Happy New Year!

WoTeH'sin Shih Tzu hopes you had a wonderful 2013 holiday season!  We wish you all the best in 2014!

Sadly my breeding with Kiki and Magic did not take and so we do not have puppies available at this time.  The future holds potentially two breedings this year that should occur mid to late 2014.  I will update the upcoming litter page as events occur.

There are lots of other changes for us here personally coming up this year.  We will be relocating to a new residence in late January.  This comes with lots of excitement and stress of course, but this move is one that I have been planning for a long time.  The move won't be far, only 8 miles, but it means packaging up over eight years of stuff here, so purging and packing will be the focus over the next couple of weeks.

Once moved I hope to have a surgical procedure that will finally rid me of the nearly two years of chronic pain I have endured.  I am hopeful that I have sought the best medical professionals for my case and that soon I will be able to walk again freely without the use of a cane.  I trust then that I can rid myself of intense pain medications paving the road to normalcy once again. 

If you are so inclined, please keep us in your prayers and good thoughts for a safe move and for a successful outcome to my surgery.  Through this I am blessed to have my pups around me - they give me strength and purpose to keep plugging along.  They are my motivation every single day.

Babies Have Arrived!

Born 10/18 to Violet and Magic - four beautiful babies!  Three black & white and a surprise gold & white!  Two girls and two boys!  Here they are lined up for their first breakfast together!

Mom and babies are doing well!  For a live web cam feed go here.  The passcode to view will be in my twitter feed located below on the right sidebar.  The passcode will change daily.  The webcam will not be on 24/7, so check back if the feed is not available.

Happy Valentine's Day

Puppy News!

Hopefully I don't jinx this but while I lay here recovering from yet another cold, I have news of the pitter-patter of little paws on the horizon! Today Sally called me to tell me that Holly - CH WoTeH'sin Breakfast At Sniffanys - had a pre-delivery xray and there are five babies in there!

Holly has been living in Michigan for some time now with Sally and the S'Dandi crew. The last time she was bred, sadly it didn't take - I think that secretly Holly just loves Sally's home cookin' and decided she wanted to stay even LONGER so she didn't have any babies. But this time around Sally timed the breedings perfectly and we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed for a smooth delivery!

Holly is Magic's full litter sister and he sends his best to his sis! Oh and he says, I have a champion kid already that is a Best Puppy In Specialty Show winner - let's see what ya got!

Holly is shown above finishing her championship with Sally in Traverse City, MI

How was your weekend?

For Thanksgiving weekend Magic & I went to Yuma to spend a few days at a dog show. Magic came home proudly with his AKC championship! He finished his title on Sunday with his third major win and many adoring fans ringside. He turns heads wherever he goes it seems. Some of the adjectives this weekend from fans and judges - beautiful, gorgeous, stunning, correct and amazing! Yes, he decided to not just walk, but STRUT his stuff all over the show ring!

Thank you to Sandra "Goose" Allen for awarding a second major to Magic and to Margo Klingler for Magic's third and title-completing major win!

Magic is the first dog I owner/handled completely from the bred by exhibitor class from start to finish and as such I will be awarded a special medallion for this achievement by AKC. This title is very important to me. Magic is my seventh overall finished AKC champion Shih Tzu and my fifth home-bred champion.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend - we sure did!

Violet and her puppies - 7/25/9

Playtime with mom!

Do You Believe In Magic?

Well, here is my pick puppy - no, they aren't eight weeks old yet, only six, but I've made a choice - subject to change but probably not.

Introducing Samantha - WoTeH'sin Do You Believe In Magic?

All I can say is C U T E!!

All the puppies are doing very, very well. They are all eating hard food and drinking from their water bottle. They play like banshees now. They are LOUD and getting L O U D E R every day! Their momma Violet makes a few trips into the nest still to nurse them a little, but she's pretty tired of their teeth!

Puppies are so much fun. I spend way too much time watching them every day. They grow up SO fast!

Puppy update

The babies will be four weeks old on Monday. Time really flies! They are now interacting with each other quite a bit. They still sleep a lot and they are most active in the morning when they wake up. I'll be starting them on mush this week - puppy food that has been soaked in water with baby rice in it too. As their teeth come in, they will transition to regular puppy food.

Here they are earlier today - at least the girls. The boy was snoozing on the other side of Violet.



They are such content and pretty babies! Violet and Magic did a great job again!

Three weeks old!

It's hard to believe but the puppies are three weeks old! They are all doing great - all eating well and FAT! The little boy is a little piggie! He LOVES to eat! Momma Violet feeds them in shifts so she's doing a great job with motherhood. And Magic sticks his nose up to the crate every so often to see what's going on - he's not sure what those things are but he sure seems to think he did something special! :)

I've not figured out any names for these little ones - just the nicknames to keep the girls straight that I came up with when they were born. Horseshoe Girl, Perfect Girl, and Comb-Over Girl. If you look at their markings you can pretty much guess why they have those names. Oh, and the boy is just Big Boy. And he's the biggest one in the picture to the far right.

All eyes have been open a week or so and now the puppies are starting to actually get up and toddle around. They'll start playing with each other probably this week. That's when they are just the cutest!

More pictures next week!

Breaking News!!

WoTeH'sin Shih Tzu is thrilled to welcome into the world our newest litter of babies - 3 girls and 1 boy. Proud parents are Violet (WoTeH'sin Booty-N-Charm) and Magic (Intl CH WoTeH'sin Smoke And Mirrors). Here they are at less than 6 hours old having their lunch!

This is a repeat breeding of our little guy Tuxedo, BPISS CH WoTeH'sin S'Dandi's Black Tie-N-Tails, who went Best Puppy at the Metropolitan Atlanta Shih Tzu Fanciers Specialty preceding the Nationals in 2007. Tuxedo is owned by Sally Watkeys of Traverse City, Michigan and since Tuxedo was a singleton puppy, we decided to repeat the litter hoping lightning would strike twice! We've not had a litter since Tuxedo was born and I am so excited I could just burst!

Momma and babies are doing great! The puppies are all striking black & whites with beautiful markings! I hope to have one make it onto the mats in 2010! Daddy Magic needs only a major to finish his AKC title in limited showing, so he better hurry up! I don't want to keep two dogs in coat!

Puppies - puppies!

We definitely have some puppies on the way! Violet is as big as a house and she still has about 10 days to go! She's so big she mostly lays on her back to sleep at night.

Today I can just about feel some slight movement in there. It so exciting! This is the first litter here in about two years - and it's a repeat of the singleton litter that was BPISS CH WoTeH'sin S'Dandi's Black Tie-N-Tails, aka "Tuxedo".

Dang, I can't wait to see these puppies! Please let there be a beautiful little girl in there for me!

Anticipation!

It's been a while since we've heard the pitter-patter of little paws around here! Specifically, my last litter was a singleton puppy born in 2007 (that turned out to be something pretty spectacular). Tuxedo was Best Puppy In Show at the Greater Atlanta Shih Tzu Specialty that proceeded the Nationals last year! I thought then, and I still think, that was pretty AWESOME! Thank you again, Sally, for believing in me, my breeding program and that special little boy!

Well as luck would have it - I finally have an opportunity to repeat that breeding! Violet is cooperating and I'm sure Magic will when called upon! :) Now all it has to do is take!

So if all goes well, and I hope I'm not jinxing it, we should have cute little black & white puppies in June!

Now, as if that wasn't enough to be happy about, my little Holly is also in season! I've been able to work out the logistics and Holly will be bred as well.

I've been planning these two litters for well over a year now. It's been a rocky road to get to this point too. I won't go into details, but let's just say that I didn't think I'd be able to breed either girl! It figures both would come in at the same time! But I've been blessed to be able to work out the details. And I'm very excited!

Pictures of course will be posted here for bragging purposes!!

Pictured above is Violet (WoTeH'sin Booty-N-Charm) with her singleton son Tuxedo (CH WoTeH'sin S'Dandi Black Tie-N-Tails).

Speaking of dog shows . . .

Magic continues to creep on towards his championship title, in spite of me! He now has 11 points, and only needs one major to finish. This is the most frustrating part of showing dogs - searching out majors. And who knows - Magic may end up somewhere else in the country sometime this year. :) That's the beauty of owner handling - you can take your time, you can change things up, you can show 'em yourself or you can send them out.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Magic goes Best Of Breed in Tucson!

Well, 9 points and counting! The Magic Man only needs a major and 3 more single points to finish his American Championship!

Magic is pictured here in May of 2007 getting ready for a show in Pomona, CA where we were there filling a major for Lucky - which broke. Magic hadn't quite decided he wanted to be a show dog at that time, and while he looked beautiful, he had a terrible outing that day.

Magic really hasn't been shown much. After the disaster in Pomona he was shown in Flagstaff but didn't get the crossover for the point. Then we went to Michigan where he went BW for four points. We then did the IABCA shows in December, where he finished his title in three shows. Prior to all of this I had only shown him in Vegas as filler for Lucky's last single points, and Magic wouldn't walk at all! It was so frustrating. Every judge just adored him and told me that I must find a way to get him to move.

I found a conformation class FINALLY earlier this year and since then we've been going to class before most upcoming shows. He lost to Garnet in Sierra Vista, but he's won in every other show. I'm very proud of his accomplishments, which include his first AKC major AND his IABCA International Championship. I'm hoping he will be a finished AKC Champion some day.

In the mean time, Magic runs the house and yard freely. His coat is indestructible and the only restriction on his day is that he must sleep in his 2x3 in the bedroom at night (on a satin bed mat) and stay crated when I'm not at home. Magic actually loves his crate. He loves the noise it makes when he hops in! Many nights here you can hear Magic and Garnet running through the house from the dining room, through the kitchen, down the hall and into the bedroom, where you will then hear Magic hop into his crate with Garnet barking at him because he won't let her in! And then they are off again on the chase. It's a nearly a nightly ritual here and it just proves that crates are happy places for dogs when they are given the choice to make it their own special place! In fact, the games are on as I'm writing this!

Magic is a very special boy. He is one of those dogs that is just adorable and so vulnerable. I adore him and whether he finishes his AKC title or not, he will always be a special boy to me.

News FLASH!!

Magic went Best Of Breed in Chino Valley today for a 3 point major - breeder/owner handled!! Ye HAW!

Thank you judge Sandra "Goose" Allen! It was truly a pleasure to show to Ms. Allen again. She is so wonderful with the dogs and she just RAVED about Magic! I think the words were beautiful and gorgeous along with a few others thrown in!

I'm on cloud 9 ~ we're keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Winning Streak!

Well, the kids of WoTeH'sin continue to tear it up out there in the rings.

Tuxedo (WoTeH'sin S'Dandi's Black Tie-N-Tails) now has 10 points, needing just one major and a couple of singles. This little guy is only 8 months old! What a thrill it has been during his whirlwind show career!

Holly (WoTeH'sin Breakfast At Sniffanys) gained another point last weekend and only needs three singles to finish!

Both Tuxedo and Holly are in the expert care of Sally Watkeys of S'Dandi Shih Tzu. Thank you Sally for your hard work and winning ways!

And on the home front, the kids and I went to Sierra Vista, AZ a couple of weeks ago and Garnet (S'Dandi's Crimson Crystal Of WoTeH'sin) beat the snot outta Magic (WoTeH'sin Smoke And Mirrors), taking WB, BW and the breed for her first point! The little brat! She had lots of fans by the end of the weekend, including one of my co-workers, Lauren, who joined us for the trip. Garnet is such a happy puppy, not to mention a stunning color, so people just gravitate to her. Red really does attract a lot of attention in the ring!

I was also approached by several folks in search of a good quality Shih Tzu puppy. Sorry to say that my next litter won't be bred until December! Ah but that breeding will be SO worth the wait - most likely a repeat of Tuxedo! Beautiful black & whites on the way! I hope this time there's a girl in there for me!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures in Sierra Vista - it was WAY too windy and I could barely get topknots in. I'll try to post some other candid shots if I can get any around the house this weekend.

Magic Man

I took Magic to Tucson last weekend for the IABCA Winter Seiger. It was a tiring trip, and cold, but well worth it.

The thing I like about the IABCA shows are the written critiques as well as the one on one time you get with each judge to go over the dog. In three shows you can complete an International title. I know of folks that have to keep going back to finish a dog, but I've been successful now twice in finishing dogs in consecutive shows.

My latest is International Champion WoTeH'sin Smoke and Mirrors - AKA "Magic".

Magic is a sweet little boy. He's a bit shy at first but he comes out of his shell quickly now. When I first started to show him earlier this year, he wouldn't walk. He'd put a few steps together but that's it. And each judge, patient as they were, told me they liked my dog but I had to get him to walk. And walk he eventually did - gathering four points in Traverse City last June. Since then he's been home, running the house, chasing the others around and being a dog. I expect to eventually finish him in AKC competition, but his sister Holly has to finish first. My checkbook can only handle so much. So in the mean time, Magic got his International championship and he'll run around some more until I decide to enter him in some shows here in the spring.

Pictured above is International Champion WoTeH'sin Smoke And Mirrors

My extended family

I've been blessed the past couple of weeks because I have received emails from a few past puppy buyers. The best part about these emails - besides the parts that say they adore their dogs and they are the best puppies one could have ever hoped for - the best part would be the pictures.

I was also at a dog show in Tucson this past weekend and I got to see a couple of past buyers who came to the show to see me and Magic. What a wonderful surprise! They raved about their puppy Zoey! We had a nice chat and I am so blessed that one of my kids is now their kid! Zoey is so loved! She is the light of her momma and daddy's life! And I feel so lucky to have my little one in their care - she is so loved and wanted!

Pictured above is Zoey Mallick of Oro Valley, AZ

Five Generations

This week has been so hard for me. Learning that my little Crystal is dying has tragically rocked my world. The hardest part is facing the choice of choosing to not put her through surgery and chemo and ultimately not knowing when her last breath will come. So instead of focusing on this, I am trying to make her final days happy and comfortable. I see her smile when she is outdoors - her favorite room of the house here. She lays on the patio overlooking the yard, just daring those birds to stop by so she can run and give chase. Seeing her this happy makes me smile. It seems she's got some good times left yet.

Today one of my co-workers came over with her daughter and they helped me take pictures of Crystal and her legacy - five generations. I am blessed with a part of her being passed down to each of these wonderful reminders of what a Shih Tzu should be. And it all started with Crystal.

Today reminded me of all that I have even though I feel great loss on the horizon.

Shown above is Crystal with her daughter Iris, her grand-son Magic, her great grand-daughter Violet and her great great grand-son Tuxedo.

Holly's travels with Sally

Just a brag here about my little girl Holly. Her full name is WoTeH'sin Breakfast At Sniffanys.

Holly's show career started earlier this year with me on her lead in Palm Springs where she won the 6 - 9 month puppy bitch class at the Shih Tzu Fancier's of Southern CA specialty. She went on to win the breed at the Superstition KC show held in Scottsdale, AZ in March for her first point.

In May, I flew Holly out to my friend and mentor, Sally Watkeys of S'Dandi Shih Tzu in Michigan. Sally said if she liked Holly she would show her for me, since majors out here in AZ are virtually non-existant.

Well, Holly's first weekend out with Sally in Canfield, OH resulted in a single point under Paula Hartinger. Later that weekend Holly, won a three point major under Dr. John Shelton. Over Labor Day weekend, Holly won another single in Marquette, MI under Maxine Beam. On to the Michigan Toy Club specialty in Goodells, MI where Holly went BW under Lydia Coleman-Hutchinson for a five point major! I think Sally likes Holly . . .

God willing, Holly will be Sally's boy Rush's (American/Canadian CH S'Dandi's On Loan From God) sixth champion, making him ROM eligible. What a special champion she will be! I am so proud of her! She is her mother Iris' first champion.

Holly's brother Magic (WoTeH'sin Smoke And Mirrors) has four points and he's waiting here in the wings being spot shown. Look for him next year.

The picture is Holly after winning her first major!