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Showing A Shih Tzu
A bit of a disclaimer. These are my opinions and my opinions only.
Do your research and form your own opinions.
What is a conformation dog show?
Ultimately, it is the judging of breeding stock,
but it is much more. It is a judge's studied opinion on how well your dog measures up
to that breed standard in structure, movement, and temperament.
Judges examine the dogs, then give awards according to how closely each dog compares
to the judge's mental image of the "perfect" dog described in the breed's official standard.
The standard describes the characteristics that allow the breed to perform the function for which it was
bred. These standards include specifications for structure, temperament and movement.
AKC Beginners Guide to Dog Shows
Preparing For The Puppy
Find a reputable Breeder and stick with them
How do I find one? Go to shows. Surf the internet and look at sites. Attend the breed National and Specialties. Talk to lots of breeders. If you can, visit breeders. Once you pick your breeder, stick with them.
Help out at shows. Breeders always need another pair of hands and have so much to do. Make yourself useful and they will be glad you are there.
While you are with the breeder, help out by bathing and brushing dogs.
Learn how to put dogs up into maintenance bands and take them down.
All of this will help you prepare for caring for your own show puppy.
Getting that First Show Puppy
Now you have a breeder and they know you. Now have them help pick your first puppy.
How much does a good show POTENTIAL puppy cost. It depends... On Age... On Quality...
On average, a 4-5 month old show puppy is $1500-$2000.
Here is my minimal list of items that you will need:
Good food - The Whole Dog Journal (WDJ)maintains a list of top dog foods
Shallow food dish
Water Bottle
Travel crate w/raised floor (100)
Travel water bottle
3x3 home crate w/raised floor and pans
Pin brush (I like Silver Bullet)
Rat Tail Comb (Sally's)
Shampoo - depends on dog's coat. I would start with Groomers Edge Ultimate Shampoo.
Conditioner - depends on dog's coat. I would start with Groomers Edge Moisture Magic Conditioner.
Nail cutter - I like a cat nail cutter for puppies
Long tooth deep coat comb - some call it a poodle comb
Small slicker brush
Spray bottle with diluted conditioner
Elastic hair bands - I have links to sites that sell many of these supplies
Band cutter (I use a cheap plastic letter opener - works great!)
Grooming table
Dryer (table or stand)
Resco lead (for training)
Regular shears
Small shears
Curved blade shears
Hair puller for pulling hair out of ears
Grooming The Puppy
The Shih Tzu coat requires grooming on a regular basis if you want to culture a beautiful and healthy coat. Having obtained a puppy, it is most important that you set up the habits that will stand you in good stead for the future. A puppy requires very little grooming, perhaps a few minutes each day, but by the time it reaches adulthood, a shih tzu in full show coat to groom out, bath and blow drying, may take a couple of hours. Grooming a puppy when it is young, helps to table train the puppy and make grooming later in life easier. I also use this time to work on learning to stack and have the body and teeth checked.
An adult shih tzu requires some daily attention to prevent the onset of potential problems. Some owners promote full daily grooming, others do not, as you can over-groom a shih tzu and strip out too much undercoat.
You will need a pin brush, comb, nail cutter, hair puller, small shears and spray bottle with diluted conditioner.
Starting at the head, taking extra care around the eyes, gently brush the hair away from the eyes with the pin brush. It is important that the hair is kept away from the eyes as it can irritate the eyes and cause infection or ulceration.
The next stage is to brush your puppy's ears, tangles do occur more frequently here so it is important to brush this area regularly. The hair inside the ear must be removed also, again this should be carried out by someone who is experienced. Have your breeder show you how to do this with the hair puller.
When grooming the face, it is good to get into a routine of checking eyes, ears and mouth for any sign of irritation. If you do discover anything unusual, contact your veterinary as soon as possible. This may prevent any infection or problems getting out of hand. The hair around the mouth should be gathered into bands when it reaches sufficient length. You can wash the beard daily with a diluted shampoo solution and dry.
Once face grooming is completed, continue first with the pin brush and then comb down the neck and body to remove any tangles. Get your puppy used to having its legs and feet groomed. It is important as nails and hair between the pads needs the most frequent attention. Start by gently brushing the legs with the pin brush then comb ensuring the inside of the legs is also groomed. Nails and hair between the pads must be kept short at all times. Care must be taken if you trim the nails yourself as they can bleed if trimmed too short. It is best to teach the puppy to lay quietly on its side while grooming the stomach, feet and sides of coat. Do the sides of the coat in layers, giving it a light spray of conditioner as you complete each layer.
The last stage is grooming around your puppy's bottom area and tail. The tail should be brushed through with the pin brush followed by the comb. The hair immediately around your puppy's anus should be kept short so that your puppy can go to the toilet easily. The hair can be trimmed with scissors to keep this area free from hair. It is a good idea to check this area daily to ensure that nothing has become attached to the hair. Have your breeder show you how to trim this area for show. Little girls sometimes pee on their skirts. You should wash this area daily with diluted shampoo and dry to avoid staining and smell.
Bathing
How often should I bath my Shih Tzu? Again this is dependant upon a number of factors. For example a 2-4 month old puppy should only require a bath every 7-10 days. Now, if your Shih Tzu is walked outside, bathing will be required more frequently compared to a Shih Tzu who stays in the house.
How To Bath
I have always found it easier to bath my Shih Tzu using a small tub set within my bath tub or sink. Prior to bathing, brush your Shih Tzu, removing all tangles. Assemble your shampoo, condition, measuring cup, small pitcher, and towels. Dilute the shampoo in a 2 cup measuring cup. Dilute your condition in a 2 quart pitcher.
Put a couple inches of warm water in the small tub. Add the diluted shampoo to the water in the tub. Stand the Shih Tzu in the small tub. Start with soaking the Shih Tzu's coat all over taking care not to get any water near your dog's nose. For puppies I always use a tearless shampoo as they can wriggle and if the shampoo does accidentally get into the eyes it will not hurt. Otherwise a good conditioning shampoo for adult dogs is required. Begin by gently pouring some shampoo/bath water into the hair on the head and face taking great care to avoid eyes and nose. Work that in and rinse. Repeat. Pour diluted shampoo/bath down the body paying particular attention to feet and around the bottom area. Scoop the shampoo back over the body. I save the face washing for last as this can upset the puppy the most. Using a small wash cloth, I gently bath the face and eyes, being careful to keep water out of the nose.
Take the Shih Tzu out of the tub. Then rinse well!!!
Empty the small tub and now add your diluted conditioner to the tub with a couple inches of water. Again following the same procedure as with the shampoo.
Now squeeze any excess water out of the coat with your hands then wrap your Shih Tzu in a towel. You will need a second towel which can be placed on your grooming table to absorb anymore water.
Getting your Shih Tzu used to a hairdryer can be problematic. Again if they are used to this from an early age it makes life easier. My own dogs use it as a time for a nap and really enjoy this part. Make sure the temperature is not too high. While gently brushing, dry your dog all over while brushing at the same time will help your dog dry more quickly. Once all the hair is dry use your comb to ensure there are no tangles remaining.
It is important to make grooming as pleasant an experience as possible. It is an opportunity for you to give your dog individual attention. Always try to make it as pleasant an experience as possible. In the end, this will cause less stress for everyone, your Shih Tzu included.
How to Groom an adult Shih Tzu
When the right equipment has been purchased, the grooming will be easier. When grooming the hair, it is important to groom the whole dog carefully and thoroughly. There is no rule for the order in which the grooming should be done. The most important thing is to learn to do the grooming always in the same order. This way, you can learn automatically to groom the whole dog through, leaving no parts out.
You could begin with, say, the paws. The dog is lying on his/her side and you are grooming first his/her legs and underline, then the sides and finally the base of the neck and the ears, each part layer by layer. After grooming one part, the same part can be finished with a metal comb in order to be sure that no tangles were left inside the hair. The tangles are spread out with fingers, and then the whole coat is groomed through, little by little, hair by hair. It is important to straighten up the hair all the way through to the skin. This will be easier if it is done layer by layer. Sometimes one can see dogs that have been "groomed": outside, the hair seems to be straight, but if the dog is being held with both hands, one can feel soft lumps inside the hair - tangles. To avoid an unfortunate mistake like this, it is wise to learn to groom the hair through and to carefully check that it is certainly without tangles, all the way to the skin.
When both sides have been groomed, the dog can be set to stand on the table and to part the hair in the middle along with the backbone. Then groom through the tail, the coat in the backside and finally the coat in the neck, the head and the ears, and make a new maintenance top-knot. You could finish the coat with a comb and, at the same time, to check that there are no tangles left in the coat. All this can be also done in an opposite order. The most important thing is that everything is always done in the same order so that a caring routine will be developed. Moreover, the hair must never be groomed dry since this will make the hair gather static electricity and break the hair. I use a spray bottle of diluted conditioner.
About Tangles
Shih Tzu have a double coat that consists of hard, support hair and soft bottom hair. The tangles are born when the bottom hair drops and is mixed up with the support hair. The hair in the tangles is loose and will go off from the tangle by grooming and by using one's fingers, especially if the hair has not been tangled for a long time. The longer the tangle is in the hair, the tighter it gets. An experienced groomer can estimate the age of a tangle when seeing one. There are tangles of two days and of two weeks.
If the tangles are ripped off with a comb or a brush with sharp teeth, also the support hair messed with the tangle will break, and as a result the dog will have a hair that's messy and broken. The tangles are being formed especially in the armpits, inside the legs, behind the ears and in the neck and sides, and these are the places where they can be missed the most easily. Remember to be thorough when going the coat through. The first tangle phase is in the age of 8-10 months, and for a bitch puppy, after the first season at the latest. The puppy is beginning to change its puppy coat into a coat of grown-ups, and the bottom hair is loosing up causing tangles. The difficult phase may last until the age of two years, depending on the quality and amount of hair. After surviving the first two years with the hair, the hair care of a grown-up Shih Tzu is really simple.
Top Knots
One should begin to practice making top-knots as soon as the hair is long enough and it can be attached with a band. One or two bands are enough for a puppy, but after the hair has grown and is long, more bands will be needed to keep the hair away from the eyes. Also the whiskers should be attached with bands so that they won't get into the dog's mouth. The hair can be parted in the middle and pulled back with a couple of bands. Also the whiskers have been turned into sides with a couple of bands. There are several variations of the hairdos like this. The most important is that the hairdo is not too tight. If the dog had a long hair in the forehead, it could be plait to the sides and the hairdo would keep its form very well. If you are heading to a competition next day, do not plait the hair since the plaits will leave the hair curly. When attaching the whiskers with two bands, set the first band in a way that the hair is parted in the middle of the face, from the lower corner of the eye to the side of the muzzle, and the whiskers are carefully combed aside before banding.
Doing the Top Knot
Top Knot grooming comes in two varieties: Maintenance and Show.
Here is a link to some examples of top know grooming.
Example 1
Example 2
Maintenance
Obtain more information on the Shih Tzu breed at the
American Shih Tzu Club (ASTC) web site.
| "Shih Tzu - General Information" |
Susan Wueller
4817 CR 47
Auburn, IN 46706
260-341-4650 (cell)
susan@hansuti.com
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