Richard, I thought the same as you do about Shih-tzus. My stepson keept bugging us to get one, and all I could think of was the obnoxiously spoiled Shih-tzu that starred in the Christopher Guest Best in Show movie. I was afraid my stepson would love the dog to the depths of obnoxiousness, that that together they would rule the household.
Well, after a year and a half of pestering, I finally gave in and let him get a Shih-tzu. We met with the breeder in a shopping mall parking lot, and the breeder had three dogs in a plastic tub. Josh picked a tricolor dog, and I noticed how nicely another dog was playing with the dog Josh picked. I had an idea - if we got two dogs, Josh's dog would pay more attention to the other dog than to Josh, and maybe they'd grow up to be real dogs. So, I got Ralph, a brindle-colored bundle of fur who looks like the head of a mop. I named him after Ralph Cramden, the Jackie Gleason character of the Honeymooners TV show. Josh named his dog Harry, after a Star Trek: Voyager character.
So, now it's eight years later and Josh is away at college, and the dogs are still with us. I was right - they turned out to be real dogs, and we've really enjoyed them. My 97-yr-old mother-in-law lives with us, and I swear those dogs keep my mother-in-law alive. She's content if she can sit in her chair with a dog on her lap.
Hey, the dogs even liked Micca, that consummate Cat Person.