Shih Tzu Do's and Don'ts

Definitely use a harness instead of a collar for your Shih Tzu.

Unlike a collar, a harness evenly distributes pressure across the chest, back, and shoulders, making it a much safer option.

◾ Shih Tzu have delicate neck and throats. Collars can be overly restrictive on their airways

◾ Collars may damage the trachea and even cause "Tracheal Collapse".

◾ The throat pressure from a collar can create breathing difficulties.

You can still use a collar for tags even when wearing the harness - just be sure to attach the leash to the harness and not the collar.

Keep your Shih Tzu mentally stimulated.

Treat-dispensing puzzles and interactive toys challenge your pup and can improve your dog’s problem solving skills. BONUS: You'll have just as much fun as your Tzu with this!

Moderate daily exercise is excellent.

Whether it's a walk in the neighborhood, a nice romp in the backyard or letting your dog zoom through the house when the zoomies hit, it's important that your dog gets some form of exercise on a daily basis.

Talking to your Shih Tzu encourages trust and bonding.

Dogs understand more than we give them credit for. Certainly talk to them and don't feel silly about it! Hearing your loving voice not only comforts them but helps them get to really know you and deeply bond with you.

In fact, doing so will form a strong, lifelong friendship that will go beyond what words can ever explain or others understand.

Never hesitate to say "I love you" to your dog.

They understand our emotions on a deeper level than we can imagine.
*But what about words themselves?
It's been shown by Dr. Masaru Emoto that  words expressing love, kindness and gratitude can actually change the shape of water on a molecular level!

-Dr. Emoto's experiments have been reproduced with the same results all over the world.

*Could the mere sound of spoken words have influence?

Click Here For ▶ WATER EXPERIMENT VIDEO

Dog's May Sense Love More Than We Do...
After all, if dogs can:

✔Smell cancer (▶ Click here for Reference)

✔Detect heart attacks before they happen (▶ Click here for Reference)

✔Can detect seizures more than 20 minutes in advance (▶ Click here for Reference)

✔THEN "SENSING LOVE" MAY VERY WELL COME NATURALLY TO DOGS! 💖

Don't let anyone say your dog doesn't understand the words "I love you".

The following excerpt is from AllShihTzu: 

"Offering  a dog drinking water may seem like the easiest task in the world. But,  if you’re on city water and you’re filling up the bowl straight from  your kitchen tap, you’ll want to think twice about this (and most  certainly your own water intake as well, if you drink from the tap). 
In  the U.S. (and many other countries), the majority of municipal tap  water violates laws that are supposed to keep it safe. You may be  surprised to know that a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council  (NRDC) showed that U.S. community water systems amassed more than 80,000  safety violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA).  Here are just a few concerns:   

• Over 200 Americans in all 50 states have Chromium-6, a carcinogen, in their tap water (EPA confirmed).
• Around  6 million in the U.S. have PFASs (poly fluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl)  in tap water, linked to immune suppression and hormonal issues.
• Other  common contaminants include chlorite, chloramines, trichloroethane (1,1,2), various pesticides, and traces of drugs, impacting at least 41 million Americans.
• High levels of heavy metals are widespread."

Credit: AllShihTzu https://www.allshihtzu.com/shih-tzu-dos-and-donts

OUR THOUGHTS (Pup-Tzu WNC):

According to our vet, tap water (municipal city water) hurt our 1st Shih Tzu "Maggie".

In less than two years on city water, her entire bladder filled up with stones. Our vet operated and afterwards, asked us if we had her on city water. He asked because he claimed he "sees it all the time". So what caused it? His answer was not "hard water", it was "all the chemicals they put in the water". How did he know? He had been running chemical analysis tests on the stones he'd been removing for years.

BOTTOM LINE:

Not all city water is harmful but, you can find out about yours just by entering your zip code:

Click Here ▶ MyTapWater.org

◾ We do not give our dogs tap water. Instead, we use "purified" or "distilled" water only.

◾ "Purified" is another word for "Distilled" -same thing.

◾ Reverse osmosis removes fluoride, arsenic, chlorine and lead -so does distillation.

NOTE: "Spring Water" on the side of a bottle doesn't necessarily mean that at all. 

Click Here for Article ▶ Nestle Sued Again

While the jury is still out on whether GMO products are harmful or not, this has been our experience...

Every time one of our parents say their Shih Tzu is suddenly itching and scratching, we ask the following question, "Have you changed their food?

9 times out of 10 when we switch them to a non-gmo food, the itching stops within 2 to 3 days.

*Did you know, 94 percent of all Soy and 92 percent of all corn produced in the U.S. is GMO?

Don't buy foods with artificial preservatives, colorings, fillers or sweeteners.

Try to avoid the following additives:

PRESERVATIVES:

➡ Ethoxyquin (EMQ) -banned in Australia and the EU, BHA, BHT, and TBHQ. These preservatives have been connected to neurological, nervous sytem damage and cancer.

➡ Avoid Dicalcium Phosphate and Tricalcium phosphate at at all costs (Breeder's opinion).

➡ Propylene Glycol

ADDITIONAL PRESERVATIVES:

➡ Sodium Nitrate

➡ Monosodium Glutamate, Sodium Glutamate (MSG)

ARTIFICIAL COLORING:

➡ Red #40, Red #3, Blue #2 (known carcinogens), Yellow #5 -banned in the EU and Yellow #6. Note: Red #40 (also "Allura Red"), Yellow #5 and Yellow #6 can cause changes in brain chemistry. Red #3-linked to thyroid cancer. Blue #2-brain tumors in rats.

Did you know the synthetic dyes mentioned above are all derived from petroleum (crude oil)?

ADDITIONAL COLORING AGENT:

➡ Titanium Dioxide

FILLERS:

➡ Sweet potatoes / yams (yam based treats are ok if given infrequently).

➡ Corn, Maize, Maize Starch, Soy, Wheat, Wheat Gluten.

➡ Rendered Meat, Meat Meal and Animal By-products.

• Rendering: This process takes various animal byproducts, including those deemed  unfit for human consumption, and processes them into ingredients like meat meal, bone meal, and animal fat, according to Feed Real.
• "Meat Meal*" and "Animal By-products": These terms are broad and often lack specificity about the animal  source. This can include animals that died from disease, were euthanized, or even found as roadkill.

*See "Breeder's Comment" below about "Meals".

Sodium Pentobarbital, the drug used to euthanize animals has been found in pet food.

[Paraphrased]: Veterinarians must also consider the proper handling and disposal of euthanized animals to prevent environmental contamination and potential harm to wildlife. Sodium pentobarbital is toxic to scavenging animals that may consume the remains, American Veterinary Medical Association

CLICK ▶ Rachel Ray sued for dog DNA found in her dog food.

BREEDER'S COMMENT (unverifiable):

And, we wonder why our dogs are developing central nervous system/neurological disorders? 

• No Federal Enforcement of Standards: There isn't strict federal regulation or oversight on what exactly goes  into pet food ingredients sourced from rendering plants.

Breeder's Comment: "MEALS" If the name of the meat comes before the term "meal', it's generally considered better because the meat has to come from only that animal.

For example, "Beef Meal", "Chicken Meal","Lamb Meal", etc., are "meals" that contain only beef, chicken or lamb products. 

SWEETENERS:

➡ Xylitol -highly toxic to dogs.

➡ High Fructose Corn Syrup

➡ Aspartame, Saccharin, Sucrose and Sucralose.

➡ Glucose, Glucose Syrup, Dextrose and Maltodextrin.

FOOD PRODUCT LABELING:

"USDA Organic" vs "Non GMO Project Verified", what's the difference?

◾ "USDA Certified Organic" and "USDA Organic" are the gold standard.

Their products cannot contain GMOs, Synthetic Pesticides, Roundup Herbicides, Hexane, Sewage Sludge, Antibiotics and Ractopamine.

◾ "Non GMO Project Verified" products cannot contain the following:

GMOs

Please Google any of these additives or terms for additional information.

Make sure you doggie gets plenty of sunshine!

✔ Sunlight aids animals in the production of serotonin, an antidepressant that generates feelings of well-being in both animals and humans.

✔ Vitamin D. Dogs get most of it from their diets. But, when in the Sun, sebaceous oil  is produced on their coats which then turns to Vitamin D when they groom themselves and injest it.

✔ Sunlight  produces the hormone melatonin in both animals and humans. Melatonin can help regulate sleep cycles and provide a better sleep experience.

✔ Sunshine has been shown to boost the immunity systems in both humans and their pets.

✔ In older dogs, the Sun's warm embrace may offer temporary relief from arthritis, rheumatism and other afflictions.

Do animals have a soul?

Most in the pulpit today would say "NO", but do they know their Bible's history?

Let's look at how a simple biblical passage answered the question long ago but became mistranslated along the way.

MODERN TRANSLATION:

Genesis 1:29-30 KJV:

 [29] And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
[30] And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 

*This passage isn't very obvious but, we're left a clue ➡ "...wherein there is life". Indeed, digging deeper concerning the term "life", we find that in earlier translations "life" was actually "breath of life", sound familiar?

Clearly something was lost in the modern translation used today. So let's go even further back, as close to the beginning as we can get!

⬇

✔ Now let's look at the earliest possible translation; the most accurate translations of the earliest available manuscripts, the complete Jewish Bible.

⬇

EARLIEST TRANSLATION

B'resheet (Gen) 1:29d-30 CJB:

 29Then God said, “Here! Throughout the whole earth I am giving you as food every seed-bearing plant and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. 30And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant.” And that is how it was.

And there it is, Yes animals have a soul!
And, (our opinion) since they're born innocent and bound by instincts, not choices between good and evil...all dogs' souls must return to Heaven.

♦ We use only purified or distilled water.

♦ We try to avoid artificial ingredients to the best of our ability.

♦ USDA organic, non-GMO sources are selected as much as possible.

♦ We like to supplement our dogs' normal routine with nutrient boosts during vulnerable periods...like heat, mating, pregnancy, nursing, weaning and puppy growth by cooking for them.

♦ You can see our cooking videos here:

▶ We Cook for Our Dogs

♦ A very high quality dry kibble dog food is the staple of our dogs' meals to ensure they get a complete and well balanced diet.

♦ We include prebiotics and probiotics in the food we prepare but not in their dry kibble which already has it.

WE DON'T JUST WRITE THIS STUFF, WE PRACTICE IT!

As professional breeders we can talk at length regarding any subject you find on our website in a knowledgeable manner based on facts and experience. And, if we do express our opinion, we'll tell you just that -it's an opinion, not fact.

We'd also never expect our puppy parents to remember all the information we present.

That's why we provide lifetime support.

Our puppy parents can ask us anything at any time.

♦ But remember, although we support our puppy parents with our advice, the advice and recommendations of your licensed veterinarian must always come FIRST.

♦ We are not sponsored by any brand, product or company.

♦ We do not require our parents to follow our breeding program's nutritional practices.

♦ We are not recommending, promoting, endorsing, stating or implying any dietary programs, nutritional advice, foods or brands.