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If you’ve been dreaming of having your own Shih Tzu at home, raising one from puppyhood may not be the best idea. No one doubts how cute this breed can be - maybe you’ve spent some time combing a friend’s Shih Tzu and simply adored the dog - but ask yourself if you’re ready, financially and emotionally to take care of such a demanding breed.

Check your housing situation - you need space for the puppies. You need an area where you can confine your puppies since they can and will relieve themselves whenever they feel like it. Potty training one Shih Tzu is already hard enough, since punishing it lends the pup to shutting down, being less social, and probably confused. When you’ve established areas - a kitchen part or the garage - and schedules - such as after they wake up from a nap or after they eat - then the pup will do what it thinks it wants, but in truth is what you’ve led it to do; that’s positive reinforcement. Good luck house-training several puppies at once. This breed also needs to be groomed at least every other day, is your schedule roomy enough for that?

If you’re not sure you want a pup, you might consider getting an adult Shih Tzu instead - and there are some advantages to getting an adult dog instead of puppies. Adult dogs, as a rule of thumb, are house-trained - so no more sleepless nights and potty accidents you have to clean up. Also, you will be briefed by the animal shelter staff, should you adopt an adult dog from them, about the personality quirks, behavioral problems, preferences, antics, and health problems of the dog you may want to adopt.

The shelter will be able to make room for other orphaned dogs when you adopt from them - which is a real help to shelters which usually have only resources. But if you’re into a specific breed, it’s possible still to find that in a shelter.

That’s because shelter’s try to take in all breeds, and you’ll be lucky if you stumble upon the kind you want. You may be better off looking for Shih Tzu breeders, reputable ones naturally, who may be in a better position to help you out. If you are planning, for example, to enter your Shih Tzu in a dog show, then you want your dog to pass the conformation - something you may not be able to do with a pup adopted from a shelter. Still, you might get lucky with a shelter, you’ll never know. Buying from a breeder costs a bundle, but adopting one costs practically nothing.

You need to have a level head when looking for Shih Tzu puppies for sale, otherwise, you might end up impulse buying a litter, out of their super-cuteness, never mind if you bought from a puppy mill and if you’re not prepared to take care of the pups. Can your house, family, work load, personality, and finances make room for such a demanding and princess-bratty but over-cute breed?

If, upon careful thought, you gauge that you’re ready, then by all means look up breeders and inquire about their Shih Tzu puppies for sale.

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