I Might Have a Prapso Puppy

by Sarah
(South Carolina)

As I read your description, I got here because my four-year-old Shih Tzu who is purebred never developed a double coat, so I decided to check Google, I thought for sure I found out what was going on.

However, she does have facial hair.
Her ears will not grow past a certain length, it took a long time for her tail to grow hair, she does not have a double coat, and she is generally much smaller than my other, older purebred Shih Tzu.

I grew up with purebred Shih Tzus, so I knew what to expect as far as development, so I was very surprised when she stayed small.

Her tail took a long time to grow into a typical Shih Tzu tail (albeit thinner), and we are even able to groom her at home. Unlike our other Shih Tzu who has to go to the groomer because her hair is so thick that we cannot cut it without fighting her.

Is she a prapso? Or just maybe a runt?

Either way, we love her to death and she is the best. She is less aloof than any other Shih Tzu I have ever owned! We treasure her!

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Hi, Janice here from Miracle Shih Tzu
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Sounds like she could be a partial Prapso. Genetics are so weird. Even if both of her parents were normal, there might be some relatives in her background that only had a single coat. To my knowledge, they haven't studied that phenomenon.

I have a dog that is similar and I had her checked out medically for any health issue that was causing the hair problem, but she checked out fine.

As a puppy, she had a thick cottony coat, but as it turned out, her outer coat never came in. Her babies all have very thick double coats.

So, in conclusion, she is either a Partial Prapso or just a dog that never grew in her undercoat (or outer coat).

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