Shih tzu history: from Chinese imperial palaces to global icon

Part 1

What the earliest records say about the shih tzu's ancestors

Your dog's story likely starts with small, lion-like dogs kept in Tibet. Tibet was a sovereign nation until the 1950s, and its dogs were likely sent to Chinese royalty as gifts. One account holds that the dogs were given as wedding gifts to guarantee a safe journey from Tibet to China. The shih tzu is widely thought to descend from crosses between the Lhasa apso and the Pekingese.

The exact origin story is debated, and you should be cautious of any source that gives an overly precise date. A 2004 genetic study of 85 dog breeds placed the shih tzu in a small group of breeds, mostly from Asia and Africa, whose DNA differed most from modern European breeds, alongside the Lhasa apso and the Pekingese. That finding points to old roots and a long period of isolation, though it does not give the breed an exact age. There is no reliable record that Tibetan monks bred the shih tzu as its own separate breed; the shih tzu itself took shape later in China.

Part 2

Life inside the Chinese imperial court

Once in China, these dogs became prized companions of the royal court. They lived with Chinese royalty during the Ming Dynasty, from 1368 to 1644, and court artists painted them on wall hangings that decorated the palaces. Breeding was delegated to court eunuchs, who competed to produce dogs that pleased the Emperor; successful breeders had their dogs painted on palace hangings and received gifts of farmland income in return. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Empress Dowager Cixi ran her own breeding program for the palace dogs. Cixi died in 1908, and after her death the palace breeding program fell apart.

Part 3

How the shih tzu nearly disappeared

The breed's future became uncertain after the palace program ended. No shih tzu is known to have left China before the 20th century. After the 1949 Communist revolution, shih tzus in China were killed because of their association with wealth. The breed survived only because a small number of dogs had already left the country. In 1928, an Englishwoman named Lady Brownrigg, who lived in China, brought two shih tzus to England. Today's shih tzus descend from just 13 dogs imported into England and Scandinavia between 1928 and 1952, plus one black and white Pekingese added to the breeding program in 1952. That is a very small founding population for a whole breed, which is one reason responsible breeders still value health testing in your dog's line.

Part 4

The shih tzu's arrival in Europe and the United States

1. In 1928, Lady Brownrigg brought the first two shih tzus to England.
2. The UK Kennel Club first classified these dogs as Apsos, then recognized them as a distinct breed once breeders realized the Tibetan terrier, the apso, and the shih tzu were different breeds.
3. The Shih Tzu Club in England wrote the first European breed standard in 1935, and the UK Kennel Club gave the breed its own register in 1940.
4. From England and Scandinavia, dogs were sent to other European countries and to Australia.
5. American service members stationed in Europe brought shih tzus home in the late 1940s and 1950s.
6. The American Kennel Club accepted the breed into its Miscellaneous Class in 1955.
7. Three separate American breed groups merged to form the American Shih Tzu Club in 1963.
8. The AKC officially recognized the shih tzu in 1969, and the breed could compete in the Toy Group from September 1 of that year.

Part 5

How the name and the breed standard took shape

The name shih tzu comes from the Mandarin word for lion. Breeders aimed for a dog that resembled the lion of traditional Chinese art, an animal considered sacred in Buddhism. The dogs are also called chrysanthemum-faced dogs, because their facial hair grows out in every direction. Early on, there was confusion between the shih tzu and the Lhasa apso, and the UK Kennel Club at first classified imported dogs as Apsos rather than as a separate breed. That confusion cleared up once breeders recognized the two as distinct, and separate standards followed. The AKC's current breed standard, approved in 1989, calls for a sturdy, lively toy dog with a long flowing double coat, standing 9 to 10.5 inches at the shoulder and weighing 9 to 16 pounds.

Part 6

The shih tzu today

Your dog belongs to a breed that remains popular today. It ranked 20th among AKC breeds in 2024 and was placed 21st in 2025. Its purpose now is much the same as it was in the Chinese imperial court: to be a companion rather than a working dog. The long coat you see in your own dog reflects the show coat shaped by breeders in England and Scandinavia. Every color is accepted in the breed standard, from gold and black to liver and combinations with white.