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I
have house trained several puppies and have found this method
to
be one of the most effective and least frustrating for pup and
new
owner. First I strongly suggest purchasing a kennel to be your
puppies
new safe place. Your puppy will spend most of his time in
the
kennel for the first few months. Feed your puppy treats and special
chew
toys in the kennel. You must always leave your puppy in the
kennel
while you are away from your home or can not keep a constant
watch
on the pup.
First
thing your new puppy needs is food and water. You should feed
pup three times a day if possible. Offer water with all your pups
meals. After your pup
is done eating you can either play with pup or put him
back in kennel. About ten to fifteen minutes after eating take pup
outside to potty. Tell
your pup " Lets go outside to potty" in a sweet encouraging
voice. Place pup on ground and say again "go potty". Your
pup will not understand this whole ritual at first but be assured
that potty will soon
arrive. The first week or two is time consuming with this
but just walk around out in the yard and wait for your reward. Walking
stimulates them to potty. After pup does his business reward him with
a very pleasing voice " good girl (boy), go potty outside, good
girl!" Really
make over that sweet little reward. Then take pup inside to play or
rest in kennel or on your lap.
Inevitably
pup will have accidents in the house. I use diapers on all
my pups to minimize frustration on my part. But the diaper is not
a ticket to allow your pup to run freely in your home. If your pup
is allowed to do this they will think it is OK to soil the floor in
your home. You must
watch your pup at all times that they are out of
the kennel. If you see your pup squatting to soil the floor you must
act swiftly and scoop
pup up, take off diaper and in a stern voice say "NO.....
Potty outside" and run your pup out the door to the yard. When
your pup finishes his business outside you must reward pup with
happy voices saying "Good girl (boy)... Potty outside." It
could take a
couple months for this to all sink in if your lucky. Most pups
are trained around six
months. Don't give up on pup, she will learn with encouragement and
lots of love. Never, ever spank your puppy for soiling in the
house. Shih Tzu are very intelligent dogs and respond very
well to your voice tones.
Offer
your pup water through out the day and use the same method. Working
people must leave water in kennel. You also need to take pup out
about every hour in the beginning. If you work during the day you
should take pup out for
potty as soon as you get home. At first you will
need to clean the kennel a lot but after that your pup will learn
to hold it. This does
not happen over night so be patient. I recommend at
first to layer news paper in the kennel so you can just pull it out and
throw it away. Try to
keep your pups kennel as clean as possible. A
cleaner kennel means cleaner habits for pup.
Warning:
Do not
feed pork of any kind to your Shih tzu.
Pork
does not digest properly in small dogs
and can
cause at the least diarrhea and
vomiting
and at the worst death!
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