| Perhaps you've seen people picketing your local pet | | | | The big advantage to getting your puppy from a |
| store because they were selling puppies. Don't these | | | | reputable Shih Tzu breeder is that you can see the |
| people have anything better to do with their lives? | | | | parents of the Shih Tzu puppies. You can also meet |
| Actually, no they don't. What they are doing is calling | | | | the first humans your puppy will be in contact with and |
| attention to not how the puppies in a pet store or | | | | help shape their attitude towards life. You can also get |
| treated, but where pet stores buy their puppies from - | | | | to tour the kennel or home of a Shih Tzu breeder to |
| puppy mills. Puppy mills are not only cruel and | | | | see if the dogs are happy, healthy and treated |
| unsanitary, but the puppies that come from there are | | | | humanely. Not only is humane treatment of dogs the |
| often sickly, have ingrained behavioral problems and | | | | right thing to do, it also makes for a healthier, better |
| are sometimes sold with false papers. | | | | mentally adjusted dog. |
| If you want a Shih Tzu or a Shih Tzu mix, then you | | | | If you remember only one thing from this article, please |
| are best off getting your puppy not from a pet store | | | | remember this - ALWAYS buy your Shih Tzu puppy |
| or an Internet site that sells puppies with no questions | | | | (or ANY puppy) from a reputable Shih Tzu breeder. |
| asked (except your method of payment), but from | | | | Puppies are not like fish or mice which are very social |
| reputable Shih Tzu breeders or an animal rescue | | | | and don't need a lot of exercise. All pet store puppies |
| shelter. The puppies and their parents from Shih Tzu | | | | do twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week is sit |
| breeders are kept in ethical conditions an receive great | | | | in a cage and occasionally get to be handled for a |
| veterinary care, often get to live inside of a house and | | | | few minutes by shoppers. For those of you who are |
| come with health guarantees. These are some of the | | | | up on your Shih Tzu information, you know this is the |
| many advantages of buying from Shih Tzu breeders | | | | WORST possible treatment of a potential pet. |
| or adopting from a Shih Tzu rescue. | | | | Puppies are highly impressionable from two to four |
| Although animal rights activists and politicians like | | | | months of age. Whatever they learn during this period |
| Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell (D) work hard to | | | | usually stays with them the rest of their lives. This is |
| stop puppy mills, they can't get them shut down if the | | | | the perfect time for them to be housetrained, |
| puppy mill owners keep getting paid. Those payments | | | | leash-trained and trained for all the things they need to |
| come from puppies bought in pet store or Internet sites | | | | know for their lives as companion animals. With Shih |
| that only ask you where to ship the puppy and what | | | | Tzu breeders, the puppies get the education they need |
| your credit card number is. | | | | at such a critical time. |