Q: Will I have a harder time House-Breaking a puppy that is older?

A: No. Please read our Shih-Tzu Tips and our Silky Terrier Tips pages that discusses House-Breaking.

 

Q: Why is AKC registration important?

A: The most important reason to purchase a puppy who comes with AKC papers is: Your breeder knows all about the heredity of that puppy. This is an important issue. Just like humans, animals are subject to hereditary diseases. If your breeder doesn't know the heredity of the dogs they are breeding they have no way of guaranteeing you that your puppy will be free from genetic defects. The second reason to purchase a puppy who comes with AKC papers is: If you want to show your puppy it must be AKC registered.

 

Q: Why does my pet puppy come with a limited AKC registration?

A: If you are not going to show your puppy, you do not need full AKC registration. We do not offer breeding rights with all of our puppies. We ask you to have your puppy neutered or spayed at the age appropriate time.

 

Q: I want to breed my puppy, do you offer full AKC registration?

A: Occasionally.

 

Q: Will the puppy be o.k. flying on an airplane?

A: Yes.

The airline companies that we use to ship our puppies are live animal qualified and do a terrific job of delivering our puppies to their new owners. Your puppy will do just as well during air travel as your puppy will do during car travel. Your puppy won't know the difference. When our puppies travel in the car, they usually sleep.

We drive your puppy to the airport in a nice crate with a cozy fleece pad. If the weather is cold here or where you are, we put a sweater on your puppy. The people at the airlines are VERY nice to them and they travel in a climate controlled area.

The area of the airport that puppies are received from upon arrival varies from airport to airport and airline to airline. We will let you know exactly where you will be picking up your puppy and give you the contact phone number to the cargo area of your airport. We will give you that information when we call you to confirm the flight schedule.

Q: Will my puppy be sedated for the plane ride?
A: No, we do not sedate our puppies.

Q: What food do you recommend?
A: We feed only dry Eukanuba age appropriate food. We recommend feeding Eukanuba puppy formula until your puppy is one year old. After one year of age, we recommend Eukanuba adult formula. When your dog is older, we recommend Eukanuba for seniors. Eukanuba has all the nutrition your dog needs. We have found that proper nutrition IS the key to a healthy, happy, dog. Just like humans, most health issues can be prevented by providing proper nutrition. Cheaper dog foods have fillers that will make your dog overweight and can cause your dog to experience other health problems. We have found that by providing the proper nutrition for our Adults and our puppies plays a big part in ensuring a long and healthy life for them.

Q: How often should my puppy be offered food?
A: All of our puppies and all of our adults are allowed to free feed. Here are the reasons why we recommend this way to feed:

Your dog will never be fat or skinny if your dog is allowed to free feed (age appropriate & nutritionally balanced food).  Dogs naturally eat only as much as they need to stay healthy when food is available all the time. On the other hand, if you offer food only once or twice a day, your dog will scarf every morsel because survival instinct tells him/her to eat all they can get because they may not get more later.  It is easy to overfeed or underfeed and affect your dog's health like that.  Let the dog determine how much food he/she needs.  An adult Shih-Tzu will eat about a cup of  dry Eukanuba a day.  A good rule of thumb to determine if your dog is overweight or underweight is you should be able to feel the ribs when touching the dog but you should not be able to see ribs when looking at the dog.  Of course, puppies will be a little more substantial as you feel over them and that is all right.

If you follow this program of having premium food available 24 hours a day, your dog will have small, solid, well formed stools.  No diarrhea or constipation.  No gas. .  (Cheap dog food has fillers and can cause messy and large stools.)  Your dog will never beg at the dinner table, either.

Buy premium treats also, like Iams biscuits.  Keep in mind that the treats you give him/her become part of his/her diet, so make it good, nutritious food.

Of course, the top benefit of all with proper feeding is that your dog will live as long as possible in optimum health and will look and feel great.