2010 - present
2010 - present
A Brief History of the Shih Tzu by JORIS Dogs of various sizes,
shapes, and colors have been bred in China for centuries.
Records substantiate the existence of short, square, under
the table dogs from at least 1000 B.C. By piecing together
historical facts and documented records, it is possible to some
extent to follow the development in China of the breeding
of dogs likely to be the ancestors of the present-day Shih Tzu.
The ancestry of the Shih Tzu is rather obscure, but it
is probable that the breed is primarily of Tibetan origin.
The history of the Tibetan Lion Dogs is interwoven with
the tenets of Buddhism, which originated in India.
The lion was closely associated with Buddhism, but the
lion was not indigenous to China, so the Chinese and the Tibetan
lamas bred their toy dogs to resemble lions. The Shih Tzu (whose name means lion) is reputed to have been the oldest
and smallest variety of the Tibetan holy dogs and bears some similarity to other Tibetan breeds. For much of the long
and illustrious history of China, the breeding of the small Lion Dog was a favorite pastime of succeeding imperial rulers.
Prior to A.D. 624, documents show that small dogs were exported from Malta, Turkey, Greece, and Persia as gifts to the ruling Chinese emperors. It is likely that the first small Tibetan Lion Dogs from which the Shih Tzu is probably descended came to China during the Qing (Ch’ing) Dynasty (1644-62) as tributes from the Grand Lamas to the Chinese Imperial Court, and that the Chinese interbred these Tibetan dogs with the early western imports and with the Pug and the Pekingese.
The existence of the Shih Tzu as we know
it today is owed to the Dowager Empress
Cixi (T’zu Hsi), whose kennel of Pugs, Pekingese,
and Shih Tzu was world renowned. Although she carefully supervised the kennel during her lifetime and attempted to keep the three imperial breeds separate, the actual breeding to produce the smaller variations of the ShihTzu was carried out by palace eunuchs who secretly crossed the breeds to reduce size and produce unusual and desirable markings. After her death in 1908, the kennels were dispersed and palace breeding became haphazard. Some breeding was still practiced by private individuals and specimens were exhibited, but the dogs were almost impossible to acquire. So far as is known, the breed became extinct in China after the Communist revolution.
Seven dogs and seven bitches comprise the gene pool of all existing Shih Tzu.
These fourteen include the Pekingese dog used in an admitted cross in England
in 1952--a cross which caused considerable trouble, as it was done by a
newcomer to the breed and reported after the fact. The other foundation dogs
included three Shih Tzu imported from China that became the foundation of
the Taishan kennel of Lady Brownrigg in England and eight additional imports
to England between 1933 and 1959. Three other Shih Tzu were imported into
Norway from China in 1932 by Mrs. Henrick Kauffman, including a bitch that
was the only Shih Tzu bred in the Imperial Palace to reach the Western world.
Returning military personnel brought some of the first Shih Tzu into the
United States during the late 1940s and 1950s and began breeding programs. The unique beauty and outstanding temperament of this new breed quickly found favor with the fancy. From the first day of formal AKC recognition (Sept. 1, 1969), the Shih Tzu catapulted from a relatively unknown breed to one of the most glamorous and popular of all canine companions.
More History of Shih Tzu in Tibet and China goes back to the Han Dynasty. A good book to read history is written by Rev. Allan Easton. Ive hears of more history from an old friend that talks about little ones in decades before Dowager Empress Cixi (T’zu Hsi) days.
The Royal Family preferred the smaller Shih Tzus in the 8-10 pound range and they were so highly prized the dogs would be allowed to dine at the Emperors table.
During the Ming Dynasty the dogs were kept in vise-like gilded cages during in attempts to keep them small.
The Dowager Empress Cixi was known to carry a Shih Tzu in her sleeve. This could of not been done unless the Shih Tzu was very small.
The larger Shih Tzus were stationed throughout the palace as alert dogs. When one Shih Tzu heard anyone outside the palace walls they would bark and alert the guards of approaching enemies.
The larger Shih Tzus were given to the town peasants as gifts because standard size Shih Tzus was not wanted or preferred by the early royalty of Tibet.
The Tibetan peasants were poor and needed money so they would sell the Shih Tzus to visitors of China, but the Chinese people didn't want the Shih Tzu to exist outside of China so they feed them ground glass and they would die in the long voyages home.
The ancestors of our Chinese Imperial Dog originated in the Imperial Palace Of China. The Chinese Imperial Dog was called Imperial, Hah-Pah, and the solid colored imperials were called Chin Ssu Ha-Pah in the Chinese Imperial Palace. In early English books they are called Imperial or “Pekinese Type” when they didn’t know what to call them. The Imperial was always a separate dog from the Pekinese, Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso. They were being bred along side them in the very early days but they were not the same dog. The Shih Tzu came much later.2 The Shih Tzu Kou or Liondog, as the early Imperials were called, were bred in the likeness of the Buddhist perception of the lion because when Buddha came to earth from heaven he rode on a lion. Therefore, the Imperials were also believed to be holy or tribute dogs and were highly prized. When an Imperial became too large then it was put to death as it was highly undesirable. As you can see from this antique Chinese fan that the Imperial was a small dog indeed.1 In later years these larger
Imperials were called a Shih Tzu. An old tapistry picturing an Imperial, Shih Tzu and a Pekinese was found recently dating to before the time of Christ. You can see the complete difference of the dogs in this tapestry. This puts to death a rumor that an Imperial is a Shih Tzu and that a Shih Tzu is a mix between a Llasa and a Pekinese. The Shih Tzu, Pekinese and Imperial have been completely separate breeds of dogs for more that 2000 years.
History
Of The Shih Tzu
