Shih Tzu - Color And Appearance In the Beginning And Now

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There is no fixed color for the shih tzu according to the American Kennel Club standards. The standard weight set by American Kennel Club is 9 to 16 lbs. However, all colors are permissible, and the shih tzu comes in such a variety of colors, different tones, shades and combinations of colors that surely contributes to the great popularity of this breed. Some shih tzu fanciers or purchasers are more interested in what color they want in a shih tzu than what size or anything else the shih tzu can bring to them.

Even though shih tzu come in a variety of colors, it is interesting to know that the first and second prize-winners at the Shanghai Kennel Club Show of May 30th, 1930, probably among the first shih tzu ever to appear in western-style show ring, were all black in color. Black and white was also plentiful and was described as "striking," but "very ordinary and not as precious as the golden," by the Countess d'Anjou. The observation and statement of the Countess d'Anjou was printed in the American Shih Tzu News, March 1967.

At the Imperial Court golden-yellow, sometimes described as honey, was the "favorite" or "proper" color, and it has been said many, many times by different shih tzu historians that this color was the only color kept in the palace. However, there have been documentations of greyish-white "sleeve dogs" being kept in the palace by the Empress Dowager. Now a dog small enough to fit into the sleeve (these were the big, big sleeves of Chinese attire) would have to be quite small, even to fit into those, big, big sleeves of the Chinese attire. So we can say with some fairly good assertion as with many other accounts of the imperial palace days, that those dogs must have been quite small, and most likely even smaller than the 9 pounders that is the lower end of the our present American Kennel Club standard for the weight of the shih tzu. We might also conclude that this greyish-white color kept by the Princess in the palace might have been our present day "blue," which has become quite popular, along with what seems to me like is even more popular these days - the deep chocolate colors. It is my thinking those greyish-white sleeve dogs in the Imperial Palace were little imperial "blues." Some of the blues have a light blue nose and light eyes. Many breeders are classifying this particular kind as a "true blue." While others have the dark black nose and dark black eyes being classified with the silver/blues. I think some of these shades look a rather "smokey" hue. I named my only "true blue" male, Smokey, because of this resemblence to a greyish/blue smoke. My Smokey has the light eyes and the blue nose. I am still in search of a nice small chocolate male to add to my breeding program at Stain Glass Shih Tzu.

I don't think any breeder can become truly passionate about the shih tzu without becoming very excited about all the colors that can be produced and without having experienced as many colors as possible. Shih Tzu color is certainly a very prominent detail of the shih tzu, which has brought the shih tzu such great popularity.

During the days of the Empress Dowager and in the Imperial Court, the gold color were considered to be the most desirable because these dogs most closely resembled the lion. In the great majority of cases the dogs seen outside the palace walls were not of this highly-prized golden hue. Yellow was the imperial color. The Peking Palace had golden-yellow tiled roofs. The word Shih Tzu means Lion in Chinese, although it has been said, it is highly unlikely that many of the Chinese had even seen a real lion. They did have an acquaintance or long-standing familarity with "the fancy types of lion art figurines introduced into China from India with Buddhism. And if you take a real close look at the shih tzu in full coat with hair hanging down both sides of the head, you will also see a slight resemblence to a "Lion."

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