“Many of the early dedicated breeders struggled diligently to try and develop a healthy and stable type Shih Tzu from the assorted differences in sizes of the original imports.”
in the eyes of the Scandinavian ex- ports. Some of the imports that ar- rived from the Scandinavian coun- tries were smaller in overall size, daintier, with softer, straighter coats, straight front legs, better mouths, slightly smaller heads, a slightly lon- ger nose and beautiful soft eyes. I mention all the background as a basis for the comparison of the early imports and the Shih Tzu of today. Enormous problems faced the early breeders. Although countless im- ports flooded the U.S., the Shih Tzu were scattered from coast to coast and many of the “breeders” had never seen a Shih Tzu. The very size of the US made breeding even more difficult when many breeders were forced to use the only available studs in their immediate vicinity, good or bad. Ship- ping by air to breed was not a common practice at that time. At the time most of the imports were not closely line bred so a great many breedings were out crosses and locating a close rela- tive or a pre-potent stud was near im- possible. The fact that there were two different Shih Tzu registries and one independent breeder registry did not help either. The British Standard was used as a basis when the American Shih Tzu Club devised its Standard. One major change was that the “legs became straight” and in the 1989 revi- sion the word “short” when referring to the legs was omitted in the Ameri- can Standard. Another problem was
name of the breeder, country of ori- gin, kennel name, date exported and new owner. With countless imports flooding the country to would be “breeders,” many of whom had absolutely no knowledge of the breed, a frenzy of breeding took place. Many of the early dedicated breeders struggled diligently to try and develop a healthy and stable type Shih Tzu from the assorted differ- ences in sizes of the original imports. In the very early years prior to and af- ter AKC acceptance one could see 17 and 18 pound Shih Tzu in the show- ring alongside some weighing seven pounds. It was necessary to stabilize and try to correct the many variables in the breed. Many of the early fanci- ers of the breed were no longer breed- ing and the Shih Tzu future was left somewhat in the hands of anyone who could own a dog. However, thank- fully most of those would be breeders fell by the wayside and it was left up to the remaining dedicated breed- ers to try and correct some of the re- sults of the haphazard breedings that took place. It was those breeders who have continued to extol the virtues of the breed. Some of the early imports from the U.K. and the Continent, as stated, were large in size and weight with unruly coats, bad mouths and bowed fronts but with beautiful round heads, good bone and body. Missing, though not in all, was the warm Eastern look
Scandinavian imports very early in Many of the early dedicated breed- ers struggled diligently to try and de- velop a healthy and stable type Shih Tzu from the assorted differences in sizes of the original imports. the de- velopment of the breed as well as the Scandinavian line through ‘My Lord of Tibet’ into the English lines. The breed was established in the U.K. with Championship status granted in 1940, long before the Shih Tzu made an appearance in the U.S., with over 700 registered Shih Tzu between 1930 and 1955. Despite interest in the breed by American fanciers the American Kennel Club showed very limited, or no, interest in the breed. The Shih Tzu was eventually accept- ed into the AKCMiscellaneous Class in 1955 but had to wait another 14 years before being able to compete for championship status. One stumbling block for acceptance was the Peke cross done by Miss Evans in 1952 and the similarity to the already approved Lhasa Apso. The Shih Tzu was ap- proved for AKC conformation shows on the 1st of September 1969. Unfortunately the little Chinese Lion Dog captured the imagination of the public and almost overnight became the most sought after toy dog in the U.S. From 1957 through 1963 well over 100 Shih Tzu were exported to the US from around the world. This information comes from the late Rev. D. Allan Easton’s papers listing the
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