Shih Tzu

The Shih-Tzu (pronounced SHEE-tsoo, from Mandarin) is a breed of small but very ancient dog type, with long silky fur. The breed originated in China. The name is both singular and plural.


Names and Etymology

Shih-Tzu (Shih-tzu Kou; literally "Lion Dog"), is the Chinese name rendered according to the Wade-Giles system of romanization in use when the breed was first introduced in America; the Chinese pronunciation is approximately SHIRR-tsə. The name translates as Lion Dog, so named because the dog was bred to resemble "the lion as depicted in traditional oriental art," such as the Chinese guardian lions. The Shih-Tzu is also often known as the "Xi Shi quan", based on the name of Xi Shi, regarded as the most beautiful woman of ancient China, and, less often, the Chrysanthemum Dog, a nickname coined in England in the 1930s. The dog may also be called the Tibetan Lion Dog, but whether or not the breed should be referred to as a Tibetan or Chinese breed is a source of argument, the absolute answer to which "may never be known".

Appearance

A small dog with a short muzzle and large deep dark eyes, with a soft long, double coat, the Shih-Tzu stands no more than 26.7 cm (10 1/2 in.) at the withers and with an ideal weight of 4.5 to 7.3 kg (10 to 16 lbs). Drop ears are covered with long fur, and the heavily furred tail is carried curled over the back. The coat may be of any color, although a blaze of white on the forehead and tail-tip is frequently seen. The Shih-Tzu is slightly longer than tall, and dogs ideally should carry themselves "with distinctly arrogant carriage." A very noticeable feature is the underbite, which is required in the breed standard.



The traditional long silky glossy coat that reaches the floor requires daily brushing to avoid tangles. Often the coat is clipped short to simplify care, in a "puppy clip". For conformation showing, the coat must be left in its natural state, although trimming for neatness around the feet and anus is allowed.
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History of Shih-Tzu

Recent DNA analysis confirms that the ancestors of today's Shih-Tzu breed are among the most ancient of dog breeds. Ludvic von Schulmuth studied the skeletal remains of dogs found in human settlements as long as ten thousand years ago. Von Schulmuth created a genealogical tree of Tibetan dogs that shows the "Gobi Desert Kitchen Midden Dog", a scavenger, evolved into the "Small Soft-Coated Drop-Eared Hunting Dog who would fight lions in packs " which evolved into the Tibetan Spaniel, Pekingese, and Japanese Chin. Another branch coming down from the "Kitchen Midden Dog" gave rise to the Papillon and Long-haired Chihuahua and yet another "Kitchen Midden Dog" branch to the Pug and Shih-Tzu. The Shih-Tzu was almost completely wiped out during the Chinese Revolution. Seven males and seven females were saved, and today, all Shih-Tzus can be traced back to one of these dogs.



There are various theories of the origins of today's breed. Theories relate that it stemmed from a cross between Pekingese and a Tibetan dog called the Lhasa Apso; that the Chinese court received a pair as a gift during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD); and that they were introduced from Tibet to China in the mid-18th century (Qing Dynasty.[9] Dogs during that time were selectively bred and seen in Chinese paintings. The first dogs of the breed were imported into Europe (England and Norway) in 1930, and were classified by the Kennel Club as "Apsos". The first European standard for the breed was written in England in 1935 by the Shih-Tzu Club, and the dogs were recategorised as Shih-Tzu. The breed spread throughout Europe, and was brought to the United States after World War II, when returning members of the US military brought back dogs from Europe. The Shih-Tzu was recognised by the American Kennel Club in 1969 in the Toy Group. The breed is now recognised by all of the major kennel clubs in the English-speaking world. It is also recognised by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale for international competition in Companion and Toy Dog Group, Section 5, Tibetan breeds.

Health

A number of health issues, some of them hereditary, have been found in individual Shih-Tzu, and are listed below. There is no data on the percentage of dogs with these ailments.

Morbidity

Some health issues in the breed are portosystemic shunt of the liver and hip dysplasia in standard sizes.
Breathing problems
Shih-Tzu are brachycephalic (short-muzzled) dogs and are very sensitive to high temperatures. Many airlines that ship dogs will not accept them for shipment when temperatures at any point on the planned itinerary exceeds 75 °F (24 °C).


Mortality

UK Kennel Club survey puts the average life span of a Shih-Tzu at 12 years 2 months with most living between 10-16 years.

Coat Colors

The Shih-Tzu comes in a range of colors that include various shades of gold, white and red. Other colors include black mask gold, solid red, black and white, solid black, solid liver, liver and white, blue and white, brindle and white and silver and white. Though not as common there are also solid blue Shih-Tzu. An interesting point (and often a point of confusion) is that while the coat color of those with black pigmented skin (nose, lips, pads, also referred to as "leather") is determined by the color of the coat itself; the coat color on dogs with either liver or blue pigment is categorized by the colour of the pigment. Thus a parti colored (white and another shade) Shih-Tzu with blue pigment is a "blue and white" regardless of the tint of the hair which might very well appear similar to a gold and white or other colors. The same principle applies to solid blue, liver and liver and white.



Hypoallergenic Coats

The Shih-Tzu is one of many dog breeds with a hypoallergenic coat.

Variations

Kennel Club Differences

There is a difference between the American Kennel Club and the Kennel Club (UK) Shih-Tzu:
The AKC (american kennel club) Shih-Tzu
• Their legs are high and the front legs face forward.
• The chest is small.
• The head is more or less square-ish and is set on a very long and slender neck
• The eyes are large and do not face the front completely.
• The shoulders of the American type of Shih-Tzu are frontal.
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Basics of Shih-Tzu Training

Basics of Shih-Tzu Training

It's essential for Shih-Tzu parents like you to know certain basic factors that determine your relationship with your Shih-Tzu and can go a long way in training him effectively.

Before you begin training your Shih-Tzu, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Shih-Tzu to have complete trust in you. 


Let us see how.......

How To Bond With Your Shih-Tzu

Building a bond with your Shih-Tzu is the first and the most crucial step involved in training him successfully. As soon as you bring your Shih-Tzu home, you must first try to develop a caring and loving relationship with him in order to win his trust and confidence. 

When Shih-Tzus are secure in the knowledge that they belong to the family, they are more likely to respond better to their owners' training commands. Just like with any relationship, there must be mutual trust and respect between you and your Shih-Tzu. 

Trust takes time to develop and respect comes from defining boundaries and treating any breach of those boundaries with firmness and fairness. 

Without enforceable limitations, respect can’t be developed. And when there is no respect, building a bond with your Shih-Tzu is almost impossible. 

4 Golden Rules To Building A Relationship With Your Shih-Tzu :
  • Spend quality time together;
  • Take him out in the world and experience life together;
  • Establish and promote a level of mutual respect; and
  • Develop a way of communicating to understand each other's needs.
Building a bond with your Shih-Tzu will not only help you manage him better but will also make your Shih-Tzu calm, quiet and an extremely well-adjusted pet.
Love Your Shih-Tzu and He Will Love You back

Once you're succesful in building a bond with your Shih-Tzu, you can rest assured that training him and teaching him new and clever tricks will be a cakewalk.


How Your Shih-Tzu Learns...

Your Shih-Tzu's learning period can be divided into five phases:

The Teaching Phase - This is the phase where you must physically demonstrate to your Shih-Tzu exactly what you want him to do.

The Practicing Phase - Practice makes Perfect. Once a lesson is learnt, practice with your Shih-Tzu what you have just taught him. 

The Generalizing Phase - Here you must continue practicing with your Shih-Tzu in different locations and in an environment with a few distractions. You can take your Shih-Tzu out for a walk, or to a nearby park and command him to practice whatever you've taught him. 

Practicing the learned lessons in multiple locations and in the presence of small distractions will help him learn and retain lessons better . 

The Testing Phase - Once you're sure that your Shih-Tzu has achieved almost 90% success....he responds correctly almost every time you give a command, you must start testing his accuracy in newer locations with a lot of distractions.

Example: Take him to the local shopping mall and ask him to obey your command. He may not come up with the correct response the very first time you do this, but you must not lose hope. 

The idea is to test your Shih-Tzu to see how he responds in an environment which is new to him. Set-up a situation where you are in control of the environment and your Shih-Tzu.

There are only 2 possibilities:
  • Your Shih-Tzu succeeds!!! (Trumpets please!)
  • In case your Shih-Tzu fails, re-examine the situation. Review and/or change your training. Then try testing again.
Keep on testing until he succeeds. Follow the rule of the 3 Ps – patience, persistence, praise.
Internalizing Phase - Finally, comes the extremely rewarding phase where your Shih-Tzu does everything he is taught to do even without your commands. 

Remember:
  • Never scold your Shih-Tzu if he fails. It's not his fault. You have failed as a trainer!
  • You must be patient and persistent for your efforts to show rewards.
  • Appreciate and love your Shih-Tzu when he does it right! A little encouragement will work wonders for your Shih-Tzu.



Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
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Training Your Shih Tzu to Listen to You

Training Your Shih-Tzu to Listen to You

Why Won't My Shih-Tzu Listen To Me?

This is a common question that most first-time Shih-Tzu owners ask me. Before I answer your question, let me ask you a few instead:
  • Do you use cookies, collars, head halters or clickers to make your Shih-Tzu listen to your commands?
  • Do you have to raise your voice every time you want your Shih-Tzu to listen to you?
  • Does your Shih-Tzu always come or sit on command - anytime and anywhere you want him to?
If your answers are mostly in the negative, its time you seriously reconsider your role as a sincere Shih-Tzu trainer and an ideal pet parent.


Get Your Shih-Tzu To Listen To You

Before you begin any training, you must first establish yourself as the "ALPHA dog" of your family. Your Shih-Tzu must know that you’re the leader of the pack and it is YOU who is in charge.

Here is a list of simple DO's and DONT's that you must follow if you want to be the Alpha:
  • Always go out or come in through the door first - remember you are the leader;
  • Always eat first - give your Shih-Tzu something to eat only after you've finished your meal;
  • Don’t circle around your Shih-Tzu when he is lying on the floor - make your Shih-Tzu move out of your way instead;
  • Don't let your Shih-Tzu set the rules - pay attention to him when you think fit and not whenever he demands;
  • Don’t permit your Shih-Tzu to sleep with you in your bed - demarcate his sleeping area clearly.
Once you successfully established yourself as the Alpha, training your Shih-Tzu and making him listen will be a lot easier than you can imagine. Remember, if your Shih-Tzu does not learn to "listen", all your training efforts will be in vain!

Does your Shih-Tzu know his name? Does your Shih-Tzu look at you whenever you call him by his name? This is the first and the most critical step involved in Shih-Tzu Training. If your Shih-Tzu doesn't respond to his name, you cannot have his attention for teaching him any other commands.

To make sure that your Shih-Tzu recognizes his name, take a treat in your hand and hold it away from your body. Call your Shih-Tzu's name. He is most likely to look at the treat in your hand. Continue calling his name untill he turns and looks at your eyes. Give him the treat immediately. Repeat this exercise by holding the treat in the other hand. Once you're sure that your Shih-Tzu has learnt to recognize his name, just call his name and reward him for looking at you by petting or with a hug.

You must understand that Shih-Tzus respond far better to positive reinforcement than they do to coercion or force.



Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
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Is Your Shih-Tzu Potty Trained Enough?

Is Your Shih-Tzu Potty Trained Enough?

House Training a puppy or adult Shih-Tzu is such an essential issue for its owner that even a single exclusive tip turns out to be extremely helpful.

The first step in making your Shih-Tzu fit for polite company would be to potty train him. Some see this training as a hassle and some as a challenge.

For me, it is part of bringing up a pet.


There are a few things you need to know before you actually start potty training a puppy or adult Shih-Tzu. I enumerate these below:
  • You need to understand your dog's body language. Watch for signs that will indicate to you when your pet wants to eliminate.
  • If you own puppies, remember that they need to go potty at fairly frequent intervals - as soon as they wake up, after short naps, after play-time, after meals, before and after being crated and finally, before retiring for the night.
  • Take your Shih-Tzu for walks at the time that he usually does his potty. Take him out to the yard and then to the same place there every time he needs to answer nature's call.
  • Praise your Shih-Tzu after he eliminates at the right place. Some Shih-Tzu owners even give treats to their dogs. But remember to do this every time he does it right. He will relate the rewards to his having "done it right" and zero in on the spot where you want him to defecate regularly.
  • With time, you can try signal training. This is so that you know when your doggie wants to go. You can hang a bell at his level near the door and teach him to push it with his nose or pat it with his paw on his way out.
  • Until your Shih-Tzu has been fully potty trained keep him under strict vigilance. Do not let him roam around the house freely.
  • Use a crate. A crate-trained Shih-Tzu is usually very happy to get his own den. The advantage of crating is that dogs do not soil the place where they sleep. So, he will naturally not eliminate inside the crate.
  • If you have a small dog and if you live in a high-rise building or in a place that does not have a proper backyard, you can try litter pan training. What you do is create a space for your pet to eliminate in your house itself.
  • Use positive reinforcements while housebreaking puppies or adult dogs. Do not scold or hit him as you will gain nothing by doing that. He will only associate punishment with your return from outside. If you catch him in the act, a stern 'NO' or 'FREEZE' will do. It will startle the Shih-Tzu enough for him to stop pooping.
  • Be prepared to return to a soiled home if you are keeping your Shih-Tzu home alone for more than 4 hours as separation anxiety is quite common among home - alone dogs.
  • Accidents will happen. It is unusual for a trained adult Shih-Tzu to work against its house training. But medical problems or health disorders may lead to sudden accidents.
  • Many dogs mark their territory. These can be a leg of a table or a particular wall. Intact male and female dogs mark their territories by urinating. Use deodorizers to spray on the places where your Shih-Tzu has marked.
  • If you are patient and are ready to accept that house training a dog takes time, even months sometimes, you will end up having a good housetrained Shih-Tzu.
 
Now we will move on to how to potty train puppies and adult dogs.

Potty Training A Puppy:

Irrespective of breeds, housetraining a puppy is considered to be one of the biggest challenges by dog owners. If you think housetraining your puppy simply involves a steady supply of old newspapers, then think again.

A puppy does not develop full control over his bladder until it is over 4 or 5 months old. Since they are growing and developing rapidly at this time, puppies eat more, burn more calories and need to eliminate more frequently than an adult Shih-Tzu.

After each nap, meal, drink or play, take your puppy to his designated area (indoors or outdoors, wherever you have decided) and stay there until it eliminates. Then bring him to his crate.

Repeat this situation every day until he has developed a habit out of it.


Potty Training An Adult Shih-Tzu:

The best way to housetrain an adult Shih-Tzu is to begin all over again.

Observe him very closely. Maybe even maintain a diary of where he goes and when. Whether he is pooping when you are home or only when you are outside; whether you can time yourself to be home when he feels the need to go outside.

You can try dog crates, but be careful to introduce him gradually to them. 


Remember, commitment, consistency and intelligent use of positive reinforcement will make you the owner of a perfectly housetrained Shih-Tzu. Don't expect miracles. You will only be disappointed.


Get this unique Housetraining guide and start Housebreaking Your Shih-Tzu Today.


Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
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How Well Is Your Shih-Tzu Groomed?

How Well Is Your Shih-Tzu Groomed?

The reason one should groom his/her Shih-Tzu is simple - your dog's physical state influences the way he feels and the way you look at your dog. Extreme cases, where lack of proper care, cleaning and grooming can directly affect the behavior of your Shih-Tzu, are not rare.

Proper grooming not only infuses a healthy glow to your dog's appearance, but also helps develop his self-esteem; while it makes you a very proud parent, when you show off your Shih-Tzu to others.
The first step involved in dog grooming is: Brushing!

Brushing has been universally acknowledged by expert dog groomers as the single most important step in grooming.

The benefits of brushing are many. To name a few:

  • Better blood circulation

  • Shinier and healthier coat

  • Better bonding

Even if you know how crucial brushing is for your Dog's health and well-being, we all know that there is a right way and a wrong way of doing anything. And without doubt, you would like to do everything the RIGHT way when it comes to your Shih-Tzu. 

Yes, there's a method to follow while brushing your Shih-Tzu.

Here are FIVE steps to successfully brushing your Shih-Tzu that will prove to be extremely useful:
  • Brush against the growth of the hair first with a slicker brush and then with a medium or wide-toothed comb.

  • The slicker brush removes all the loose hair and the comb takes care of the tangles.

  • Brush your Shih-Tzu along the hair growth and make sure you reach the skin as you brush his way.

  • Then use a flea comb over the coat to get the fleas and remove any remaining tangles. Part the coat and start from the root and then comb through.

  • If your Dog's paw pads are hairy, then clip them using electric clippers. Do not clip the hair in between the pads. Clip only the excess hair.
Brush your Dog's hairs to prevent it from matting. Matting can be a very painful experience.
Regular brushing untangles the matted hairs on your Dog's coat. Since this is a risky job to do, the best way out is to prevent them from forming in the first place. And doing this is simple: just brush and comb your Shih-Tzu regularly. If and when you see any mats or tangles, use a detangle solution and a medium-toothed comb. 

Don't wait until your Shih-Tzu is dirty or matted to introduce him to grooming. That would make him associate the experience with unpleasantness. Moreover, many dogs learn to see their routine brushing as an alternate form of petting, i.e. another source of affection and attention.



Copyright (c) 2009 TrainPetDog.com
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