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Shih Tzu

origin: People's Republic of China · 11 figures in the corpus · Q39357

Every figure below carries this breed's name or id in its source study -- grouped by what it measures, not ranked. A breed appearing under a study here does not mean every other breed was tested and came back negative; it means this is what has a named source so far. See each figure's own page for its caveats.

Longevity

12.8 years (median survival) verified

Shih Tzu: median survival age, UK veterinary clinic population

  • UK primary-care veterinary clinic population (VetCompass), not a census of all dogs of the breed.
  • Hazard ratio vs. the crossbred reference group: 0.94 (95% CI 0.91-0.96, p<0.001).
11.05 years (life expectancy at birth) verified

Shih-tzu: life expectancy at birth, UK veterinary clinic population

  • UK primary-care veterinary clinic population (VetCompass), not a census of all dogs of the breed.
  • Life expectancy at birth (cohort life-table method), a different statistic from a Kaplan-Meier median survival age -- do not compare directly against McMillan 2024's figures.

Size & head shape

1 size class (1=Small, 2=Medium, 3=Large) verified

Shih Tzu: body size class -- Small

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.
1 cephalic type (1=Brachycephalic, 2=Mesocephalic, 3=Dolichocephalic) verified

Shih Tzu: head-shape (cephalic index) classification -- Brachycephalic

  • Body size and cephalic index classification per Supplementary Table S5; for breeds absent from the study's primary source lists, assigned by majority agreement among Dogs Trust canine-behaviour experts rather than measured directly on dogs.

Group

1 group membership (see subject) verified

Shih Tzu: UK Kennel Club group: Utility; FCI group: Companion and Toy Dogs

  • KC/FCI group columns record nomenclature presence only, per the table's own caption -- the study did not use group as an analysis variable.

OFA (hip & elbow)

21.7 percent evaluated dysplastic preliminary

Shih Tzu: hip evaluations rated dysplastic (mild/moderate/severe combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.
10.8 percent evaluated abnormal preliminary

Shih Tzu: elbow evaluations rated abnormal (grade 1-3 combined), OFA cumulative statistics

  • OFA is a voluntary-submission registry: owners/breeders choose whether to have a dog evaluated and whether to submit the result, so this is not a random sample of the breed and most likely understates true population prevalence.

Bite rate

14.011 bites per 1,000 licensed dogs preliminary

Shih Tzu: NYC bite reports per 1,000 licensed dogs of this breed, all years combined

  • One city only (NYC); breed labels are self-reported, not verified against a registry or genetic test.
  • Licensed-dog counts are active-license snapshots per extract year, not a true owned-dog population.

Other

1 purpose class: toy verified

Shih Tzu: purpose class 'toy', from FCI group: Companion and Toy Dogs

  • Registry group membership at time of the source table, not an independent behavioural assessment.
1124 puppies registered verified

Shih Tzu (Utility group): UK Kennel Club new registrations, 2025; -67.1% vs 2016

  • UK-only; a breed with 0 or blank registrations in a year may be newly recognised, temporarily unregistered, or genuinely absent that year -- the source table does not distinguish these.
4.6 average litter size (puppies) verified

Shih tzu (chondrodysplastic, brachycephalic): average litter size, Danish Kennel Club registrations Aug 2022-Jul 2023