Shih Tzu Guru

Tonya Walker
Puppies & Stud Service

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For as long as I can remember, I have been a dog lover. It didn't matter what breed it was, I loved any dog I encountered. I have loved and lost many dogs in my life, but they have all taught me valuable lessons along the way. As you're reading this, you probably get the impression that I am much older. Be prepared....I am only 23. Although I am young, I've had experience with breeding and whelping litters since I was five. I use this experience along with the knowledge I have gained from hours of research and discussions with other Shih Tzu breeders. Before I get into my experience with dogs, I believe it's fair to let you get to know me as a person first.

Anyone who truly knows me knows that my priority is my future. I believe in the value of a well rounded education and have faith in all the opportunities that an education can provide me. Right now, I am still in college majoring in Psychology with a minor in Statistics. Both subjects are a far cry from having a career with animals, but remember, I am a small hobby breeder, not a full time breeder. I only have eight classes left until I graduate and I am excited to finally close this chapter in my life and start a new one in graduate school. I plan on earning a Ph.D in Clinical Child Psychology and working with children with mental disorders.

Other than breeding, one of my favorite hobbies is reading. It sounds boring, but to me, there is nothing better than getting lost in a good book. Not only do I enjoy mystery novels, but I love biographies and autobiographies as well. I'm always doing research and trying to get my hands on as much knowledge as I can to not only better myself as a person, but to perfect myself as a breeder and as a future Psychologist. I believe knowledge is the one type of power that a person can never have too much of. Along with reading, I also enjoy writing. I've written many poems over the years and might get the courage to share them one of these days. I've also played softball since I was four years old. I played on many championship teams as well as on the Varsity team all four years of high school. However, I put that passion aside once I started college in order to focus 100% on my education.

My first experience with breeding was when I was five years old. My aunt owned a Lhasa Apso named Bear and a Sheba Inu named Sheba. Looking back on it today, the many litters that Sheba had with Bear were irresponsible and only came about out of the laziness of my aunt not getting them spayed and neutered. I do not believe in purposely mixing breeds and I especially don't believe in letting your dogs mate just because you won't have them fixed, pure bred or not. However, things happen for a reason and had it not been for the irresponsibility of my aunt, I would not have gained the experience. During Sheba's whelping, I was allowed to help clean the puppies and actually help pull puppies out that were too large for her to push out on her own. I guess being exposed to labor is one of the many reasons I had no problem filming the birth of one of my little cousins when I was only 14. I also learned how to wean the puppies away from Sheba and learned how to prepare their mushy foods. From my memories of Sheba's litters, I can't recall ever losing a puppy. I remember them all being happy and living long lives. In fact, a family member kept one of the puppies and named her Crickett. Crickett died in 2008 at the age of 17. It broke my heart giving the puppies away because I wasn't allowed to keep one. I grew up with my grandmother and she was strict about not having dogs in the house. If she only knew what our house would be like today!

In 2004, we brought home Patches, our first Shih Tzu. I had just left for college for the first time when we bought her and as bad as it sounds, I realized the only reason I would come home on the weekends was to see Patches. I always had the intention to breed her, but once she reached the appropriate age for breeding, the timing was never right to raise a litter. We have loved her as a pet and treated her like royalty. She is spoiled beyond belief and knows it too! In 2007, a friend of the family had a Jack Russell named Rufus (she was female) who had puppies by a Brittany Spaniel. Of course we know my stance on accidental litters, but I was determined to find homes for these puppies before they ended up in a shelter. I was successful at finding homes for three out of the four puppies, but just could not get anyone to take the last female. As fate would have it, I ended up keeping her myself and I named her Sydney. Sydney is definitely the dominant dog in the house and I believe she is a true genius. She and Patches have formed an incredible bond and I have never regretted keeping her. In April 2008, we finally bred Patches to Toto Happiness of The Georgia Shih Tzu. She gave birth to a litter of four two months later, two boys and two girls. We kept a male and female from this litter and named the male Chunky Monkey because of his large size at birth and named the female Rylee. So now, after growing up in a house where dogs weren't allowed, I now own three Shih Tzu and a Jack Russell/Brittany Spaniel mix and my grandmother wouldn't trade any of them in for the world!

I hope after reading this that you have developed an informed opinion about me and have hopefully earned a little more of your trust. I love my dogs, I enjoy what I do, and I hope I can pass that joy along to someone else with one of my puppies.

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