The two Shih Tzu puppies shown in this picture are AKC (American Kennel Club) registered.
I owned, bred and showed Shih Tzu myself for 25 years and all of them were registered with the Canadian Kennel Club (CKC). One of their mandates is responsible dog ownership.
Where we live in East Texas, there are often people selling litters of puppies by the roadside or near shopping centers. That is very discouraging to me and apparently was abhorrent also to one of our new City Council members. She has presented a bill to have this practice stopped.
You can tell a lot about a person by the way he treats animals. Some of us may be over-protective, you can never overdo being good at what you are doing. I love our dog and I have certain rules and procedures to help keep him safe and healthy. That is why you will notice two or three places in our house with leads hanging. . . and that is just what you see. They are easy to grab and affix to his collar when the doorbell rings.
From the viewpoint of the breeder of purebred dogs, let me tell you a story. (I know, we older folks always have a story. BUT you can learn from real events better than just being told not to do something.)
The Shih Tzu breed is a dog I like to see in an adult home. It is small and its eyes are quite vulnerable. I personally prefer some other breeds - particularly Retrievers (Labradors, for example) for families with children. The youngest child in a home where I placed a Shih Tzu was twelve, and he was a mature twelve.
One day, we drove into our driveway in Thornhill, Ontario to a family waiting to purchase a dog. Well, most breeders are not like storefront shops and it is a good idea to phone ahead.
I will give you the shortest version I can give you about this family.
Before showing them either of the puppies I had available, I asked if they had had a dog and here is what they told me:
They had a dog which they tethered to the family car parked in the driveway after coming back from a morning walk. Then they told me they had run over the dog with the car (and killed it) when they backed out to go to work.
I was disturbed, to put it mildly but I came up with a pretty good solution - probably for everyone.
I told them I did not have a dog to go right now, but if they would go to the local animal shelter, they had lots of dogs.
The part I did not tell them was that Animal Shelters, The Humane Society or whatever it is called in your city, have nice forms for prospective owners to complete. It includes lots of questions which would reveal that these people were NOT responsible pet owners.
A dog purchased from someone who sets up a couple of exercise pens by the roadside boils down to an impulse purchase. A dog is a member of your family. A dog deserves to have a suitable family who will love him and take good care of him. (Some people selling dogs in this fashion would be running what is referred to as a Puppy Mill. When purchasing a dog being offered as purebred, ask for regisistration papers.)
The people at your local shelter can help you match a dog to your family. Many dogs are being dropped off these days and shelters have more dogs than there are people to "adopt" them. The number of dogs who had to be put down in our area last year is staggering, so you could be saving a dog's life in addition to enhancing your own.
If you feel you would like a purebred dog, check the American Kennel Club website to see the traits of various breeds and find one that matches your lifestyle. (You may surprised to see how many purebred dogs are in the shelters as well as purchasing from a breeder if you do not want to show or breed.)
www.akc.org
