hi, i found a lost shih tzu on the street and not familiar bout this breed. maybe he's lost and missing his owner (i'm not sure) but he's really dull and not very active. are shih tzus suppose to be not active in the first place? he seems to dislike loneliness. he follows everyone wherever we go. he can't seem to be alone. is he missing something in heart? please help. we've tried to search for it's owner but no news .

It sounds as though he's terribly depressed. Who have you contacted in your search to locate his owners (who are probably frantic with worry)? Get you nearest vet to scan him to see if he's microchipped, and also check in his ears to see if he's tattooed. Then tell all the local vets that you've found him, and the dog warden, and the police, and all the local rescue kennels. Also report him to Doglost and Lost Your Pet.

Good luck in finding his owners.

thanks. i'm from malaysia actually. we did paste notices around the area where we found him. but he's just unfortunate. i'm sure the owners are very worried and we're all arms opened to  send him home as we can see he's not very happy and in fact not very healthy too.

can you advice me on more ways to search for its owners? all we did were pasting notices around and dropping leaflets in letterboxes. i'll be posting this up on puppy.com.my to inform others.

I'm so sorry, I assumed you were in the UK! :o Oops!

Definitely tell as many vets as you can that you've found him - the posters are excellent - do you have local newspapers or local radio?

we do.. but it's not a practical thing here to post on the papers and radios. i'm really worried for him coz i can see that he's relly sad the first few days i found him (on monday 10/10). but now he's stil not very lively but at least he jumps actively right after shower and this afternoon i gave him a teddy bear and he plays happily with it. he bites on it and grabs it as his toy. does this mean he's improving at least a little? it's almost a week now, he's with us.

It does sound like he may be improving.  Are you absolutely sure he's a Shih Tzu? many people find it hard to tell the difference between a Shih and a Lhasa Apso ;)  Really, I would take him to a Vet and get him checked over, just in case he needs treatment, they can also scan for any chips ;)  If you contact as many vets as possible and give a description of him he'll have more chance of his owners finding him, they must be absolutely frantic by now (I'd be ill with worry if it was me ;) )

Hi I have a Shih Tzu and he is very laid back and chilled out but has a mad 5 minutes a couple of times a day when he runs at top speed around the house and garden then collapses in a heap!

Is your lost dog eating OK?

Yep Coco (my shih tzu) does the same.

Good luck in finding his owners who are probably very worried about him.

i'm not sure but he looks more like shih tzu. i think i'll bring him to the vet to have a check up because i really pity him. thanks.
he's not eating very well. and i'm not sure about shih tzu's food consumption. what should they eat? he seems very healthy to me. he has shiny fur and it doesnt 'drop'. so i'm currently feeding him some dog food but he's eating very litttle. BUT whenever we eat, he'l trail us and stare right at us as though he wants to eat. but when it comes to his own food, he's not eating that much but still eating.

evrythings ok except for its dullness. i'm just not sure if he's depressed or having some sort of sickness.

Hi, only just got this post. It may be that he's just not had a lot of attention in his life. If dogs aren't played with as puppies, they don't know how to play or if their owners don't interact with them, they stop bothering because they don't get a reaction. It doesn't mean that they've been ill- treated (which your boy obviously isn't), they just seem to have very low expectations of enjoyment! Could it be that he's lived with an old person who has died? He's lucky to have found someone so caring to look after him. Good Luck

You could try giving him more toys - it sounds like he enjoyed the teddy bear, so that might help him?

You should also worm him - the vet will give you a wormer.

What are you feeding him?  If dry, perhaps he'd prefer wet food?

i think he prefers wet food. i'm malaysian and over here we usually feed our dogs rice. i didnt dare to feed him with too much junk in the rice therefore my mum just mix it with some soup or sauce and he eats it more than the given dry dog food. i'm not familiar with these 'expensive' dogs. i'm confused of what to do with him incase we can't find its owner. is it difficult handling them? do we have to spend a lot on medication and health care??

Not if he is fit and well you won't. He will require a daily groom that is a must to prevent his coat becoming matted, also its more comfortable for the dog if he does not have matts etc and clean up, eyes etc, and the obvious when he toilets. They are quite a hardy breed, and I usually bathe mine once a week not that she likes it, more if needed depends on if park is muddy.

Ioxia is right they are known to be quite a hardy breed, it's just the grooming can be quite time consuming, how long is your dogs coat has it been clipped lately. You can always cut it short to avoid the matts and tangles.

Shih Tzus can be quite fussy eaters and some of them don't always eat much.

How much does this dog weigh?

Just as an example my dog is 7 months old and weighs 6.5kg
He's about 10 inches tall from floor to top of shoulder (quite difficult to be acurrate as he kept trying to eat the tape measure  )
Chest 16"
Length 22"
waist 13"

Hope this helps

thanks a lot... i'll do my best to take care of him.
actually i do not know how old is he. he's a lost dog.