Shih Tzu
dog breed
The Shih Tzu (UK: , US: ) is a toy dog or pet dog breed originating from Tibet and believed to be bred from the Pekingese and the Lhasa Apso.
Description
The Shih Tzu is a sturdy little dog with a small snout and normally has large dark brown eyes. They have a soft and long double coat that will tangle and mat easily if not brushed at least every 2 or 3 days. A Shih Tzu should stand no more than 26.7 cm (101⁄2") at the withers and with an ideal weight of 4.0 to 7.5kg (9 to 17 lbs). Their floppy ears are covered with long hair, and their heavily hair-covered tail is carried curled over the back. The coat may be of any color, though white and with blazes of grey are frequently seen. A very noticeable feature is the underbite, which is required in the breed standard. The Chinese have described their head shapes as "owl head" and "lion head", and their mouth as "frog mouths" and their lips as "earthworm lips".
Etymology
The name comes from the Wade–Giles romanization of the Mandarin Chinese word for "lion" (狮子; shīzi), because this kind of dog was bred to resemble "the lion, as in traditional oriental art". (The Pekingese breed is also called "lion dog" in Chinese.)
In contemporary Mandarin, the Shih Tzu is generally known as the "Xi Shi dog" (西施犬; Xī Shī quǎn), Xi Shi being regarded as one of the most beautiful women of ancient China.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q39357. The Library of Congress control number is sh85121420. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shih Tzu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.