Читать книгу Training Your Shih Tzu - J. Walker - Страница 17

Puppies present a unique training problem to the owner: brief windows of opportunity. Very young puppies play hard, eat, relieve themselves, and sleep—not necessarily in that order. Finding a time when your puppy is focused enough on you to provide a productive training period can be difficult.

If you understand that your puppy can’t focus for long periods (or take much of anything very seriously, for that matter), you’ve got a leg up on training. To be effective, you will need to keep your sessions exceptionally brief (maybe just a few repetitions of one or two exercises). Keep in mind that training can be impromptu and that you can perform these quick training sessions multiple times during the day.

TZU TIP

When using treats as lures and rewards, it’s important that your Shih Tzu be a little hungry. If he’s just eaten a meal, he won’t be as motivated to work for food.

When training your puppy keep these pointers in mind. In addition, here are some more puppy-training tips.

1. Always end a training session on a good note. Have your puppy finish with a successful repetition—it does not have to be the exercise you’re working on, particularly if your Shih Tzu is having a difficult time.

2. Only train when you are in a good mood; your puppy will quickly sense your frustration, even if it’s not with him.

3. Have lots of patience. Shih Tzu puppies are easily distracted by the tiniest of things. His attention span will improve as he ages. When you see that he is maintaining his focus a little longer, you can work up to longer training sessions.

4. Burn off a little steam. If your puppy has lots of excess energy and can’t focus because he’s really wound up, play with him. Play zoomie around the house. Toss a ball. Go for a little walk. Then get your Shih Tzu’s attention for a mini training session.

5. Keep the puppy “joy” alive. Remember, it’s easy to squelch your puppy’s enthusiasm with just a single harsh word.