Malamute or Shih Tzu: Two Coats, and Only One Dog Can Cool Down

The Shih Tzu carries two heat-related liabilities at once, and the combination matters more than either alone.

The first is the face. Brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome heads the breed's health list: a shortened skull compresses the nose and throat without proportionally shrinking the soft tissue inside, so nostrils can be narrow and the soft palate can be long, and moving air takes more effort. Dogs cool themselves by panting, so a dog that cannot move air efficiently cannot shed heat efficiently.

The second is the coat. A long, dense, continuously growing coat is an insulating layer over a dog that is already struggling to cool down. In full coat on a warm day, a Shih Tzu is working against itself twice.

That is a strong practical argument for the short clip, and it is why so many Shih Tzu owners keep their dogs in a puppy trim year-round. It is not a compromise on the breed; it is the version of the dog that can regulate its temperature.

The rest of the summer rules are specific: walk early and late, use a harness rather than a collar so nothing presses on the throat, never leave the dog in a car or a conservatory even briefly, and treat noisy laboured breathing at rest as a veterinary conversation rather than a breed characteristic.

The Malamute has the same seasonal problem from a completely different source. Its Arctic double coat traps body heat, so summer exercise moves to first and last light for months. But its airway is normal, its panting works, and its problem is discomfort rather than danger. Shaving is not an option there — the coat protects skin and reflects heat, and regrowth after a shave is often permanently altered.

The Shih Tzu shares its 5/5 grooming rating with only a couple of other breeds here, and the reason is a coat that grows continuously and does not shed out.

At 1/5 shedding, dead hair stays in the coat rather than falling, and on a fine, long, silky coat it tangles into mats close to the skin fast. The problem areas are behind the ears, under the collar and harness, in the armpits, on the chest where the dog lies down, around the rear and between the toes. On a dog this small, a mat that has been forming for a week is already tight against skin.

Kept long, the routine is a full comb-through to the skin every single day, plus regular bathing and thorough drying, plus a topknot or trim to keep hair out of the eyes. That is a genuine daily commitment measured in fifteen to twenty minutes.

Kept short — the puppy or teddy clip — it becomes a few minutes of brushing and a groomer every six to eight weeks. This is what most pet owners do, it is entirely legitimate, and for the heat reasons above it is arguably the better choice. Unlike a double coat, a single long coat can be clipped without damage.

On top of the coat sits the face. Long hair around the eyes wicks moisture and irritates the cornea, the muzzle folds trap food and moisture, and the eyes themselves sit in shallow sockets. A daily wipe of the face and folds, dried properly, plus keeping the eye hair trimmed or tied, is a two-minute job that prevents most of the breed's routine problems.

The Malamute's 4/5 is a bigger volume of hair for less skill and no money: an undercoat rake to the skin two or three times a week, two annual blows, no appointments and no matting risk on the same scale.

Eye problems sit second on the Shih Tzu's health list and they deserve to be understood as a category rather than a single condition, because two of them are emergencies.

The underlying issue is conformation. A shortened skull leaves shallow eye sockets, so the eyes sit prominently and the lids may not fully close during sleep. Prominent eyes are more exposed to knocks, scratches and drying, and long facial hair adds constant mechanical irritation.

Corneal ulcers are the common result. A Shih Tzu that is squinting, weeping, holding an eye closed or pawing at its face needs seeing the same day — a superficial scratch can deepen quickly, and delay changes the outcome substantially. Do not wait to see whether it settles overnight.

Proptosis is the rarer emergency: the eye displaced forward out of the socket, usually after a knock or during rough play or a scuffle. It is immediately obvious and it is a drive-to-the-vet-now situation where minutes matter for saving the eye.

Dry eye — reduced tear production — is the chronic version and shows as a thick discharge and a dull cornea. It is manageable with lifelong medication once diagnosed.

The rest of the list carries kidney disease, which in this breed includes a juvenile form that shows up in young dogs as excessive drinking, urination and poor growth; liver shunts, diagnosed with bile acid testing; dental issues, inevitable in a crowded short jaw and worth daily brushing from puppyhood; plus patellar luxation, hip dysplasia, hypothyroidism, ear infections and allergies.

The Malamute's list is a large-breed one: hip and elbow dysplasia, bloat, hypothyroidism, epilepsy, progressive retinal atrophy, hereditary cataracts, zinc-responsive dermatosis and inherited polyneuropathy. Its problems are larger, rarer and less urgent.

The Shih Tzu's temperament keywords are affectionate, friendly, outgoing and playful, and the ratings back them: 4/5 with children, 4/5 with other dogs, 3/5 with strangers, 4/5 for first-time owners.

There is no working drive to manage. No herding instinct, no prey drive worth naming, no guarding tendency and no need for a job. A Shih Tzu wants to be with its people, will happily sit on a lap for an afternoon, and is genuinely content in a small flat. Its 2/5 exercise rating means twenty to thirty minutes of walking plus indoor play, and its 3/5 tolerance of time alone is better than the Malamute's — a normal working day is within range for many of them.

The 3/5 trainability is honest rather than a criticism. Shih Tzus are not driven to work for a handler and they are easily bored by repetition, and house-training in particular often takes longer than owners expect. Short, cheerful, well-paid sessions work; drilling does not.

The 4/5 with children is about fragility rather than temperament, as with any small breed. A 12 pound dog with prominent eyes is genuinely vulnerable to a poke or a fall, and supervision here protects the dog.

The Malamute is the opposite arrangement in every dimension: 5/5 with children because it is physically unbothered, 4/5 with strangers because it is indiscriminately warm, 3/5 trainability because it is independent rather than uninterested, and 5/5 exercise because there is no version of it that is satisfied indoors.

On cost the two are closer than the size gap suggests — $120–250 a month against $150–300, both at cost level 4/5. The Shih Tzu's spend is grooming, dentals and a long life; the Malamute's is food and weight-scaled veterinary pricing.

The Shih Tzu's recorded lifespan range is unusually wide, and that width is the most useful thing on this page for a prospective owner. A six-year gap is not random variation — it reflects how much of this breed's outcome is determined by decisions rather than luck.

Three factors do most of the work.

The airway comes first. A dog bred with open nostrils and a visible muzzle, from parents that breathe quietly at rest, starts from a completely different position than one bred for an extremely flat face. This is why the questions asked before purchase matter more here than the care given afterwards: ask about the parents' breathing, look for open nostrils, and ask whether any dog in the line has needed airway surgery.

Weight comes second. Excess weight on a brachycephalic dog worsens the breathing directly, and worsens the heat tolerance, the joints and the diabetes risk with it. A lean Shih Tzu is a fundamentally healthier animal, and at 12 pounds a single extra pound is a meaningful percentage.

Teeth come third. Crowded teeth in a short jaw accumulate disease early, and dental infection is not a cosmetic problem across sixteen years. Daily brushing from puppyhood and professional scaling under anaesthetic when needed is what keeps a small dog comfortable into its teens — bearing in mind that anaesthesia in a brachycephalic dog needs a practice that is set up for it.

The Malamute's 10 to 14 years has a narrower spread and fewer owner-controlled levers. Keep it lean, keep the joints sensible through growth, screen the parents — and after that the range is largely what it is.

That difference is worth stating plainly: with a Shih Tzu, the buying decision and the daily habits genuinely move the number.