that keeps growing and, kept in full length, reaches the floor and moves like a curtain when the dog walks. Owners who keep it long usually enjoy the ritual as much as the result — a pin brush and a comb worked in layers right down to the skin, a few minutes every evening, with a topknot or a small band to keep the hair off the face.

The other option is the one most owners in a warm climate choose, and it is a genuinely good look: the puppy cut. A groomer takes the whole coat down to an inch or two all over and leaves the face round and the ears and tail a little longer. The dog looks like an oversized puppy, which is where the name comes from, and the routine drops to a comb through a couple of times a week with a standing appointment every six to eight weeks. Neither length is more correct than the other. Plenty of owners keep the coat long through the cooler months and go short for the summer.

The rest of the list is short. A wipe around the eyes and muzzle with a damp cloth each morning keeps a pale face bright, since the hair there catches everything, especially after breakfast. Ears get wiped out when you groom. Nails every few weeks, and you will hear them on a hard floor when they are ready. Teeth brushed as a matter of routine, started early enough that the puppy decides the toothbrush is a game. Baths every few weeks with a good rinse and a proper dry, because a dense coat holds water.

The temperament the breed was built for

The breed standard describes the Shih Tzu as outgoing, happy, affectionate and trusting toward everyone, and states plainly that it is a companion dog and nothing else. That is unusually direct for a standard, and it is accurate. A Shih Tzu greets visitors as though they had come specifically to see it, gets along with other dogs, and treats a busy household as an improvement on a quiet one.

They are lap dogs in the literal sense. One will follow you around the house, wait outside the bathroom, and take the nearest lap the moment one becomes available. If no lap is on offer it will settle for a foot, and if you change rooms it will come along and settle again.

With children the breed is patient and genuinely fond of the company, and it is a sturdy little dog, which matters in a house with kids. The ones who sit on the floor and let the dog come to them get the best out of a Shih Tzu. Give the dog a bed of its own somewhere central and it will use it, and then it will move to the sofa the moment the sofa is free.

They do keep an eye on the front door. A Shih Tzu will tell you the mail has arrived and then go straight back to what it was doing, which is about the right amount of security from a dog this size.

Training, and what a day together looks like

Shih Tzus are bright and thoroughly food-motivated, and both facts point the same way: keep sessions short, pay well, and finish while the dog still wants another go. Three minutes before dinner and two more while the kettle boils will get you a sit, a down, a recall and a settle on a mat inside a few weeks. This is a breed that reads tone closely, so cheerful and generous beats loud and repetitive every time.

House-training runs on a schedule rather than on a signal. Small dog, short intervals — take the puppy out often, go out with it so you can reward the right thing in the right place, and think in months rather than weeks. A crate with a soft bed gives the puppy somewhere of its own and makes the schedule easier to keep.

Socialization deserves real attention through the first six months: new floors, new people, the sound of traffic, calm adult dogs of a range of sizes. A well-socialized Shih Tzu is welcome nearly everywhere, and this is a breed you can take nearly everywhere.

The day itself is gentle. A walk in the cool part of the morning, at a stroll with plenty of stopping to be admired, does the job. The middle of the day is for a nap in a patch of sun within sight of whoever is home. Afternoons want a bit of brain work — a snuffle mat, a food puzzle, five minutes of trick training — and a Shih Tzu will happily perform spin, paw and roll over long after the audience has drifted off. Evenings are the sofa, a chew, and a small dog arranged along the length of somebody’s thigh. In a Florida or Tennessee summer, walking early and late and keeping the middle of the day indoors suits both of you.

Coming to meet the Shih Tzu puppies

A Shih Tzu puppy is a different animal from a Shih Tzu photograph. The coat hides how solid the body underneath is, littermates differ far more in personality than in markings, and the colour a puppy is now may not be the colour it settles into.

Our Shih Tzu puppies come from our network of licensed breeders, and our team can talk you through what the coat routine looks like at either length and what a particular puppy’s parents were like. We have a store in Orlando and one in Nashville, and you are welcome to sit with a puppy for as long as you like before deciding anything. Find directions and hours, and ask about financing while you are here. Every puppy here goes home with its vet records, its vaccination history and a health warranty, and our team will walk you through what those cover.