I come from a family of animal lovers and I and siblings have been taking care of dogs, rabbits, fish and birds since as 10-year-olds. Friends and relatives used to tease our house as "mini zoo"... Nowadays we only keep dogs and both my previous pets - German Spitzs, Alsation and Shih Tzu have died of old age. Recently, I've adopted a 5-year-plus male Shih Tzu when his original owner can no longer keep up with the maintenance.