I Live in Sacramento, CA and am currently looking for a Shih-Tzu puppy.
I have spoken to a few "breeders" and the two who currently have
puppies rubbed me the wrong way. One seemed over anxious to sell the
puppies and told me over and over again how all Shih-tzu's have issues
with undershots and missing teeth. The woman didn't have the mother and
father available for me to look at, and she receives her puppies from a
breeder in CO, which made me wonder about them possibly being from a
puppy mill. Another said that she didn't have papers on the puppy but
assured me he was a pure pup. Then the woman wanted the same amount as
a papered dog, for a puppy without papers. She had just sold a tiny
little girl, who "shouldn't jump off the bed because she might break
something" to a woman for $1500. I don't think it is very responsible
to breed a dog so small that it is unhealthy and possibly at risk of
serious injury. All I want is a happy, healthy, good-tempered little
girl. If anyone knows of a good breeder in CA, any
information/referrals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
H

"Hi-D" wrote in message
oups.com...
I Live in Sacramento, CA and am currently looking for a Shih-Tzu puppy.
I have spoken to a few "breeders" and the two who currently have
puppies rubbed me the wrong way. One seemed over anxious to sell the
puppies and told me over and over again how all Shih-tzu's have issues
with undershots and missing teeth. The woman didn't have the mother and
father available for me to look at, and she receives her puppies from a
breeder in CO, which made me wonder about them possibly being from a
puppy mill. Another said that she didn't have papers on the puppy but
assured me he was a pure pup. Then the woman wanted the same amount as
a papered dog, for a puppy without papers. She had just sold a tiny
little girl, who "shouldn't jump off the bed because she might break
something" to a woman for $1500. I don't think it is very responsible
to breed a dog so small that it is unhealthy and possibly at risk of
serious injury. All I want is a happy, healthy, good-tempered little
girl. If anyone knows of a good breeder in CA, any
information/referrals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
H

If papers aren't important to you, I'd recommend going to a Shih-Tzu rescue.

I adopted 2 purebred pugs from a pug rescue. They had originally come from
a puppymill. They had been abused and used as money making machines and
taken to a high kill shelter when they were no longer able to produce.

They are the most loving dogs I've ever seen. It's amazing how animals can
still be so loving to humans after they've been so abused by them.

Brigitte

On 29 Dec 2004 21:39:31 -0800 Hi-D whittled these words:
I Live in Sacramento, CA and am currently looking for a Shih-Tzu puppy.

The Shih Tzu is one of the small breeds in which it is actually possible
to find a health tested dog from a responsible breeder - with a little
work. These two links:
http://clubs.akc.org/astc/stbreed/astcbree/
http://64.37.122.206/ASTC/ethics.asp?menu=ASTC
will give you some idea of what you have a right to expect from a Shih Tzu
breeder.

Explore the links on that site for other valuable information.

Generic information on finding a good breeder is
http://www.dog-play.com/where.html

Join one or more of the several e-mail groups on the breed then just read
the messages for a couple weeks. That will help you in separating the
clueless from the greedy from the caring and knowledgable.

--
Diane Blackman
http://dog-play.com/
http://dogplay.com/Shop/