Why Shih tzus are the best...

They probably aren't. I mean, the breed of dog really depends on the owner & how much time they have, their lifestyle, living arrangement & funds. All I know is that the Shih tzu has to be the best dog for me- because I can't imagine a better one. There are many great websites out there to help people pick the dog that is right for them. There was a time in my life when the Bassett Hound fit into my life much better than a Shih tzu would have. I loved my Bassetts but didn't have as much as an emotional bond as I do with my Shih tzus now. I don't have much experience with different dog breeds.
In my early days, I lived with 2 of those Huskies. I think that is what they were- from Alaska- big, fluffy, white- just gorgeous dogs. My memory might be going or maybe back then, I was just very busy because I only remember those dogs when we went on trips. That is because I had to sit in the back seat with them and this one vomited on me each & every time without fail. They are probably good dogs but from my brief experience- not good travel dogs. My Shih tzus are great travellers & have never gotten sick in the car.
The only other dog that I have any experience with at all is the Dashund. These must be good dogs because everytime I have ever mentioned that dog to anyone that I might happen to be around- I always hear great responces. This was the dog that was around me for a big part of my life.
My dad had one named Custer. He was brown & black. The neighbors had one or two of the red ones. I don't remember them as being bad. I just don't remember them as being a family dog. It seemed like they were my dads dog & only his dog. I don't remember them paying attention to anyone but him. They followed him everywhere, they waited under his chair. I even remember them barking at other family members like we could have been strangers. I keep saying "they, them" well, that is because they all looked alike & all had the same name- Custer. When one would die, he would get another identical brown/black daschund & name him Custer too. They have all blended into one dog to me because there was nothing that set each one apart. They all followed him & stayed under his chair. I had a hamster that paid more attention to me than those dogs but loyalty has to be one of their bonus points. My Shih tzus are loyal as well- but not to that degree.

update from trip

Well, We did go on our vacation. We were suppose to be there for 9 days but we came home after 3 days. I did find a pretty nice place here to leave them that they would have enjoyed, but they were full since it was during the holidays. It seemed that every place was full- except for an emergency place but they said that they let them out twice a day. They spent the rest of the day in a small cage & 20 min. a day just didn't seem like enough to me. My dogs use the bathroom more than that. 9 days in a cage seemed horrible to me. I did find places that only charged around $10 a day. I thought it was much more expensive... We decided that it would be better to leave them at home & just have a neighbor check on them occasionally. They couldn't stay at the neighbors because of their big, mean dogs. I put puppy pads all over in case they had an accident but figured the space here was much better than a cage. We should have been fine with that but we weren't. We couldn't enjoy the trip. We had 5 days at all of the different Disney Parks for free & our resort was timeshare- so it wasn't the money. It was just worrying about the dogs. What if they get into this or that...We went to Disney and sortof just ran through it. We rode small world & space mountain and got out of there. We went to Epcot the same day but stayed for about an hr. building our own ride & our son made a video game with his own self as the action hero. He was able to email the game out. I thought that was pretty neat. Anyway, that is all that we did there. We told ourselves that we would go back to epcot each night after we finished the other parks. Well, the next day we went to animal kingdom & we decided not to go to hollywood studios at all. I had a friend that I haven't seen in sooo long that lives in Orlando. We had plans with her on the 3rd day but didn't even stick around long enough to see her. The resort was beautiful with sooo much to do- we didn't do anything except sleep there. This trip might make some think that maybe it isn't worth having dogs but that isn't the case. We have never had this happen before because there was so much that we could have done to have made it better. Normally our son will stay with them, but it was Christmas- so we had to have him go. Normally, we will pick the hotel that will let them stay- but this was timeshare and the reason we were able to go. I had been moving & very busy, but I should have looked into places that they could have stayed earlier. I assumed that they could stay with family or friends in the area & I shouldn't have expected that either. The next timeshare trip that we all go on will be different. I don't regret coming home after 3 days when we had 9 days either because when I got home, the puppy pads were full, there was still so much unpacking to do at home from the move & it was great to just be with them on Christmas. I don't regret coming home because the vacation just seemed void to me without them there for some reason. I won't ever go on a timeshare trip again unless I have a safe place for them that I am comfortable with.