The breeding of purebred Shih
Tzu's today is a very complex undertaking. Shih Tzu's have
many different breeding lines that produce different type
and traits of Shih Tzu within the same breed. Exotic Shih
Tzu as Breeders have personal likes and dislikes of a
certain types, sizes or colors but every breeder of Shih
Tzu's needs to remember the breed does have a standard. The
word imperial is a sales pitch, and means extraordinary
size. In many instances I have seen the IMPERIAL type of
Shih Tzu turn out to be 22 pounds (OMG)!!!! Stay Clear!!
As a pet client these are
some of the questions, that need answers:
1)Does our Exotic Shih
Tzu have its true breed characteristics and do you think our
Exotic Shih Tzu's appear to look like what the breed books
say it should look like? .....We think they look better than
most and our dogs did make it to Animal Planet's new show
DOGS 101. Animal Planet felt we were the perfect
representation of the Shih Tzu breed. Airs Nov 15th, 2008 at
8pm.
2) Do our dogs compare
to picture other Shih Tzu's of its breed of old or of famous
dogs bred in its breed? ...We feel that we design the faces
of our dogs, and they are awesome, but its not hard when you
have money and great breeding stock to start with. Heidi has
an awesome eye for picking a choosing the faces she designs.
3)Finally what is
the true temperament of a Exotic Shih Tzu? ....They sleep on
their backs and are not yappy, they have secure
personalities with unconditional love and kisses!
These are all the questions
to ask a breeder or that someone thinking of breeding dogs
should ask themselves before they undertake the job of
breeding any litter of puppies in any breed of dog. THIS IS
WHY EXOTIC SHIH TZU does NOT sell breeding DOGS!
We do have a few generations of
Exotic Shih Tzu's to show you, and further back great sires and
dames in your dogs pedigree. There are three main breeding
methods of breeding dogs or purebreds, line breeding, out
crossing and inbreeding. There are many good books out there on
breeding of dogs and I am not trying to rewrite any of them in
this writing, rather I am trying to get you as a pet client to
think, read and ask Questions of what your breeder is doing and
who you are buying from. We recommend that you buy from a
breeder that exclusively breeds only one breed.
I will discuss shortly the three
ways of breeding purebred dogs as to only lay fourth a guide to
breeding better dogs and keeping some type of constant format to
produce dogs that closely look like each other, have the same
traits, temperaments and are sound healthy dogs. Lets us simply
discuss them shortly and see if I can get you thinking and
looking at the way we are breeding our dogs.
Lets talk out cross breeding - This type of breeding is
seen a lot in dog breeding were none related dogs who are bred
out none related stock are bred together and in your dogs
pedigree. This type of breeding will not produce good dogs of
the same type, quality and soundness. Breeding dogs this way
only leads to many uncertain factors and can bring in many
things a breeder is unaware of or even make it impossible to pin
point were a trait or problem have come from (We never do this).
Out cross breeding should be done by very experienced breeders
only looking to correct a fault or make a certain improvement in
there dogs and than the breeder must be sure the dog or female
they are using carries this trait themselves and the line they
were bred down from does carry this trait or improvement for at
least the last three generations in there line or pedigree for
it to have any effect on result in making the desire changes,
after this these dogs from the out cross are usually bred back
into the main breeding line. Out cross breeding should not be
done by ANY new breeders or new comers to any breed and out
cross breeding is no way to start a breeding program when trying
to produce constant type, temperament and soundness in your
dogs. Even long time breeders have made mistakes when out
crossing and it is the fastest way to change type, temperament
and soundness in any breeding program in any breed of dog. I
always recommend you to educate yourself.
Lets talk about Line Breeding
- Line breeding is the breeding of related dogs bred down from a
certain breeding line of dogs. Many breeders think line breeding
is close breeding of related dogs and it should be avoided.
Nothing is farther from the truth. Good line breeding will
produce your best dogs that will in return produce even better
dogs if done right. Line breeding will give you much higher
constant results producing dogs of the same type, size, quality,
traits and temperaments. That is if the breeder is starting out
with everything being good and the line there breeding back into
is good with all things they want in there breed of dog. Line
breeding will quickly show a breeder just how good the line of
dogs they are working with is but line breeding will also show
the breeder any faults or problems they may have in there
breeding program. If there ever is one problem in a blood line
we will never breed that dog again. There are many formulas for
line breeding and these are discussed in many good books on dog
breeding, there are different Degree's of line breeding as well.
So it is not my attention to go in to all these formulas here.
However two which have proven very successful to me over the
years are when you breed a grand daughter to her dams sire,
(i.e., grandsire) this does require some advanced planning and
does require both dogs to be of very high quality with all the
good traits you want and within there breeds standard. Half
brother and half sister breeding with a out cross line in the
middle of there pedigree has also proven very good results if
the dogs used are of very good quality, sound and have great
temperaments. Line breeding does require knowledge and research.
It is always recommended that you due this before any breeding
of dogs. Line breeding in most cases will produce you better and
higher quality of dogs in any breed as long as you are starting
out with very good bred stock of the breed of dog you are trying
to breed. Line breeding has been proven by many top breeders and
top kennels around the world as one of the best ways to produce
better dogs. After all Exotic Shih Tzu's are "Simply The
BEST"!!!
Let’s talk about Inbreeding - Inbreeding is the very
close breeding of line bred stock to each other. Example of this
are litter brother to litter sister, Sire to daughter, or mother
to son, etc. This type of breeding should never be done by most.
Some very experienced breeders may on occasion pull a inbreeding
to set in a trait or type but than the breeding of these dogs
down from this point must be used carefully and within the aims
for which they were bred for. Inbreeding is only for very
knowledgeable long time breeders to even under take as this type
of breeding will truly intact the good traits as well as bring
out any bad traits or problem to a very high degree. Inbreeding
has however produce some very great top quality dogs who have in
return produce other very high quality dogs however many
inbreeding's due results in breeders have to put down many
puppies also and it is not for the weak at heart. Inbreeding is
not a recommended form of breeding dogs expect in certain very
experience breeders programs, usually done one time only for
that one purpose. WE NEVER DO THIS!!
The breeding of purebred dogs
should not be taken lightly, and every breeder should always try
to gain as much knowledge as they can on there breed of dog, its
type, breed standard, soundness and health not for getting its
true temperament. Keeping this in mind and do your research and
find a dog breeder that will insure that you have a better and
healthy dog for many years to come.
After all breeding pure bred
dogs is a true art form and breeding better dogs is ALWAYS our
goal. Don't purchase you next dog from just anyone, seek out a
good breeder of that breed of dog you want who has been around
and breeding for a while. You will be much happier with your
puppy purchase and so will your puppy and dog be happier and
healthy for many more years to come. Exotic Shih Tzu as a good
breeder offers full health guarantees on puppies we sell and we
stand behind our puppies because we know what has gone into
producing them. Do your research: Read about your breed, talk
to some of our references, and choose the sex and color you
like, and leave the rest to us.... you will be glad you did!
Exotic Shih Tzu's are "Simply The
BEST"!!!!
Heidi Malashchuk
2154 Merrick Rd
Merrick, NY 11566
516-867-7297
