While you are having your meals you should train your shih tzu to sit in a designated area until you are done eating. This may take several tries, but eventually the shih tzu will get the hang of it and you will not be bothered during dinner anymore. Of course, once you are finished eating make sure you praise your shih tzu by providing them with a nice meal in their own bowl, but only after you are completely finished with yours.

Shih tzu dogs are extremely smart and reactive to their environment and that includes us as pet owners. Our body language plays a major part in how they act, both positively and negatively. Displaying the proper body language will rapidly stop you shih tzu from any signs of negative behavior.

If your shih tzu's behavior ever upsets you the worse thing you can do is chase them. They think that you are playing and will continue to run. Also, they will not understand when you scold them because they thought you where playing a game with them.

When it comes time to give commands to your shih tzu take note of your posture. You should stand almost like a marine with your chest out and head back. Also, speak in a firm voice. This will let your shih tzu know that you mean business and the shih tzu will have more respect and also be slightly intimidated. This will help in the training process.

Shih tzu's tend to get wound up like a top easily and your reaction to that will determine whether or not this behavior worsens or improves. If this occurs make sure you act the opposite by moving slowly and using the same behavior that you want them to display. This will relax the shih tzu and start to change their behavior almost immediately.

Teaching your dog how to retrieve can be extremely fun if done right. The first step is to use treats until they understand the concept. Put a couple of pieces of food in front of your shih tzu and instruct them to sit. Do not allow them to ravage the food the instant it hits the floor. Instead, make them sit for a minute and then give the command to pickup the food.

Now repeat the process and every time you drop a piece of food simply use the same command to "pickup" and your shih tzu will quickly associate that with putting something in their mouth. This training usually doesn't take long at all especially when using things your shih tzu loves to eat. Try doing it when they are hungry to speed up the process.

When your shih tzu is less than one year old make sure you confine them to one room in your living quarters. You might even want to use some child safety equipment until you are comfortable that they will not get into any trouble while you are away.

Posted under Puppy

Life is very rewarding when you have a puppy, but without proper training it wont outgrow any bad behaviors it might have, and an example of that is biting. I tell people who ask me that this is just a puppys natural instinct, and will outgrow it at some point.

However, if your puppys biting tendencies get overboard, you should now probably think about how to get it to stop biting.

You can use water as a simple obedience training to get your puppy to stop biting. Basically what you do is get a water gun or sprayer, catch the dog doing something wrong, then lightly spray it. Its effective, especially when the puppy is caught off-guard.

Of course, for this to work you have to be around your puppy enough so that you can quickly catch and punish it whenever its doing something wrong. If you cant be around enough to catch your puppy when it is biting, your punishment will be inconsistent, and it wont work. Consistent water sprays are effective in training your dog to stop biting, but inconsistencies wont help your puppy understand its punishment.

You can also try the yelp technique, which is also effective in preventing your puppy from biting. This method is used to make your puppy stop biting you or other people, and not items around the house. What you do is when the puppy bites you, you yelp instead of being angry at your puppy.

This makes use of the pack mentality, and it makes the puppy think that by yelping, they bit you too hard and will stop biting. This is very effective in getting puppies to stop biting, and it also doesnt confuse, pressure or intimidate your pet.

Another great technique is to use orange peels around the house. Dogs dont like orange peels for some reason, and you can put orange peels on items your puppy likes to bite to make it turn away from that object. White pepper is also an effective substitute.

Overall, however, just remember that biting in most puppies is just a passing stage of doghood; most puppies grow out of this stage, and it helps if you add in a little training to make sure it doesnt continue when your puppy gets older.

Posted under Puppy

A sweet pup would usually be depicted as a pet with a warm nose, watery big brown eyes and an anxious way of licking that you would always want to feel. Whether it could be from those tiny children, to teens and to those sturdy men, a puppy can level the playing field fast.

Isn't it so soothing and sweet every time a little puppy would always find a way to be cuddled into your arms or feel you hug them and make them feel wanted? What dog owner hasn't thought, "I wish he would stay a pup forever?" In less than twelve months, that tiny fur ball could weigh more than your adolescent son and eat more than he does, as well!

If a puppy with a very young age is the one that you have chosen to bring home as a pet, you will be given the chance to train him on your own terms so that he could adjust to your life-style and environment. You also get to enjoy those comic moments when a pup makes discoveries like chasing his own tail or catching a ball. These times are so unforgettable. If you take heed of the old saying that goes, "you can't teach old dogs some new tricks," then starting off with a pup should be the thing that you must do so that raising him in your own terms and schooling him to suit your needs and lifestyle can really be possible.

It is more likely for dogs to show off most of their underlying characteristics from their breed as time passes by and they grow more mature. Those violent looking and daunting watchdogs were also able to melt the hearts of their keepers with their charming looks during the times when they were still just puppies. Once grown, that same dog can stare a hole through an intruder instantly be prepared to rip his hearts out to protect his territory (and his keepers).

As temperate as they may seem, those show dogs would surely require you of an extreme and repetitive educating to fully harness their skills. If you want the show dog to execute on command, letting him be spoilt for quite some times particularly in between trainings can be just confusing to his part. Dogs who have functions take those roles seriously.

There are breeds of dogs that no matter how old they are, they just seem to be small in appearance, thus, if you want to have a pet that would still have those pup traits or looks like a puppy even if for a long time, then you might as well go for that kind of dogs. There are dogs where their breed calls for a continuous effort of cuddling and caressing. The patience to deal with such inactive keepers is what these kinds of dogs have and they won't get bored if they too, would get stuck watching Television all day.

But the truth of the matter is, those dogs are less likely to be tolerant with inactivity when they are still in the pup phase but as soon as they get mature enough, patience is just their virtue and somehow, inertia is also something that they relish provided that they are being cuddled. Being a pup is more of like going through the stage of being a young child - wherein the time to explore, run, get scratched or bumped and the like are just the moments that they enjoy.

Discovering new things is just what most pups are so excited about - that all or most of the instructions you gave tend to be quickly forgotten. They wander around, even outside the protective boundaries of your yard.

You just can't escape the fact that having a pup to live with you or your family can really be tiring, but of course, very enjoyable and memorable. A puppy desperately wants your love and approval, so you have to rectify it without being harsh. Puppies coming from the same breed doesn't guarantee the thought that they can actually be the same so you cant just compare their traits as they each has their own distinct traits.

Each puppy has its own character and abilities, so, during his training, he will improve in a way that is based in his own pace and not identical to the pace that his siblings had gone through or to the dog that you owned previously. Either way, dogs can turn into adults who just seem to get on your nerves with its irritating behaviors but were once as pleasing and as fascinating as babies, just like the way humans are. So having a dog means committing all your love for him just the way you do with your other loved ones all throughout your life.

Posted under Puppy