Dog Community

anyone have a shih poo?

happymom

Posted : 6/12/2006 9:14:11 AM

If anyone has a shih poo I'd love to hear about their dogs [

] we are getting one in a coupple months and i want to learn as much as i can about them.
thanks

anne

Posted : 6/12/2006 12:18:29 PM

happymom

Posted : 6/12/2006 1:32:29 PM

Thanks you for the advice. I would be more then happy to adopt if I knew 100% that they are really shih poos. we have tried adopting before but the dogs were never what they were claimed to be and my fiancee & daughter have allergies and so they suffered. The dogs were fortunate enough to go immidaitely to new homes via our friends. They were poo mixes, and we have another poo mix at home and they are fine with him which is why i suspected foul play on the adopted "poo" mixes. Our breeder is a good friend and the Dame and Shire are both in that house and our friend got one of their past litters a coupple years back and he is fine with my families allergies. I do understand your cause and respect it but for my families health i feel it very nessisary to get a breed dog.[

]

pumaward

Posted : 6/12/2006 2:01:24 PM

I don't think there is foul play on the shelter/rescue's part. It is, though difficult to understand buying a mix breed when you can adopt one?

With "poos" and other designer mutts there's no guarentee on the outcome of the pups. If you are looking for a low allergy do, why not just get a purebred poodle? There's no guarentee that you won't end up with a dog that is the worst of both breeds, or at the very least, the temperment of a poodle and the coat of Shih Tzu.

anne

Posted : 6/12/2006 4:39:06 PM

Pum is exactly right. There is NO guarentee your puppy, even if "pure bred" (which I would like to add that a mixed dog is not a purebred dog no matter what "designer breeders" say) there is no guarentee your dog will be allergy free. There used to be a lady here on dog.com who bred poodles. Her name was Bunny, please try looking her up on the user list. She knows a WHOLE lot about poodles and would tell you exactly what we have both told you. I am not sure if she is around anymore but I am sure she responds to PM's. There is no guarentee with a mixed dog (from the shelter or "bred") that they will be non-allergenic.

Here is a quote from a "ShihPoo/Schnoodle" breeder website "Guaranteed Hypo-Allergenic

FACT: - nothing is completely hypo-allergenic. Any Doctor will confirm that a persons tolerance to allergens is as individual as he/she is. While Mari-May Schnoodles have been specially bred for low dander non-shedding coats, and are very successfully placed in families with allergies, the Schnoodle is not, in itself, hypo-allergenic" It applies to Shih Poos and Labradoodles & many others. I have seen tons of people on these websites giving away their labradoodles and snoodles and shih poos because they were in fact still allergic to them.

I hate to be mean but it is sad for me to see all of these sweet dogs in the shelter & to know that people are breeding these same dogs & selling them for thousands of dollars. It is truly disturbing to me. These people are just doing it for money not for love of the breed or to help people. I wish you luck but don't be surprised if you have to give this puppy away too. I agree that you should find a nice poodle breeder who shows & tests their dogs. I think that you should at least make sure that both the Shih Tzu and the Poodle have the proper health tests they should have.

I also think it is sad that you say there is "foul play" in the shelters. All of those dogs looked exactly like the mix they said they were. The sad thing is that people want a cute Shih Tsu mix & a couple weeks down the raod they find out that either the dog is still causing allergy problems or that it just isnt as cute as they thought so they dump them on a shelter or dump them in the middle of nowhere where the shelter people have to take a guess as to what it is. I know there are poo mix rescues around. I guarentee you if your little poo mix showed up in a shelter that they would have to guess what it is too because they are mutt dogs just like any other dog in the shelter. I can find you a poo mix rescue if you would like but again your best bet would be to find a good poodle breeder.

happymom

Posted : 6/12/2006 5:25:00 PM

Oh don't get me wrong I do not think ALL shelters falsely claim their dogs just the one by me. I know becuase I pet sit and we are hired sometimes to walk thier dogs. and two of my doggies I walked I adopted trusting the shelter and my own dog knolage ( which at the time was far from vast) that they were what was wriiten on their papers. I know that NO dog is non shedding or truely hypo allergenic but thease breeds produce less dander.

Willowmum

Posted : 6/14/2006 6:49:08 AM

You say the breeder has both sire and dam, have they had all the relevant health checks for the breeds done on both of them?

happymom

Posted : 6/14/2006 8:10:57 AM

the sire is a AKC certified toy poodle the dam is not certified because they just didn't pay the fee to get the cert papers but they have the application that they were supposed to submit to thave her cert. They also showed me the vet cheks for both and have keept very close in tuch.

glenmar

Posted : 6/14/2006 8:26:41 AM

AKC doesn't certify dogs. They are a registry only. They REGISTER dogs and provide you with papers that prove that they are purebred. It costs around 15 bucks to register your dog.

What SPECIFIC health checks have they had done to test for genetic conditions common to the breeds? The vet saying that both are healthy just doesn't cut it.....some genetic conditions never show...some genes are carried and passed on to the pups but the adults never show any signs or symptoms of those conditions.

amstaffy

Posted : 6/14/2006 8:44:38 AM

Glenda,
I think when she wrote "Cert" she meant certificate.

Many times people won't send in their registration certificate and seriously, why should these people worry about that, they are breeding mutts/mixed breed/designer breeds what ever you'd like to call them. There will never be a registration for the pups unless they go with some money hungry person who makes up a fake paper staing that is is a whoseypoo which is nothing more then a mixed breed.
Of course if they do have their application of the certificate they could submit it but that would be an additional $60.00 along with the $15.00 regular application fee because I'm sure or at least I hope that the dog is over a year old. Then again, wouldn't that cut into their profits?

Breeders, I think not
[sm=soap%20box.gif]

glenmar

Posted : 6/14/2006 8:53:52 AM

But she specifically SAID certified.

I bite my tongue on this thread as long as I could.....and you KNOW how hard that was. This is NOT a breeder. This is someone profitting on the fertility of her dogs and conning people into believing the bull she is spoonfeeding them. I'll go away now.....

meilani

Posted : 6/14/2006 10:42:48 AM

Don't know if it's too late but for what it's worth, I wrote about "designer dogs". You can read it by clicking [linkhttp://www.SekcsZoo.com/MixedBreed.html]here[/link].

Willowmum

Posted : 6/14/2006 11:03:55 AM

Happymum I meant the breed specific health checks not vet checks, Ive not idea about AKC as Im in the UK. However I do know that there are health checks specific to both breeds that should be done before breedings take place it might be an idea to ask your breeder about them. At least that way you will know if they've put thought into breeding and done the research necessary.

jones

Posted : 6/14/2006 6:25:19 PM

Unfortunately there's not much breed info to give you (the OP) since shih poos are not a breed. He may have the coat of a shih tzu, he may have the coat of a poodle, he may have a mix of the two. The same goes for temperament, health concerns, intelligence, prey drive, etc etc etc. The closest thing you could come to predicting the personality of the pup would be to read up on both breeds and then imagine some random mix of those characteristics.