A $500 deposit will reserve your position on our waiting list. This deposit will be applied toward the purchase price of the puppy that you choose.  Those on the waiting list will be allowed to choose their puppy in the order that the deposits are received. Puppies will ONLY become available for adoption after our waiting list has been contacted. Deposits are transferable to any litter and are only refundable if the color, size, or sex of the puppy that you desire is not produced within 1 year of when the deposit is received.

We require a $500.00 deposit to place a puppy on hold. Deposits must be received within 4 business days. We will not hold a puppy without a deposit. After the deposit is received -Adopted- will be placed next to your puppy. The puppy must be paid for in full prior to you receiving the puppy. If paying with a check the check must clear before you receive your puppy.

 If for any reason you are not able to get your puppy we will refund any monies received minus the non-refundable deposit. If we feel the adoption is not in the best interest of the puppy we will cancel the adoption, the contract is void, and we will refund all monies. 

We accept the following payment options:

1.) Certified Checks

2.) U.S. Postal Money orders

3.) Cash

4.) Credit cards through Pay Pal (Add 3% to purchase price)

Pay Pal charges us 3% for the transaction which is why we add

the 3% to the purchase price.

 We determine each puppy's price by quality, color, size, and parents; therefore the prices vary. We can give you an estimated price range for the puppies at birth, but we will not price our puppies until they are 4 - 6 weeks old. It is impossible to know each puppies conformation, size, and/or color at birth.

The first thing we look at is the CONFORMATION of each puppy.   

We strive to produce beautiful baby doll faces, large round heads, big eyes with no visible eye white, high set noses, and perfect bites (total baby doll face)! We also strive for short legs and cobby bodies, straight backs and legs, nice tail sets, and beautiful thick double coats.

  Faults in the breed and things to watch out for: 

 

Serious Faults:

Body- Roached back or curved top line.

Head- Narrow head

Eyes- Close set eyes, walleye or cross eye, lack of roundness

Muzzle- Lack of definite stop, receding chin, long muzzle, curved of down sloping

Bite - Overshot

Legs - Bowed legs, out at the elbows

Tail - Straight tail

Pigmentation - Pink spots and/or lack of pigment on nose, eye rims, and lips

Minor Faults:

Bite- Teeth showing when mouth is close, tongue protrudes from the mouth

Tail - low set, kinked tail, tight curled tail

Feet - Pointing out or in

Coat - Single coat, curly or kinky

 Hernias and pinched nostrils are things you should be aware of but understand these are common in the breed. They are not life threatening and both can be fixed at the time of spay / neuter if need be.

 There are many COLORS in the Shih-Tzu breed: Black, Gold, White, Red, Chocolate, Liver, Brindle, Blue, silver, etc. As you can see there are an array of colors in solid and parti.  Some colors are more rare and some are more desired than others. We feel it is just a personal preference for everyone.

There are many thoughts about SIZE…..

We do our best to estimate the size of each puppy. We look at many factors: the size of the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents if possible. We look at puppies from previous litters as well as what litter-mates may have produced.

We use the following scale to help determine APPROXIMATE ADULT WEIGHT:

8 week old puppy: weight X 3 = approximate adult weight

10 week old puppy: weight X 2 + 1 = approximate adult weight

12 week old puppy: weight X 2 = approximate adult weight

We are very upfront and honest about the weight of our puppies. We know some people are looking for a specific weight or size and they deserve to have what they are looking for. If we feel a puppy will be bigger or smaller, we will let you know so you can decide if that is still the puppy for you. At that time, if you decide that puppy is not for you; we will be happy to move your deposit to another puppy.

Shih Tzu under 9 lbs. are considered an Imperial….

We break it down into the following categories:

Standard size Shih-Tzu: 10 - 16 lbs.

Tiny-type Imperial Shih-Tzu: 7 – 9 lbs.

Little bitty imperial Shih-Tzu: 3 - 6 lbs.

Our prices are not based on size alone, we will NOT price a puppy higher just based on size. The puppy has to be perfect or near perfect in conformation as well.

All of these factors (Conformation, Color, and Size) are taken into consideration when we price our puppies....Conformation is our priority and is the major determining factor behind our pricing!

 We do not have "cheap" Imperial Shih-Tzu puppies but feel our prices are very reasonable for the high quality Shih-Tzu puppies we provide!

Here at Tiny Tot Shih-Tzu we go above and beyond our puppy parents expectations. Please view our References page to see what our past puppy parents have had to say about us and their Imperial Shih-Tzu puppy.

Please understand, we do not breed for profit. Breeding is a VERY expensive hobby and has yet to even pay for itself, just ask my husband! All of the money from our puppies goes back into our moms, dads, and their puppies. Please keep in mind the following things we pay for you to have a top QUALITY pet! We consider our puppies an investment for a long-time companion of at least 15 years and we stand behind our puppies 100% with our 5 year health guarantee to ensure the health and quality we are breeding.

The time invested in our moms, dads, puppies is unimaginable. We spend many sleepless nights and restless days caring for our puppies....it is literally a 24 - 7 job. But a job that I must say - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!! Most of my family and friends call me the "crazy dog lady"!  I am thinking.... yes, I am crazy about my dogs!! I love everything about breeding: moms and their pregnant bellies, whelping puppies waiting for the next puppy to arrive - Will it be a girl or a boy? What color will he/she be? How big is he? And seeing moms face and the love she has for her puppies, it is a joy! I handle every puppy several times throughout the day from the time they are born.  It seems other things don't get done because I would rather be "playing with puppies"!  Seeing their eyes peep open for the first time, wobbling around and learning how to walk...and then watch out, now they are running! The first time they eat real puppy kibble and get their faces and paws all dirty - oh what a site to see. Our puppies do bring a lot of work and joy to our lives!  Below is a list of a few things we have invested in our breeding program and to ensure you receive the best Imperial Shih-Tzu puppy that you will love, spoil, and adore....and will not be able to stop talking about!

• Initial price of a puppy of breeding quality ranges around $1500-3500.00

• Health testing is done to determine if our moms and dads are even worthy of being bred. Testing gets expensive, but is well worth the price of increasing the chances for the puppies to live a longer healthy active life. We provide a 5 year health guarantee on each one of our puppies. It is very important that we breed healthy dogs to get healthy puppies. We have had several puppies we got for our breeding program spayed and neutered because they were not the quality we were looking for.

• We extensively research pedigrees for each one of our moms and dads. This is a must to make sure each of our puppies are healthy, have a sweet and loving temperament, and conformation quality.

• If needed we have an ultrasound done on each one of our moms to confirm the pregnancy at 5 weeks.

• If needed we have x-rays done at around 7 - 8 weeks to determine the size and how many puppies we are expecting - this is important and can help determine if we may run into problems.

• We purchase reusable puppy and whelping pads through Val-Ethics. I do at least one load of dog laundry per day when we have puppies because I change their bedding out at least 2 times per day.

• We purchase our puppy blankets at Target - I use the plush baby blankets and my moms and puppies love them. Every puppy goes home with a blanket that mom and the puppies have been using so they have the scent of their mom and siblings for comfort.

• New toys for our dogs and their puppies....they love their toys!

• We purchase our whelping Iris x-pens through Amazon.com.

•  I buy fleece and flannel material to line the outsides and bottom of the x-pens so the puppies are safe and sound.

• We have all of our whelping supplies to whelp each litter: scissors, clamps, alcohol, emergency items for moms and puppies, hand towels to clean puppies, scale to weigh puppies, etc. 

• Vet expenses include: health checks, ultrasounds, x-rays, c-sections, fecal exams, dew claw removal, health testing, Home-Again micro chipping, any emergency as it comes....we have had quite a few very unexpected vet visits - I am thankful to have wonderful vets who are always there if I need them, and the list goes on.....

• Vaccinations and preventative worming medicine

• Revolution to protect all of our dogs from Heart worms and fleas.

• We take all of our dogs to get groomed regularly.

• We use a very high quality dog food from Merrick (Whole Earth Farms)

• Registration of moms, dads, and their puppies.

• Advertisement for our puppies

• and the list goes on.......

 We reserve the right to fully screen potential buyers and to refuse a sale that we believe is not in the best interest of our puppies.  Sorry, we will not place or ship any of our puppies outside the U.S.