Shih Tzu-Maltese Dogs?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>This is probably not the place for it, and if so simply ignore the question.</p>

<p>So, my wife and 10 yr old son want to get a Shih Tzu-Maltese hybrid puppy. Does anyone here know anything about them (as a hybrid or even each breed separately)?</p>

<p>Seems like a lovely, if not particularly manly dog. Since our daughter left for college a few years ago --between school and ceaseless internships-- our son lives the life of an only child at home.</p>

<p>The dog, which he desperately desires, we hope will give him the refuge of a relationship in the house that does not have the authority to tell him to go to bed, do his homework etc. </p>

<p>Time is short.
If anyone has advice it would be MUCH appreciated.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>My brother-in-law and his wife have 2 Maltese. Cute as buttons, but they are hyper and very “yippy.” Very high-strung. They got them because their son is allergic to dog fur, but apparently Maltese have hair instead of fur… anyway, Maltese are known for being ok for people who have dog allergies.</p>

3

<p>We have a relative with a maltese too. She was very active, but now that she is older, she is very calm. She was always very lovable and great with small children.</p>

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<p>Ive had 3 Shih Tzus . My current dog is 10 years old. They are well tempered, love to play, and generally not as yippy as a Maltese. They DEMAND affection and have a tendancy to be able to reflect and understand human emotions. That makes them great pals for kids.</p>

5

<p>We have 2 Maltese. They are the most adorable, lovable lap dogs you could meet and want nothing more than to be cuddled up next to one of us. They sleep with my son and are great companions. Since they have hair, they don’t shed but do need brushing to avoid tangles, and visits to the groomer every 5-6 weeks for haircuts (we keep ours in puppy cuts). Mine are not hyper but they do bark and think they are watch dogs…5 lb watchdogs!:slight_smile: I think a Shih Tzu/Malt mix would be a great pet for your son. My manly, hockey playing boys love our little ones. My H who grew up with bigger dogs and was really uncertain about getting “girlie” dogs, absolutely melts when he’s with them.</p>

<p>I resisted getting a dog for a very, very long time and now can’t imagine life without them. They are asleep at my feet as I type.</p>

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<p>I just finished reading “Marley and Me”, and I would much rather have a hyper 5 lb dog than a hyper 95 lb dog!</p>

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<p>My 14 yr old tried to use the I am lonely only child home whine to get us to buy her a small dog. Didn’t work. We already have two. She then switched to begging for pet, First a chinchilla, then a guinea pig as so on. So far we are holding our ground. She even tried to get her therapist involved.</p>

8

<p>My neighbor has a miniature Maltese. It’s so cute, my 6 year old wants one. Just recommend that you get them from a reputable breeder, rather than a pet store (know a few people who got very sick dogs from pet stores).</p>

<p>Ditto the advice–small dog much, much easier to care for than large one (we used to have 110 lb dog). Cleaning, etc. very manageable, relatively.</p>

9

<p>The first thing you should know is that no, and I mean NO, ethical breeder will deliberately breed mutts. And that is what you are contemplating buying: a mutt. Mutts are great dogs, but millions produced by thoughtless people are killed in shelters every year in this country–along with plenty of randomly-bred “AKC registered” dogs. You can go to one of those shelters and rescue one if you want a mixed-breed dog. If you are interested in a particular breed, contact the breed rescue in your region and/or the breed club (often the same people) for a puppy referral. </p>

<p>This recent craze for so-called “designer dogs” is nothing but a scam.</p>

<p>Please, do yourself and the dog population a big favor and do some research on ethical breeding. You will discover that the standards include at a minimum: a spay/neuter contract for every non-show/performance puppy (and most show litters produce plenty of nice pets), breed-appropriate health testing of both parents before breeding (In a golden, just to give an example of the breed I am most familiar with, this would include a heart clearance by a board certified animal cardiologist, annual eye clearance, OFA clearances on hips and possibly elbows.), and a requirement that the puppy be returned to the breeder for rehoming if at any point in its life you cannot keep it. All of these steps, and more (microchipping, screening of homes, not selling to pet stores or brokers, etc), are taken by the ethical breeder to ensure that the puppies are as healthy as they can be, that they never end up in a shelter, and that they never produce progeny that end up in a shelter.</p>

<p>Because of these things, it is absolutely certain that the parents of this mixed breed puppy will not have been bred by ethical breeders. That means that they are less likely to be physically and tempermentally sound. That means that their only qualification for being bred is that they have intact sexual and reproductive organs–and of course that the “breeders” can peddle them to the unwary for big $$. Please do not believe that “our vet says they are healthy” or “we have never had any problems” or “we are only trying to breed good pets” or “we love then and raise them with our kids” or “they have hybrid vigor” any of the myriad lines you may be given actually mean anything.</p>

<p>I’m not sure if it is acceptable to put a link here, but there is a great web site with all kind of good dog info maintained by a woman named Diane Goodman, that has the words “dog play” in the URL. She has excellent advice on acquiring a dog from a shelter/rescue OR a breeder.</p>

<p>Good luck. (And no, I am not a member of PETA or an animal rights fanatic of any kind.)</p>

<p>BTW, shih-tzus are adorable dogs and everyone I know who has had one has found them to be great characters, too. I’ve never known anyone with a Maltese.</p>

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<p>i have a shih-tzu and she’s the sweetest dog in the world
they’re very good dogs with kids because they’re gentle but still playful
not once has my little shih-tzu tried to nip at anyone (except when she was teething as a pup)
the only “problem” is that our dog has spine/disc problems, which could just be cause by old age (she’s almost twelve) or her weight (she’s a little meaty)
but i highly recommend them as pets, and they don’t shed! so what more could you ask for?! (:</p>

11

<p>It sounds like the OPs son has already fallen in love with a specific animal. </p>

<p>While I am in agreement with either buying a purebred dog from an ethical breeder, or finding the perfect shelter dog, in this particular case, I don’t have a huge problem with the Malti-mix. Both breeds were developed to be lapdogs … not working or performance dogs … </p>

<p>I would definitely recommend a ‘new puppy visit’ with YOUR OWN VET (i.e. not the pet shop vet with the free visit) before falling in love any more than you already have. At the very least, take advantage of the free visit, and if you have any issues, get a second opinion from your own vet.</p>

<p>(Full disclosure: I own a pet store, I do not sell puppies from any source, I do not breed dogs, and I own two show quality Shelties from a top notch breeder that I have competed with in AKC events.)</p>

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<p>I have heard so many horror stories from people buying puppies from pet stores that I hope this puppy is not at a puppy store. It sounds easy to get the puppy checked by a vet, but I’ve known people that were told by their vets not to buy a puppy but had already fallen in love with it by the time they got through the vet visit and wouldn’t take it back - the results were very expensive and quite tragic. Always research the common health issues of each breed - many have some and some can be heartbreaking. A vet might be able to tell already if this puppy may be at risk. One more piece of advice - some people think that small dogs don’t need training and they end up with nasty little dogs. Definitely do puppy classes and don’t let this puppy rule the house.</p>

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<p>I can say that mutts are becoming more popular. Those in the business of selling then usually refer to them as designer dogs. Some breeders choose to mix breeds rather than choosing to breed only the best of the breed to get better offspring.
I couldn’t comment on the combo of that breed or breeder specifically, but I’d feel more comfortable and be willing to pay more from a breeder that wanted to improve the breed through careful responsible breeding. In the past, we’ve bought from breeders who made us promise- and followed up that the pet we bought would be spayed. She was a terrific pet, but had a couple physical characteristics that the breeder thought it in the best interest of the breed not to pass on.</p>

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<p>It is unlikely that a vet can tell you anything about a puppy’s genetic health at a visit. They can tell you if it is actually sick at that time, and whether it has a heart murmur (and they might be wrong about that, since puppies often have what is known as a “flow murmur” that disappears with maturity).</p>

<p>Shih Tzus have hereditary eye problems that can just as easily be found in Shih Tzu mixes. (Mixes can inherit and exhibit the genetic issues of both breeds.) They MIGHT be able to tell you if the puppy displays one of these problems right now. They can’t tell you about the likelihood of future issues. That is why ethical breeders only breed from dogs with generations of health testing behind them.</p>

<p>I just went and looked at the national breed club web sites for Maltese and Shih Tzus, and I’m more impressed with the latter, because it is forthright about health issues and addresses ethical breeding. The Maltese site does not, and that is a bad sign to me. Unfortunately, the level of ethics in breeds does vary, and breeders of lap dogs have the reputation of being on the lower end. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t ethical breeders among them, of course. Just be careful.</p>

<p>[Full disclosure: I currently own a neurotic, badly-bred and badly-raised Golden Retriever whom we got from Golden Retriever Rescue who took her out of the shelter she was dumped in. She’s very lovable, but I’m afraid she will be crippled in a few years due to her lousy conformation. I used to own The Perfect Dog: a beautifully-bred and well-raised show golden, who died last year. At the time that we bought him, he cost exactly the same amount as a puppy-mill golden in the local mall pet store. Only he had seven generations or more of health-tested champions and performance dogs on both sides of his pedigree, and was lovingly bred and socialized by an ethical breeder who also spent time rescuing the for-$$-only mistakes of scum like the people who “bred” my other dog. I am not a breeder.]</p>

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<p>Go for it. Just remember that either you or your wife will probably do 90% of the doggy care! I know many shih-tzu owners who have had great success with these dogs. They are very playful and friendly. But the kind of dog you will have will be determined by how much effort your family is willing to put into training and socializing your puppy. Expose your puppy to a variety of people, animals, noises and varied environments. Enroll your puppy in training classes. Have your son invite his friends over to (gently) meet the puppy. We purchased a small dog (a dachshund) from a pet store and he is the love of our lives. But we worked very hard as a family to train him (many petsmart classes) and socialize him. Because he was small, I took him everywhere with me. He went to the bank, the dry cleaners, and ,of course, the pet stores. I took him to parks every day to meet people and other animals. I played cds with noises on them to condition him to accept unusual noise. It was very time consuming but it was worth it. My daughter, who also has a brother in college, and feels somewhat lonely now cannot be separated from our dog. He is a wonderful companion!!</p>

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<p>I agree with those who have indicated that these “designer” dogs are simply put ----- mutts! Rescues and shelters are overrun by mutts (as well as purebreed dogs) and you won’t be paying the $500-$1000 price tag getting your dog at one of these places. I have done dog rescue for the past 7 years and you wouldn’t believe how many designer “poos” are dumped at shelters for behavior/health issues that we end up rescuing, rehabilitating and trying to find homes for. Do yourself a favor and check your local shelters and rescues for a dog. You won’t be sorry.</p>

17

<p>All of yorkyfan’s advice is excellent–except buying a puppy from a pet store. NO reputable breeder will sell a puppy to a pet store. ALL puppies at stores and brokers come from mills of one size or another. Even if you are lucky in your particular puppy, realize that a) s/he was probably taken from the mother too soon so that s/he would be “cute” longer in the store, and b) the mother of your puppy is in all likelihood living a miserable existence in a cage somewhere, being bred on every heat until she’s worn out, and c) this will continue until people stop funding it by buying puppies from stores and brokers. If the store says that none of their puppies come from mills because they all come from USDA-inspected facilities, realize that only very large scale breeders–aka, mills–have to be UDSA-inspected.</p>

<p>Yorkyfan, you are clearly a fabulous dog owner. No criticism of you is intended.</p>

<p>By all means get a dog, just don’t pay a scammer or a store and enable their continued operation.</p>

18

<p>Our current dog is the smartest dog I’ve ever owned (and I’ve had a lot). We adopted him from our county dog pound when he was about 6 months old. I would encourage you to take your S to your local shelter and consider adopting. My boys were 7 and 10 when we got this dog. The dog has slept in younger S’s room forever. That S is now 18 and leaving for college in 4 weeks. I’m not sure how the dog is going to take it.</p>

<p>I agree with the poster who said you should expect to end up doing most of the dog maintenance yourself despite the heartfelt promises your child offers up.</p>

<p>My friend owns a Bichon Frise and a Maltese. The Maltese has been the better family pet of the two but both bark a LOT.</p>

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<p>Agree with this sentiment…and will go one step farther–get a dog that YOU will want, because the reality is that most likely, that dog will be YOURS.</p>

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<p>I have had an American Eskimo for 13 years. My next door neighbor used to breed them. Both his parents were pretty yippy. I knew that going in and worked with him a lot. He was completely trained on hand signals. When you want him to sit, you point and down he goes. He has never been a big barker but I spent a lot of time training him.
So…with little dogs the more time you put in early on, the more reward.</p>