House-training a Shih Tzu puppy can be difficult if you don’t know what to expect from this lovely small dog breed – don’t let the dog shows fool you, it takes work to instill some discipline into this dog. That’s because the usual punishment can you can dish out to a medium-sized dog may not work on this breed. It’s related, for the most part, to the Shih Tzu personality, as punishing it could only make things worse – the dog could withdraw from people. Worst case is that it acts contrary to what you want it to do.

A Shih Tzu puppy, as expected of pups without training, can and will relieve itself when it can, sometimes with no warning. As pup owner, the best you an do is quickly bring outside, or to the designated potty area – make sure you cover that area with lots of old newspapers. This relieving business is going to keep happening every few hours or so, so it’s best to be easy. We can’t always be there watching it forever, so keeping it confined in an area with newspapers is the next best thing.

If you’re around, however, look for tell-tale signs of impending pee and poop. It will usually be sniffing the ground walking in circles, or crying. When you notice any of these signs, be prudent and bring it to the newspaper-covered area of your home to let the pup do it’s business.

It’s also possible to note the times when it does do it’s business and make it a point to bring it outdoors or to the potty station. It’s known that this pup usually pees after eating or after waking up from a nap. If you can maintain a habit of bring the pup to the potty area – indoors and outdoors – then it may develop a habit of going to that potty area when it has to go. And that’s good. So should you see your pup making an effort to hold its pee or poop in until it makes it to the potty area, you want to praise your pup to let it know you want to keep seeing the same thing next time.

Lavish praise, it can’t be emphasized how important it is to show the pup that that’s what you what to keep seeing it do, every time. It’s not likely that you can train your dog to do what you want, in the usual fetch-dog way; probably something to do with this breed’s personality. A dog like that is known for being difficult to train by punishment, instead it has to want to keep doing what it likes to do, so that means positive reinforcement for when it pees and poops in the right spot.

What you want to see is an effort on the part of your pup to hastily move to the designated potty area, even when it pees along the way. Don’t expect to wake up the next morning to a well-trained dog, that just doesn’t happen. You can do what many veteran Shih Tzu owners do: they plan and maintain activities, routines, that create opportunities for the dog to relieve itself in ways you can manage the clean up, and then they praise the dog for doing what it I’d.

It’s a mix of pride, joy, and exasperation raising a Shih Tzu puppy. That’s because this breed is know for health problems and a certain bratty persona. Training a Shih Tzu puppy may be challenging since it may shut down when punished.