Shih Tzu - Housebreaking Techniques
Paper training a puppy is an excellent method of housebreaking
especially for owners who cannot be home enough to get a puppy
outside as frequently as needed. Puppies need to urinate more
often than older dogs.
How to paper train: Leave her in her space with baby gates and
cover the entire floor with newspaper. After she is use to going
on the paper, gradually reduce the area covered by the paper.
She will probably find a specific area on the newspaper she will
use consistently. Encourage her to go in one place. Leave a
piece of newspaper with a urine stain on it, and if you can
stand it, with a little smear of poop to mark the spot you want
her to keep going at. Cover the dirty pieces of newspaper with
clean pieces of newspaper. The odor will encourage her to go
back to that particular spot of newspaper. Eventually you should
only need a small section covered with newspaper. If she goes
some place without newspaper, then increase the area again that
you cover with newspaper, and gradually reduce it back down.
When a puppy comes to you paper-trained and you want to start
outside training, plan to make the transition over the course of
several days. Take her out often. First, however, take a piece
of her soiled newspaper (with urine and feces) and put it
outside where you want her to go. Keep her on a leash inside
with you so she doesn't have a chance to wonder off and do it
some place in the house. Once she is used to going outside, you
can release her from the leash, and a lot of shih tzu will go to
the door to let you know it is time to let them out to potty. If
you need to go out and leave her alone for more than a few
hours, you may want to put newspaper down in her space and
remove it when you will be home to take her outside.
To use a crate to housebreak: As a general rule dogs don't like
to urinate or defecate where they sleep. The theory behind this
is if you keep your puppy in a crate when you are not around to
supervise, and it is just big enough for her to sleep in, she
won't go in the crate, nor will she will have the chance to go
in your house because she will be crated. When using a crate to
housebreak, puppies need to be taken out frequently just as if
you were not using the crate. At first, this should be to go
outside about every 2 hours. It is not fair to expect a puppy to
hold it for more than a few hours. If you must keep the puppy in
a crate for more than 2 or 3 hours at a time, buy a cage or
crate large enough to provide a sleeping space at one end and a
newspaper-covered "bathroom" area at the other end. Or, have
someone come in to take your puppy out to potty. Leaving a puppy
or dog crated for more than 2 or 3 hours can cause "separation
anxiety" and frustration, which will lead to behavior problems.
Be sure to attach a water bottle to the crate. Puppies and dogs
should have access to water at all times.
Teach your puppy to recognize a word or phrase that means "to go
outside to potty." Something like: "go potty," or "potty now" or
"outside to potty," just whatever command you choose, use this
over and over and do not change the wording or the command.
Provide a biscuit or some other treat and lots of verbal praise
when your puppy does it correctly. Watch for signs that your
puppy or dog wants to go out, like pawing at the door he is
acustomed to going out of.
One delightful way of teaching your dog or puppy to let you know
when he wants to go out is by hanging a set of bells on the door
that he can jingle or ring when he wants to go out. By taking
your puppy out often and by never giving him the chance to go in
the house, he will learn to do his business outside.