Tips For House Training Your New Shih Tzu Puppy

House training a Shih Tzu puppy is one of the first, and one of
the most important things, that any new Shih Tzu puppy owner
must do. It is easy to get frustrated if you do not understand
the basics of this important process, so we have put together a
few tips to make the process of house training your Shih Tzu
puppy a little easier.

It is vital to establish good toilet and hygiene habits in the
Shih Tzu puppy when he is young, since the patterns that are
established in those first few months can last a lifetime. When
you consider that house training issues are the number one
reason why dogs are surrendered to animal shelters, it is easy
to see why house training is so extremely important.

In most cases, a Shih Tzu puppy will not be completely house
trained until he or she is six months of age. That is because
Shih Tzu puppies younger than six months often lack the bowel
and bladder control that they need in order to be reliably left
alone in the home all day.

Shih Tzu puppies younger than six months should be confined to a
single, small Shih Tzu puppy proofed room any time the owner is
not available to supervise the animal. The entire floor of the
room should be covered in newspaper or other similarly absorbent
and cheap material. At first the Shih Tzu puppy will go
everywhere and anywhere in the room. As the Shih Tzu puppy gets
older and begins to display better bladder and bowel control,
the amount of paper used is slowly reduced, until the puppy goes
only on the established “toilet” papers. This toilet area will
form the basis of later house training.

House training the Shih Tzu puppy – what to do: Provide the Shih
Tzu puppy with constant, unrestricted access to the toilet area
that has been established. Take the Shih Tzu puppy to the toilet
area every 45 minutes when you are at home.

When you are away from home, or when you cannot supervise the
Shih Tzu puppy, it is important to confine the Shih Tzu puppy to
a small area that has been puppy proofed and covered with
newspaper.

It is important to be sure that the toilet area does not
resemble anything in the home, such as carpet or hardwood floor.
Once the Shih Tzu puppy is used to eliminating on a particular
surface, such as grass or blacktop, he will want to eliminate on
that time of surface.

Always provide lots of praise when the Shih Tzu puppy does its
business in the established toilet area. The Shih Tzu puppy
needs to learn to associate eliminating in the established area
with positive things like treats, toys and praise from you.

It is important to keep a set schedule when feeding the Shih Tzu
puppy, and to provide ready access to fresh, clean drinking
water at all times. Providing a consistent schedule for feeding
will help you learn to anticipate your puppy’s toilet needs.

Using a crate can help the Shih Tzu puppy to develop much needed
self control. Shih Tzu are naturally very clean animals, and
they will try their best not to soil their bed area.

And finally, it is vital to employ patience during the house
training process. House training can take as long as several
months, but it is much easier to house train right the first
time than to retrain a problem Shih Tzu.

House training the Shih Tzu puppy – what to avoid Do not punish
or reprimand the Shih Tzu puppy if it makes a mistake. The Shih
Tzu puppy will not understand the reason for the punishment, and
he may become nervous and agitated. This could set the training
back even further. Do not give the Shih Tzu puppy constant
access to food. Keep the Shih Tzu puppy to a set feeding
schedule instead of leaving food out all the time.

The Shih Tzu puppy should not be given the run of the house
until he has been thoroughly house trained.

House training a new Shih Tzu puppy is not always easy, but it
is important to persevere. By exercising patience, and rewarding
your Shih Tzu with lavish praise every time he does the right
thing, you will have your Shih Tzu puppy house trained in no
time at all.