TRAINING

What you release (reward) is what you teach

What is practiced will be repeated - for better or worse

K.I.S.S. = keep it simple silly

 Never overdo training. 5 minutes is enough for a session if you want them to maintain interest and always ending on a good note... don't do one last repetition as it is greedy and asking for a bad note. You can do 2 or 3 sessions per day if you insist, 30 minutes is pushing your luck, and an hour is begging to end on a bad note. What is practiced will be repeated. Reward well and often in the beginning, real meat or cheese has the most value and the freeze dried meat products are good also, not a dog biscuit for the shih's - tell the banks and tellers to save their treat as they will just spit it out. Carrots, cucumbers, melon, etc. are also good value also. NO GRAPES or RAISINS or CAFFINE or CHOCOLATE or XYLITOL.

Potty Training They wake and go outside immediately. They may play or eat and should go out after 30 minutes, you may then let them comeback in and play for another 30 minutes or put them in a crate or pen if you need to do things that require you not stare at them every move they make. If you see them run back and forth in a zig zag or pounce and stand on the fence with their front paws or spin in circles they are about to do their business. Don't yell, just run, pick up dog and take them outside and wait and watch. Don't let them convince you that it was a false alarm, they just forgot for a second up to 15 minutes, sit out there with them and enjoy the scenery. Have patience and limit distractions so they can remember. Multiple animals in the same space cause distraction accidents. Also the shih tzu really like to play with poo and will bring it in from outside so clean up that poo like it's your job. The younger they are the sooner they need to go outside after a meal and if you want them to crate for 3+ hours then take up the food 3hrs prior. Never do you leave them to roam your huge house without being watched like a hawk for the first year, they are so short it's hard to tell when they are peeing vs. sitting. The second you have an accident then you know you allowed too much square footage too soon. Perhaps they were so good the past week and you think to yourself that you have succeeded, and you can relax now. Nope, when the accident happens just make their free space smaller. If you go inside, then they are leashed / tethered to you or in a crate or small 4x4 or 4x6 pen if you aren't doing pads or pine pellet litter. If you are really desperate or at someone else's house use diapers or boy wraps to prevent accidents. Puppies NEED downtime and a break from you so don't feel guilty about crating. Also, you must use enzyme cleaner to remove potty accident smells. You can try a home mixture recommended by Dr. Marty Greer DVM: 1 small bottle peroxide with 1 small box baking soda and 2 tablespoons DAWN dish soap, mix / use / avoid eyes. Rinse 5 times longer than you think because dish soap doesn't rinse out the same as shampoo. Don't store in a closed container because it will blow up. This mixture is the solution to skunk smell also - not tomato juice.

Grooming Appointment:  Make it a short happy appointment the first few times. Schedule early before they need it because the groomer might be booked out a month or more.

Puppy Class: Find a puppy class and go play, be okay with being an under achiever as these concepts are to teach you more than the dog in the first year or two.  Don't let the pressure of being in class make you push your dog past their limit, recognize their stress before the bad association or melt down and quietly step away and probably be done for the day. Classes of one hour make people happy but aren't best for the puppy, you did get your monies worth even if you only participated for 20 minutes, crate your dog and watch the rest of the class if possible. Instructors are sometimes volunteers from clubs and may not be practiced enough to be attuned to your needs in every instance when in a group class. Be your own advocate without shame of disrupting the class or offending the instructor, this is common practice in the dog world. There is no shame in taking a bow for the day before you lose your cool or ruin months of progress. Keep it positive for the dog to keep them motivated to play the game with you.

Load a recall immediately and often: Use your preferred call command and reward with a food treat. Again and again. If you do nothing in your first year but this then you are still on a good trajectory.

Leash Walking: Don't drag but reward the moment they move forward of their own choice. We are not doing "heeling" work in the first year unless you are really doing this training thing for sport. The second they get to pulling you around change direction in a 90* turn or 180* about face direction. Don't fuss at them, just stay interesting by being unpredictable, jumping jacks if you have lost their interest, get creative. A session only needs to last 5 minutes once a day for a week to make progress. Most important is not to practice being dragged because what you practice will be repeated. So, if you walk more obviously you can't allow them to be a bull, but you will have this under control even sooner.

Sometimes others taint your command words so you must pick unique commands and not tell others who don't understand not to wear out the command to extinction.  The person who says their name repeatedly and gives no treat are making your command useless.