Teaching Your Shih Tzu Puppy Not To Bite

Biting is one of those things that every Shih Tzu puppy seems to
do, and every Shih Tzu puppy must be taught not to do. Like many
behaviors, such as jumping up on people, biting and nipping can
seem cute when the Shih Tzu puppy is small, but much less so as
he gets older, larger and stronger.

Left to their own devices, most Shih Tzu puppies learn to
control their biting reflex from their mothers and from their
littermates. When the Shih Tzu puppy becomes overenthusiastic,
whether when nursing or playing, the mother Shih Tzu, or the
other Shih Tzu puppies, will quickly issue a correction.

Unfortunately, this type of natural correction often does not
occur, since many Shih Tzu puppies are removed from their
mothers when they are still quite young. It is therefore up to
Shih Tzu puppy’s owner to take over this important process.

Socializing the Shih Tzu puppy with other dogs and puppies is
one of the best and most effective ways to teach the Shih Tzu
puppy the appropriate, and non appropriate way to bite, and to
curb the biting response.

Many communities and pet stores sponsor puppy playtime and puppy
kindergarten classes, and these classes can be great places for
puppies to socialize with each other, and with other humans and
animals as well. As the puppies play with each other, they will
natural bite and nip each other. When one puppy becomes too
rough or bites too hard, the other puppies will quickly respond
by correcting it.

The best time for this socialization of the Shih Tzu puppy to
occur is when it is still young. It is vital that every dog be
properly socialized, since a poorly socialized Shih Tzu, or
worse, one that is not socialized at all, can become dangerous
and even neurotic. Most experts recommend that Shih Tzu puppies
be socialized before they have reached the age of 12 weeks, or
three months.

Another reason for socializing the Shih Tzu puppy early is that
mothers of young children may be understandably reluctant to
allow their young children to play with older or larger dogs.
Since socializing the Shih Tzu with other people is just as
important as socializing it with other dogs, it is best to do it
when the Shih Tzu puppy is still young enough to be non
threatening to everyone.

It is important for the Shih Tzu puppy to be exposed to a wide
variety of different stimuli during the socialization process.
The socialization process should include exposing the Shih Tzu
puppy to a wide variety of other animals, including other
puppies, adult dogs, cats and other domestic animals. In
addition, the Shih Tzu puppy should be introduced to as wide a
cross section of people as possible, including young children,
older people, men, women and people from a variety of ethnic
backgrounds.

While socialization is very important to providing the Shih Tzu
puppy with life lessons and preventing him from biting, it is
not the only method of preventing unwanted biting and mouthing.
Giving the Shih Tzu puppy appropriate things to play with and
bite is another good way to control inappropriate biting.
Providing a variety of chew toys, ropes and other things the
Shih Tzu puppy can chew is important to preventing boredom,
keeping his teeth polished and keeping him from chewing things
he should not.

As with any training, it is important to be consistent when
teaching the Shih Tzu puppy not to bite. Every member of the
family, as well as close friends who may visit, should all be
told that the Shih Tzu puppy is to be discouraged from biting.
If one person allows the Shih Tzu puppy to chew on them while
everyone else does not, the Shih Tzu puppy will quickly become
confused, and that can make the training process much more
difficult than it has to be.