Animal Crossing
As you may or may not know already, Shih Tzu are an artificially crossed dog breed. Scientists prove, that they came from crossing Lhasa Apso with Pekingese. This is definitely not the only case of dog crossing, though it yielded very good results. Currently, Shih Tzu are one of the most popular dog breeds that exist.
Nonetheless, people still try to once again cross Shih Tzu with other dogs, such as pugs. And that is definitely a very interesting combination, and here you will read why.
If you are planning on crossing 2 of those dog breeds, first we recommend you to research more into this subject.
Pugs and Shih Tzu
While pugs are very happy and humble, loyal and royal dogs with a very interesting appearance, that for a very long time lived on the side of European royal families for more than 2 centuries, Shih Tzu are quite the opposite.
Not only the fact, that they appeared on the completely different part of our world (in China), but also they have much more hair, a very social animal. They are never loyal to only one person – they always spread the love to everyone. They are very alert – to the point, where they would wake up from the deepest sleep just to follow their owner.
And if you combine the 2 breeds, you will get something very spectacular and unique. People call the Shih Tzu and Pug combination – the Pug Tzu.
Pug Tzu
Pug Tzu combine the behavior of both dog breeds in a single one, although in a smaller margin. Thus, Pug Tzu are pretty happy, social and humble, alert and intelligent, while having a lot of hair (as opposed to an original Pug). They are larger than Shih Tzu, but smaller than Pugs.
They combine the loyalty and the friendliness of both the parents, which makes the Pug Tzu as great of a companion, as normal Shih Tzu are. The only relatively bad thing is the fact, that you have to take care of their dense and long hair daily, otherwise it will get dirty and unpleasant, not even speaking about the fleas that might appear.
Average Size
Pug Tzu are quite small, thanks to their parent dogs being similarly tiny. On average, the maximum height is around 28 cm (11 inches), and the weight varies at around 5 to 9 kg (10 to 18lbs). Though they are very miniature and may look decorative, it is really not the case.
Way of Living
Pug Tzu are a good companion dog for lonely/old people, or for those who live in a large, overly populated city. They don’t need much free space, thus can live inside your home on a daily basis. Though you still should walk them from time to time.
Activity and Training
As stated earlier, the Pug Tzu combines traits from both the parents, but on a lower scale. When Shih Tzu are very active and require to be walked quite often, Pugs are a very opposite.
So, in the end, you get a dog with a moderate need for park-walking and such. While it wouldn’t be beneficial to leave the dog inside your home for too long, you can do so for a reasonable amount of time.
Also, the Pug Tzu is much calmer than Shih Tzu (again, one of the main traits from the Pugs). On the other hand, Pug Tzu are much easier to train than Shih Tzu. This is because they are a lot less stubborn than the said Shih Tzu.
Life Expectancy
And finally, Pug Tzu life expectancy is an average between the high expectancy of Pugs, and relatively low one of Shih Tzu. So, the final number is around 12 to 13 years.
This may seriously vary from one dog to another, and depends on the environment, the amount and quality of care, the parents and illnesses, the last factor being sometimes quite unpredictable to say the least.
Even though, this number is quite good, and it is considered the all-time average for small dog breeds. Thank you for reading, and we wish you success in crossing Pugs with Shih Tzu.
