9781422279403

ported from China because of the revolution. Faults were creeping in, and many felt the breed was becoming to big, too leggy, plain in the face, and not quite as sweet in temperament. In 1952, a top Pekingese breeder, Elfreda Evans, mated a black Shih Tzu bitch, Elfann Fenling of Yram, to a black and white Peking- ese male, Philadelphus Suti-T’sun of Elfann. She had heard that the Chinese emperors bred their little lion dogs to Pekingese every few generations, and decided it was not a bad idea. Scandal ensued. The puppies were not considered purebred and could not be reg- istered. In fact, the Kennel Club would only register puppies four generations after the cross. And since almost all the important Amer- ican lines came from British imports, American breeders had to wait even longer for full American Kennel Club (AKC) recognition. Coming to America When the Shih Tzu was first imported into America in the late 1930s, there were similar problems with establishing the breed’s

identity. Shih Tzu were not recognized by the AKC as a separate breed. At that time, the majority of the imports weremade by army per- sonnel who had come across

the breed while stationed in Great Britain or Scandinavia. The dogs they brought home were shown and bred as Lhasa Apsos, until the Shih Tzu was officially recog- nized by the AKC in

1955—but only in the Miscellaneous Class.

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