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I
constantly have people contacting me looking for tiny shih tzu
puppies. I literally cringe when a customer is more
interested in the adult weight rather than the overall health,
temperament, and well-being of a puppy. Occasionally,
I will get a wee one, but I will almost guarantee I will have my
work cut out for me to help the puppy survive. I feel every puppy born at Sunnyhill is my responsibility, and I don't
take that responsibility lightly. When the puppy is tiny, it
will most certainly have difficulties during weaning. It just
doesn't have
enough meat on it's bones to sustain them. Momma doesn't
bring the food wagon around as much, because puppies have sharp teeth
and it hurts. I have to hand feed the puppy all day and yes,
all night long too. Throughout the night I have to set my
clock to be awaken every three hours. This can go on
for a couple of weeks. I can't go anywhere for more than a
few hours at a time because I have to be home to feed. Hand
feeding puppies can be difficult too. If they aspirate the
food into their lungs they can easily get pneumonia. The
next biggest hurdle a wee one has to face are puppy shots.
Little ones stress very, very easily. I don't like giving the
first puppy shot if they are under two pounds. If they
stress they get the stress bug or better known as coccidia.
Medicine is needed and liquid intake has to be closely monitored. When a puppy gets coccidia, they usually get diarrhea
and life-threatening dehydration will occur. When a puppy isn't
big to begin with, they simply don't have the weight to fight any
illnesses. If
you are looking to purchase a tiny puppy one of the first questions
you should ask is if the puppy was sick during any time of it's
life. If puppies don't have weight behind them, they don't
grow - period. Remember, these breeders are con artists and
marketing experts. They will lie and tell you what you want
to hear. They will say to you such and such a puppy only
will grow to be 5 lbs, and low and behold the puppy ends up to be 18
lbs. Good luck on trying to get your money back if you end
up with a chunker. The best way I've found to estimate the
adult weight of a puppy is weigh the puppy at 4 months of age and
double it. You will be pretty close to the final
weight. Since
shih tzus have become a much beloved breed a lot of backyard
breeders got on the bandwagon and came up with something new so
they can charge biggie bucks for their new venture. They
decided to capitalize on tiny shih tzus and named them imperials
or Chinese imperials. According to the AKC standard, shih
tzus are in the toy group and are suppose to be between 9 to 16
lbs. In the show ring they like them on the bigger
side. Click here
to read the American Kennel Club standard. Imperial
breeders are claiming weights below 7 lbs are very
desirable. I never, ever breed any of my girls if they are
less than 7 lbs or they will need a c-section to get the puppies
out. I've even heard of imperial breeders bragging they can
produce a puppy 3 to 4 lbs full-grown. Have you ever took a
good look at one of these pups? They look sickly, have wall
eyes, scraggly coats, and are just plain
ugly. Just look at this imperial picture below. Okay
the face looks cute but the coat leaves much to be desired.
I was informed this puppy was sold as an imperial but was 6.5 lbs at
four months. Double that and this so called imperial puppy
will be topping at around 13 lbs full grown. 
Picture
reproduced by permission from KD. Some
imperial breeders won't tell you but they cross breed their shih
tzus with other small dogs (not necessarily being a shih tzu) to
attain a smaller size. It is very easy to slap papers on a
dog unless AKC requires a DNA test. Why are all these
breeders using these alternative registries other than AKC?
Because they don't have the rigid guidelines that AKC requires of
their breeders. And yes, AKC breeders do get inspected by
AKC. They come to the kennel and will DNA any dog or litter
they so desire which I think is great. Here is another
example of an imperial shih tzu. It doesn't even look like a
shih tzu. 
Picture
reproduced by permission from KD. If
you don't believe what I have to say about this subject then all I
ask of you is to do a little homework. Click here
to read what the American Shih Tzu Club has to say about imperials
and make up your own mind. Do you want a sickly puppy that
has cost you a small fortune and pay even more to the vet to fix
what can't be fixed, or do you want a healthy puppy that truly
represents this great breed like one of our girls pictured below? 
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