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Simple advice

My sister, and her fiance are getting a Shih Tzu, but I think there doing it all the wrong way. They found a breeder through the newspaper, and are going to call the breeder, and visit the puppies. I had some articles attached but it would take too much space to have them all written out. The following is my email to them simply explaining what I think.


Please read the following articles before calling the Shih Tzu breeder. I cannot stress enough how important this decision is. If you want to save yourself from unneeded heartache then you need to know the facts. The reason you need to buy from a breeder who shows their dogs is because people who think the dogs that they breed are an accomplishment, and advances the breed will show them, people who do not, or are just in it to make money will not. I would also advise NOT to buy around Easter, just wait a month or so because there are so many more breeders out their right now just doing it to get money. During Christmas and Easter is when the majority of them come out, so please unless you've been on a waiting list for at least 3 months do not get a dog at this time. It is also extremely bad to buy from someone who advertises in the paper. True breeders who care about their dogs and are informed do not sell through the paper. A good breeder would also have one or two people more on the waiting list, than the amount of puppies that they think they will have, and before the puppies are born. Normally each puppy would be accounted for a couple months before even the breeding took place. I was on a waiting list for Jasmine and it was completely full seven months before the puppies were to be sent to their new homes. If the breeder your going to see has bred good quality dogs, word of mouth alone should have been enough to get a person for every puppy born, before they were born. Another important tip is not to just go see this litter. If you go see the puppies, there is no way you won't get one, unless there is another breeder your going to see after your visit with him. Please do not just visit one breeder and make a rash decision without comparing more than one. Comparing two is still vary low. It would be best for you to have four or five breeders lined up to visit in one day if you feel you can't wait to get a puppy. Then you will be able to make a good decision, and trust me, good breeders will like that you are doing this, and that your not a rash puppy buyer, also ask a lot of questions, a sample of some you should ask are in the attached documents. If you only read one thing read the AKC Registered puppies paper. It will explains why registered dogs, do not mean quality dogs, but the other articles are very important as well and you should try to read them all. Many breeders who claim to make pet quality and not show, are the one's who will breed dogs with very serious medical conditions, costing you a lot of money, time, and sadness. You might not pay as much up front, but you will pay for it later. Their is no such thing as only wanting a pet quality dog, and not a show quality dog, because a show quality dog is bred to be healthy physically, have a sound temperament, and have good looks. A pet quality dog is in the same litter as the show quality but they just have too dark coat, to light a coat, to round of feet, a bad gate, etcetera, but still healthy and good temperament. Only bad breeders will not breed for all three of these attributes, because they will not pick good quality dogs as the parents. There is a lot more I could talk about but I just want to stress how important this decision is. You are not just getting a pet, but a new member to the family, and you want to get as good as quality as you can. Please at least read through the papers I have sent you. Any information you need I would be glad to research for you, and any questions glad to answer. I know a lot of excellent breeders, and I could find some top quality Shih Tzu breeders for you to check out. This topic is very important to me. It is so crucial that people receive quality dogs, and not support breeders just in it for the money. The breeder you are calling might be a rare exception, and actually be a good breeder, but that means he is also inexperienced, and has not entered into shows. Which means he is not willing to spend the time entering his dogs into shows, or just does not care enough to make sure his dogs are good quality before he breeds them. Breeders create life, please support the one's that take the time to make the quality of life exceptional.

Thanks for listening



You can also check out the following websites:

www.akc.org

www.shihtzu.org

http://www.hs us.org/pets/pet_adoption_information/buying_a_puppy/

http ://www.cyberpet.com/cyberdog/articles/findpet/findpup.htm


http://www.gopetsamerica.com/shih-tzu/shih-tzu-health-probl ems.aspx

http://americanshihtzuclub.org/temperament

~e nd of email

And you may have noticed the Easter part, and that is because today is Easter.

Happy Easter :)

Novice

Saturday me and Jazz went to a dog show at Jefferson county fairgrounds. I was up at 5 a.m. getting things ready, since it was a last minute thing. I didn't know if I was going or not till 9 the night before, and then I had to give Jazz a bath and blow-dry her for bout an hour. We got there at 7, it was an hour and a half drive, and then I attended an MHGRC meeting. I'm still not sure if I'm a member or not, but I got the paperwork filled out, and if I'm not right now I soon will be. The show was hosted by the club, so it was golden’s only. That was cool because she got to hang out with her relatives. She got to play with Logan who was a puppy from her litter, and also see her mom and dad. Also the dog I want to have her bred with was there. I was planning on having her compete in pre-novice, but since I didn't know you had to say pre-novice not just Novice I was signed up for Novice. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise though, because I wouldn't have been able to stay late enough to do pre-novice. So I got there at 7, signed up at 8, and then waited to show till 11:30. Jazz was pretty good during the day, not whining to much, and doing her tricks correctly whenever I practiced, but once I knew she was doing Novice I started to get worried. The difference between pre-novice, and novice is on or off leash, and Jazz had never been off leash before, anywhere besides the backyard, not even in class, and once her leash comes off she loves to bolt, as fast as she can go. So you can see why I was stressed. I had no idea what she would do once she was free. So then when it was finally my turn I wasn't too sure going into the ring, but I knew i'd stick through it no matter what happened. The first part was on leash healing, and doing figure eights, but then it was time for off leash. I unhooked her and handed the leash to the judge. Ok first exercise, stand for exam, great, I thought, I get to start with her worst trick. As you might remember this particular exercise is a doozy for Jazz, because once she forgets about me she'll start running around, jumping, and doing stuff she's not suppose to do, and someone coming up and touching her is the perfect trigger to make her forget about me. I told her stay walked in front of her and stood there praying, and hoping that she would stay still, and besides the fact that she was terrible at doing this, this would be the first time ever, that I had tried doing the trick while not right by her side. But just a wag of her tail later, and the exercise was over. I couldn't believe it, she had staid, but now was not the time to celebrate, so I walked back around her stopping at heal position and then releasing her; I had a second to breath before the next exercise. Now I had to heal off-leash. This was the big tester when she would realize I had no control over her. I wasn't quite ready for that yet, so I took out a treat, and set off. It started out ok, and that relaxed me a little, at least she didn't bolt in front of all the people I looked up to, and was trying to impress. It was just one turn at a time, first turn good, next turn, not so good, right when we were doing our roundabout turn another dog had walked right by the other side of the ring, and had decided he wanted to say hi to Jazz, and Jazz being ever so gracious obliged him, completely forgetting about me, but a couple seconds later and I had gotten back her full attention. I finished the exercise reasonably well, and then I was done. We might not have been perfect, but we had passed through Novice, even if it was just a fun-match. My goal was to enter Jazz in her first real show in June, and that was reaching, but now that doesn't seem so hard, and I'm starting to think that I can not just compete but earn her CD during the show, and it would be so great competing in Open by the time I want to breed her.

The great outdoors

Jazz had a long day yesterday, first I worked on the commands she's learning from the attention heeling class, then I let her run around in the backyard, it was the first time it's been warm enough to be outside in a long time, and after that we went hiking in Fox run park. It was a beautiful day. Jazz loved running through the trees and smelling everything. At times she can forget she's a girl, I guess it's caus she hasn't grown up with other dogs, but she kept marking her territory, good grief. She saw a horse, and freaked once it moved and she realized the thing was alive, also she saw a squirl and got mad at me for not letting her chase it. She only got stuck around a tree once half way through our walk, every other time she would get untangled in a second or two, even that time after about a minute she still figured it out. Oh and she got to ride in the back of the truck all by herself, the part with the shell, she only whined a bit on the way to the park, and slept on the way back, so she did pretty good. I'm hoping I can have her ride in the back more so I can take her with me when I go out. It would be nice to not have to leave her every time I leave, though she can stay at home by herself without wrecking anything, her one main problem is her barking, esspecially since there's a house being built right next to ours. The workers are outside all the time, and since she thinks she's our guardian she likes to bark at them to remind them whose boss :) she'll get it though, one of these days.