October.
It’s been since October that we’ve had puppy Lulu. The training isn’t going very well.
When we decided to get a Shih Tzu, we were completely unaware that they are one of the hardest dogs to train. Great! They are stubborn, don’t like to listen, do things their own way… hmmm… sounds like a few kids I know. No wonder she fits right into our family like a glove. Nevertheless, I was sick and tired of stepping in puddles (thank God we have wood laminate floors) and I knew this puppy had to be trained to go outside once and for all.
Did you see my blog post about the MilkBones® Dog Treats I purchased? Take another look because these are the training treats I’m using to train Lulu.
Yes, she’s cute… but I’m taking no puppy prisoners. I am also getting the kids on board. Our training program is pretty simple: Every time we take her outside to pee or poo, Lulu gets a MilkBone® treat if she does her business. If she doesn’t do anything… no treat. The idea is to get her to WANT to relieve herself outside so she can get the treat. One of the things I like to do is take treats and break them up into smaller pieces. When training, the dog doesn’t need an entire dog treat. If they were given a treat every single time they did something you wanted them to, well, they’d be a rather overweight and not very happy puppy.
Of course, if it was that easy, we wouldn’t be struggling. Even with the treats, Lulu doesn’t really like to do her business outside. Don’t get me wrong… she absolutely loves being outside. She just doesn’t like to relieve herself out there.
Every time she does something inside the house, we pick her up and take her outside. The trick is to get her to figure out that OUTSIDE is the potty place. It’s a long process.
We’ve been trying this new training method for a week and how are we doing? So-so. Lulu has definitely been relieving herself outside a lot more… but she is still going inside as well. I think the treats are definitely helping, I just think Lulu is going to need another few weeks of this before she gets it through her stubborn head that my house is not one giant toilet.
This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own. #iLoveMyK9 #CBias
Great Post. How long have you had LuLu? Depending on where she came from, this could be why she is relieving herself inside. It might not be her being stubborn at all. There are puppy mill dogs that don’t know what it means to go out and potty - the same for dogs that have come from the shelter. Time and patience. You’re doing great!
No, Lulu didn’t come from a puppy mill. I would NEVER buy a puppy that way. Lulu was bred privately by some friends of friends of ours. We met the parents and the other 3 puppies from the litter. We got her when she was about 12 weeks old. At that time, she had been kept in a large kennel in a private house with her siblings.
From what everyone tells me (and what I’ve read) Shih Tzu’s are very difficult to train. We’re making progress though, it is just going to take longer than I’d like. We adore her though.