What colors do Shih Tzus come in?

What colors can a Shih Tzu be?

Any of them. Every color and marking is allowed, and none is meant to count for more than another. A dark face or uneven markings are perfectly fine too.

The range runs wide. Gold, red, black, brindle, silver, blue and liver can each come on their own or with white, and a black mask is a common marking. Brindle means black hairs layered through a lighter color, which gives a tiger-striped look, and a mask is dark shading on the face, so a black-masked gold is a gold dog with a dark face.

What does a black and white Shih Tzu look like?

Black and white in any arrangement, because there's no set pattern. A coat with two or more clearly divided colors, white being one of them, is called parti-color, and black and white is the classic example. Uneven markings are fine, so a black and white whose face is marked differently on each side is every bit as correct as one marked evenly.

A dark face has a practical upside as well. Dogs with dark faces don't show the face staining that troubles so many gold and whites, meaning the reddish-brown streaks tears leave under the eyes. Whatever the color, a soft, damp cloth keeps staining in check, and it's worth mentioning to your vet, because staining can be a sign of an eye problem.

Are solid black Shih Tzus hard to find?

They've become less common in the show ring. A Shih Tzu can be black all over, and black is a color of its own. Decades ago a small group of breeders insisted gold and white was the color the breed should be, and the push to breed for it made many other colors all but vanish from the show ring.

Today many breeders would love more solid blacks, black and whites and black-masked golds, and good dogs able to produce those colors have become hard to find. Breeders prize the blacks and the black and whites for helping to improve pigment, which in a Shih Tzu means the black of the nose, lips and eye rims. If a black Shih Tzu is the dog you've been picturing, say so early, and we'll tell you what our pairings are likely to bring.

Is there a brown Shih Tzu?

Yes, and the breed's word for brown is liver. Liver is a deep, reddish brown that covers shades of chocolate from light to very dark, and a Shih Tzu can be liver or liver and white.

The nose is how you tell. Every color has a black nose, lips and eye rims except the livers, which have liver there, and the blues, which have blue, and both of them can have lighter eyes. So a brown-looking Shih Tzu with a black nose isn't a liver, and gold and red are the other warm shades. Livers and blues are seldom seen.

Will a Shih Tzu puppy's color change as it grows?

It may, and the change can be dramatic. The Shih Tzu is one of the breeds whose color can change a great deal from puppy to adult. Many Shih Tzus go from the puppy coat to the adult coat at about 10 to 12 months, and while that change is underway, for about three weeks, the coat mats almost as fast as you can brush it. Keep brushing, because the adult coat is generally easier to care for once it's in.

Our puppies go home at 9 weeks, long before that, so the coat you carry to the car is still a puppy coat. We estimate each puppy's adult color from its mama and papa, and the final pick waits until 4 to 5 weeks partly because the coat says more by then. How far that estimate can go is set out on our health guarantee page, and the daily care the coat needs is in our Shih Tzu price guide.

Which colors do we raise, and how do I reserve one?

The Shih Tzus on our recent listings have been gold and white, red and white, and black and white. None of our pairings happen by chance. A Shih Tzu can carry a color without showing it and still pass it to its puppies, and where we have DNA results for a mama and papa, they help us plan the colors a litter may carry. We are working toward health testing all of our mamas and papas, and the certificates we have are posted on each parent's page.

To reserve by color, name the one you're hoping for on our puppy application, in the answer where you describe your dream puppy. Once you're approved, you can hold a newborn by gender and color and choose from the litter at 4 to 5 weeks. A $200 non-refundable deposit holds a place on the waiting list for a litter that has not been born yet.

Look first for an affectionate, healthy companion and treat color as secondary. Whatever its color, a Shih Tzu's idea of fun is sitting in your lap while you try to watch TV. Our available Shih Tzu puppies are on the breed page, and our Shih Tzu lifespan and health guide covers the health side.