From Sedona, Arizona to California
Shih Tzu Puppies for Sale in California
California is the only state on this list where I will ask whether you would rather drive. It is the one journey where the road genuinely competes with the air, and which of the two I would pick for you depends entirely on whereabouts in the state you are. There is already one of mine living in Bakersfield, and she went home in a car.
California is my nearest big neighbour and where a good share of my enquiries come from. Los Angeles and San Diego are both about seven hours from Sedona by road, which people do in a day with a stop in the desert, and the flight from Phoenix to any of the southern California airports is about eighty minutes.
Flight from PhoenixAbout 1 hour 20 from Phoenix
RoutePHX to LAX, SAN, SNA, SJC, SFO or SMF, or the I-10 and I-40 by road
Puppies now6
Cargo holdNever
Available Puppies
Every puppy we have right now, all purebred, raised in our home and ready for a family in California.
How your puppy travels to California
Two good options. Drive over on the I-10 or the I-40, meet us at an agreed spot, and drive home with your puppy asleep in a carrier on the passenger seat. Or fly into Phoenix in the morning, I bring the puppy down to meet you, and you fly home together the same afternoon with the puppy under the seat in front of you. Airlines take an in-cabin dog for a fee of roughly a hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars, and an 8lb Shih Tzu puppy is well inside every cabin weight limit I know of. If you cannot travel, a flight nanny can bring the puppy to you.
Not sure which way suits you? Tell me where you are and I will tell you what I would do.
Getting a puppy to Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and the rest of California
Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego are the ones where the drive competes with the flight: about seven hours on the I-10, or eighty minutes into LAX, John Wayne or Lindbergh if you would rather not spend the day in a car. San Jose and Sacramento are the flight, into SJC and Sacramento International. Fresno is the awkward one, with no nonstop from Phoenix, so for the central valley it is a connection or a transporter to the door.
Puppies we have sent to California
Keeping a Shih Tzu in California
The coast is close to ideal for this breed: mild, dry enough, rarely hot for long. The inland valleys are a different story, and a Fresno or Sacramento summer needs the same dawn-and-dusk routine I use here. What California has that Arizona does not is grooming on every corner, which matters more than people expect with a coat like this. Budget for a groom every six to eight weeks, or learn to do it yourself, whichever way you go.
Shih Tzu breeders in California
Searching for Shih Tzu breeders in California will show you a great many listings and a very wide price range. I am not going to comment on any of them. What I can tell you is what I have: six purebred puppies in Sedona, small adults of about 8lb, no application and no deposit, and a drive or a short flight from anywhere in the southern half of the state.
Whether you are in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento, San Jose, Fresno or anywhere else in California, the route is the same one and the offer is the same: the puppies available now, and a straight answer to anything you ask.
Buying a Shih Tzu puppy in California: your questions
Do you sell Shih Tzu puppies to California families?
I do, more than to any state but my own. The road is the I-10 or the I-40, and the flights are Phoenix into LAX, San Diego, John Wayne, San Jose, San Francisco or Sacramento. If neither suits you, a nanny carries your puppy in the cabin and hands it to you at arrivals. No puppy of mine has ever been in a cargo hold and none ever will be.
Should I drive or fly from California?
Genuinely depends where you are, and I will tell you honestly rather than push you either way. Southern California is the drive: seven hours each way, one stop, and you keep hold of your puppy from the moment you meet it. The Bay Area, Sacramento and the far north are the flight, because ten or eleven hours in a car is not kinder than eighty minutes in the air whatever it saves you. If you are in Fresno or Bakersfield it is a genuine toss-up.
Have you placed a puppy in California before?
Yes. Chrisy went home to Bakersfield, collected in person at a meeting point we agreed between us, and there are photographs of her on this site both on the day and settled into her playpen at home a while later. She is the only California placement so far. If you are somewhere else in the state, ask, and the answer is almost certainly yes.
What does a Shih Tzu cost in California, all in?
$700 for a boy and $750 for a girl from me, the same as anybody pays, with no deposit and no application. The California-specific cost is the grooming: a coat like this wants doing every six to eight weeks and you are spoilt for choice for somewhere to take it, which is more than you can say here. Budget for it or learn to do it yourself. The first-year numbers.
Other states I am asked about
- Shih Tzu puppies for sale in Texas About 2 hours from Phoenix
- Shih Tzu puppies for sale in Florida About 4 hours from Phoenix
Before you commit from California
Ask us anything about the puppy you like. We are happy to send more photos and tell you all about them before you decide.
Worth reading first: how big an about 8lb Shih Tzu actually is, what one costs in the first year, and what to have ready before it arrives.
Ask about a puppy for California
Tell us whereabouts you are and which one caught your eye, and we will take it from there.