Pekingese Cross

Post-War England &

The Pekingese Cross

After the war, Lady Brownrigg helped the Shih Tzu Club to become active again. Many new breeders were attracted to the enchanting little dogs and many litters were registered with the Kennel Club.

Leading kennels during the 1950s, which left their mark on present day Shih Tzu were Taishan (Lady Brownrigg), Lhakang (Mrs Widdrington), Antarctica ( Mrs & Mrs K B Rawlings) and Elfann (Freda Evans) and a good deal of exchange breeding took place between these kennels.

It was during this important decade of the Shih Tzu in England that the controversial Pekingese cross was made by Freda Evans who, in addition to breeding Shih Tzu, was a well known, active breeder of Elfann Pekes.

As a result, this acknowledged cross, and many others which undoubtedly made in England Surreptitiously and without record, introduced the bowed leg recessive into the genetic structure of the Shih Tzu. On the positive side is the fact that Shih Tzu twenty years after the cross was made were more uniform in size. Yet bowed front legs continue to appear and persist in many lines today.

The blame for this structural fault cannot be placed entirely on Freda Evans' shoulders, since the original Peking Standard, written in 1938 allowed "slightly bowed front legs", probably due to the unsupervised and secretive breedings of the eunuchs remaining in the Imperial palace after the death of the Empress Tzu Hsi. We know that we can breed away from recessive genes, whether these are faults or virtues, but, once introduced, they are carried along from generation to generation in the genotype ad infinitum, and can surface when least expected.

The Pekingese selected by the knowledgeable Miss Evans, Philadelphus Sut-T'son of Elfann, was an excellent specimen in every way, except one-he had straight front legs! He was bred to Elfann Fenling of Yram.

In England the third generation of offspring or F3 from the original cross was recognized by the Kennel Club and could be shown.

Three bitches and two dogs were third generation offspring of the Pekingese-Shih Tzu cross. This generation was bred by a Miss O I Nichols of Devon, who owned the 2nd generation cross-bred dam, Yu-Honey of Elfann. Two of the three bitches, Michelcombe Dinkums and Michelcombe Fucia remained with their breeder, the third bitch, Elfann Shih-Wei-Tzu was transferred to Mrs Murray Kerr in Scotland. The dogs were Ti-Ni-Tim of Michelcombe, transferred to Mrs Widdrington in England, and Mu-Ho, registered by Mrs Thelma Morgan of the Midlands.

The progeny of these F3 offspring were distributed throughout the country, so that before long it became almost impossible to find foundation breeding stock that was not directly or indirectly the result of the Pekingese cross.

The Pekingese/Shih Tzu Cross

Pu of Oulton

Ch Hong of Hungjao

Sing Pu

Fu Chuan of Elfann

Wu Chow of Shuanghsi

Chuanne Tu of Elfann

Elfann Fenling of Yram

3 bitches, 2 dogs (see above)

Sanus Ching-A-Boo

Ch Loo-Ling

Sing Pu

Yu Honey of Elfann

Philadelphus Sut-T'sun of

Elfann (Pekingese)

Yu Sunny of Elfann

Elfann Fenling of Yram

THIRD GENERATION F3

1/16 Pekingese

SECOND GENERATION F2

1/8 Pekingese

FIRST GENERATION F1

1/4 Pekingese

Article taken from "The Joy of Owing a Shih Tzu" by Ann Seranne

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