Читать книгу Training Your Shih Tzu - J. Walker - Страница 11

The Shih Tzu’s beautiful coat raises some interesting, but not insurmountable, problems. First are the issues of matting and tangling from training in natural areas. Spraying your dog’s coat with leave-in detangler prior to a training session may help to prevent tangles from forming. You can work on artificial surfaces (indoors, outside on the sidewalk, in a training facility on rubber matting, etc.) but, you’ll also need to do some work on grassy areas to give your Shih Tzu a full range of “distractions” for training—especially if you are interested in participating in obedience or agility competitions in the future.

After an outdoor training session, brush and maintain your Shih Tzu’s coat as you would if you had taken him for a walk. If maintaining a full coat is hampering your desire to train, consider clipping your Shih Tzu. He’ll still look adorable and his coat will be far easier to keep clean and tangle-free.

Training in a full coat is not impossible.

Another consideration with a full coat is the potential breakage of the coat hairs by a training collar. You can run damage control in this area by addressing the coat or addressing the collar.

To help prevent the hair shafts from breaking while the dog is wearing his training collar, make sure the coat is fully brushed before putting the collar on. When brushing the coat, spray it with a mixture of conditioner and water (or one of the many leave-in detangling conditioners) to keep the hairs hydrated, supple, and less likely to break.

Choosing a good collar can also help. The preferred collar for training a Shih Tzu is a flat buckle or clip collar—the wider the better. (Wider collars distribute the force of a tug against the leash more evenly and are much kinder on the dog’s vertebrae than a thin collar.) Soft leathers, silky woven cottons, and smooth nylons may help to prevent hair breakage. Be sure to fit the collar so that two fingers can slide between the collar and the dog’s neck.

Even a young pup can learn commands!