How to potty train your Shih Tzu. Potty training your Shih Tzu can be a challenging task, but with the four elements of potty training that I'm gonna show you you can have a fully potty trained puppy in no time at all, and here's how.

1. How To Potty Train Your Shih Tzu Puppy
Potty training is a little bit more involved than most people imagine, but today I’m going
to show you the four steps you need to take in order to make the process as smooth as
possible.
How to potty train your Shih Tzu​. Potty training your Shih Tzu can be a challenging
task, but with the four elements of potty training that I’m gonna show you you can have
a fully potty trained puppy in no time at all, and here’s how.
How To Potty Train Your Shih Tzu Puppy
When it comes to house training your Shih Tzu puppy there are essentially four
elements.

2. Number one, supervise.
Supervision is key, if your dog has an accident somewhere in the house and you miss it,
you’ve missed a training opportunity. And disciplining your dog after the fact is unfair for
their learning.
Interrupting them while they’re having an accident is actually the most effective way to
let them know that they’re making a mistake. Keep in mind, you only have one second
to give your dog feedback after they’ve made a mistake for them to truly understand.
So after you’ve caught your puppy in the act and you have interrupted their behavior
you can scoop them up and head outside. Remember, no harsh corrections are ever
needed or warranted in these situations, so if you can’t supervise your puppy, put them
in a crate.
The Second Is Schedule.
Most puppies will need to pee after sleeping, after playing, after eating, so be prepared
to take your puppy outside often in the beginning. And as you take them outside be sure
that you’re using your leash and show them exactly where you want them to go.
The third key, feedback.
Be sure that you’re able to praise your puppy when they go outside and be sure that
you’re able to stop them if they have an accident inside. Any missed accidents inside

3. are missed training opportunities and it’s actually rehearsal of the wrong behavior. And
this can really work against you.
Let’s think about it this way, in your absence your dog is still getting feedback. When
your dog has to go it doesn’t feel good but when they do go, they instantly feel relieved.
And remember, dogs do what’s rewarding.
If there isn’t anyone there to tell them that they’re wrong then they’re likely to think that
they’re right. And rehearsal of the wrong behavior will only set them up for failure in the
future.
Key number four, responsibility.
Once your puppy understands that they ​need to go outside to go potty​, it’s time to put
the responsibility on them to let you know that they need to go there. You can teach
your puppy to sit and stare at you. Or you can teach them to ring a bell.
Or if they have grander musical aspirations, you can always teach them how to play the
tambourine. Those first two methods are sure-fire ways for your dog to get your
attention to be led outside.
So keep in mind these four key elements of house training, supervise, schedule,
feedback, and responsibility. And that’s all I have to say about that.
The Four Different House Training Methods To Suit Your Lifestyle

4. When we say potty-trained a Shih Tzu, we are referring to housebreaking, house
training, crate training, and potty training. Basically they all mean the same thing but
might have different meanings to different people.
As with all training, we believe in positive, gentle approaches that do not include harsh
punishment. Your puppy should be started on potty training the minute you bring him
home, does he understand what to do?
Will he cooperatively pee and poop where you tell him? The answer is simple, probably
not. Two decisions you will need to make before embarking on house training or
housebreaking, are location and words to use.
First decide where you want your Shih Tzu puppy’s bathroom to be, most choose a
location outside but it could be indoors on puppy pads or even a dog litter box which is
useful for those who live in apartments or condos and do not have immediate access to
the outdoors.
If you want him to eliminate in a particular part of the yard, always take him to that
location, stay with him and praise him with his favorite treat when he goes.
Whichever location you choose, it is important to be consistent. Deciding that your dog
should go outdoors, but provide a pad indoors for those times that you can’t take him
outside to potty, sends a confusing message to your dog and makes house training
more difficult.

5. Secondly, it is important with any training to have words to use that your puppy will
understand. Just as we teach the word sit, we also need to use a word command for
elimination. You might say, do your business, or go potty or do your duty, whatever
works for you.
House Trained a Shih Tzu Puppy Schedules
Scheduling and consistency are very important in potty training your new pup. Young
puppies will naturally need to eliminate after certain events, after eating or drinking, after
playing, upon awakening from sleep and other times, but at least every one and a half
to two hours.
Before I go on, I would like to point out that more dogs find their way to pounds and
rescue agencies each year, because they never mastered pottying in the place deemed
appropriate by their owner and because the owner never took the time to properly learn
potty training.
For ​potty training​ or house training to be successful, the single most important thing
that a new owner must learn to do is observe their puppy. Puppies display telltale signs
that they are interested in eliminating, to house-train a Shih Tzu you need to pick up on
their body language.
Sniffing, circling, squatting, with that said how many puppies get into trouble for leaving
little surprises all over the house?

6. Observation is so important, simply being around the puppy is not enough. Puppies are
very good at telling us things, and that is what we need to notice in order to train.
How To House Train My Shih Tzu
How To House Train My Shih Tzu
One of the easiest things you can do to set up your new pup for house training success
is to feed them on a consistent schedule, you should also be feeding your puppy a
high-quality food as well.
It’s our responsibility as people to show our dogs where they can, and can’t go. And
house training is a months-long process, but it’s a good opportunity for you to become
consistent and that is a telltale sign of a good teacher.

7. You see, dogs aren’t born knowing where they should and shouldn’t relieve themselves.
house training success is fastest achieved when you get really good at controlling your
dog’s environment and supervising them really well.
Our overall goal is to teach our dogs that our house is their house. See, instinctively
dogs don’t like to do their business where they live and sleep, but it can take a while for
them to generalize an entire house as their primary residence.
You first want your dog to understand that there is one area for their living space, before
expecting them to generalize the whole living room, the kitchen, bathroom and so on
until they’ve learned that the whole house is their house.
You do this by slowly giving your dog access to the rest of the house under heavy
supervision over time, along with taking them outside very often.
So what are the best ways to control your dog’s environment?
I’ve found that the best way is by actual attaching a leash to you, this way your dog
can’t wander off into another room and you’re in a better position to kind of take cues
from your dog that they might want to go outside.
Baby gates are a great way to control where your dog can and can’t go, you could also
get a puppy playpen and this will give your dog a fair amount of room when you want to
break from heavy supervision from time to time.

8. No matter how you decide to control your dog’s environment, make sure you go out of
your way to ensure that they’re having a great time in whatever environment you
choose.
A crate is a nice way to give your dog a cozy place to hang out when you can't
supervise them. Now, since a crate is pretty small relative to a big room your dog is less
likely to do their business inside of the crate, and they’ll be more likely to accept it as
their primary living space.
Remember, dogs don’t like to do their business where they live and sleep, understand
though the crate is not a dog sitter it’s just a way to keep your dog safe and out of
trouble for short periods of time when you absolutely can’t supervise them.
But you want to introduce the crate delicately in order to make sure that your dog enjoys
being inside. First let your dog explore the crate, open it up, let them smell it, let them
check it out not forcing them in the crate at all.
Give him a treat just to create a positive association while being in the presence of this
crate, try and get him to go inside of the crate voluntarily because you don’t want to
force him in the crate. You want him to want to go in the crate.
Try and put the Treat in a little bit farther and wait for him to go in all by himself, again
keeping the door open. Letting him know he can come and go at least at this point in
this training. You’re just trying to get him comfortable with being in the crate for a little bit
longer.

9. Close the door with your puppy inside but don’t just walk away and leave them alone,
give them another treat. It’s a good idea to hang out with your dog for a little while he is
locked in the cage, especially those first few training sessions.
The crate should be big enough for your dog to be very comfortable to move around in
but not necessarily take several steps in a row. After your dog is starting to make the
connection that this is where they hang out, you can then begin to enlarge the crate. To
be clear an oversized crate is absolutely fine after your dog has gone several days
without having an accident in the crate
In the beginning, place the crate near your bed so that your dog is less likely to have
anxiety when you go to bed at night. It’s normal that your puppy might keep you awake
sometimes in the middle of the night and yeah, you’ll have to get in the habit of getting
up and taking them outside.
Hey, that’s just part of having a puppy, it’ll get better though and later you can move the
crate into another room if you want to. A good rule of thumb for how long your dog
should be in the crate is roughly one hour per month of age.
However, you really want to avoid having any dog in a crate for more than four or five
hours at a time, at any age with the exception of overnight. This is why it’s important to
have additional puppy-proofed areas available, like a puppy proof laundry room or
bathroom where you can tolerate potty accidents.
Before leaving your dog alone for many hours at a time, do your best to give them
age-appropriate exercise. Now, since many of us have jobs that require us to be away

10. from the house for more than eight hours at a time, make arrangements to come home
at lunch and let them out and play for about thirty or forty-five minutes if possible.
If this isn’t practical for you though, you might need to enlist the help of a friend, family
member, dog walker or doggie daycare.
Potty Training Your Shih Tzu To Go Outside
In general, I recommend about once an hour. Make sure you take them outside
immediately upon arriving home or waking up. Be prepared to stay outside for five to ten
minutes, it’s okay if they don’t go each time but it’s important that you continually give
them the opportunity to go.
Now, in cases where they’ve been left alone for two or more hours make sure you take
them outside immediately upon arriving home or waking up.
When are you waiting for your dog to relieve himself be boring, just let him check out
the environment because you don’t want to distract him.
When he finishes going that’s when you reward him big, It’s as though going potty
outside unlocks the most fun version of you to your dog.
You can reward them with a great treat, or even a short play session creating positive
associations. This way will make your dog actually want to go outside to do their
business.

11. If your dog does have an accident inside, don’t punish him. This is about as effective as
punishing an infant for going in their diaper. Your dog isn’t to blame for this accident,
either you weren’t consistent enough or you didn’t control the environment well enough
so just do a better job next time.
What do you do if you catch your dog in the act of going inside?
If possible pick them up and rush them outside otherwise clean up the mess doing your
best to eliminate any odors and do a better job of following the steps I’ve outlined.
Submissive or Excitement Urination
Some of you might be wondering about submissive or excitement urination, that’s where
your dog pees when they get a little nervous or extra excited. Typically, most dogs will
outgrow this by the time they’re 12 to 18 months of age, but if you prioritize socializing
your dog they’ll probably get there sooner rather than later.
In general, I’d recommend against using puppy pads unless you have a unique situation
like maybe you live in a high-rise apartment where it’s impractical to get your dog
outside very often.
That’s because dogs generally develop a preference to whatever texture they
experience, most often while relieving themselves. So, if you want your dog to go on
grass full-time just introduce them to lots of grass and give lots of praise when they do
their business in the right place.

12. When Is Your Dog Completely House Trained?
Most people celebrate house-training success a little bit too prematurely, so how will
you know when your dog is completely house trained?
Well, I’d say that once they go one to two months with absolutely no accidents and can
go several hours between potty breaks, you’re probably out of the woods.
Regression is likely, especially in the first year or if you move or your dog experiences
another major change to their environment.
If this happens, just take a step back and go back to basics. Whether you have a puppy
or an adult dog remain vigilant for six straight months without letting your guard down,
dogs are relinquished all of the time because of issues with house training and other
problem behaviors.
Dealing With Problems
Puppies are so easily distracted by the environment around them, whether it’s a sight or
a smell or a sound, maybe a leaf blowing by. Maybe there are dogs barking in the
background.
But this can completely make the puppy forget about the fact that they’re out there to go
potty. They can totally forget that they’ve actually got to go. Taking advantage of some
natural training opportunities with your puppy is a real help.

13. So the first time out of their crate in the morning is a great time to start your potty
training. You’ll have biology working for you and you’ll know that your puppy really likely
has to go.
Potty training after a fun play session or shortly following a meal are also really great
times to know that you’re going to invest a little bit of time into your puppy potty training.
First things first, any time that your puppy goes outside it’s really important that you go
out with them and that you have them on-leash. You need to be able to guide the
process and help them avoid any distractions, but you also need to really know whether
they’ve actually gone or not.
So if you’re able to, try to find an environment with the least amount of distractions,
whether it’s environmental sounds or smells or whatever. You can also choose this time
to show your puppy exactly where you want them to go potty in the future, so take
advantage of this.
Because you’re out there with your puppy on-leash, it’s easy to redirect them if they
start to get distracted by a vehicle that drives by or some kids playing in the distance,
you can just guide them around with your leash.
Now, you want to be as boring as possible when you’re out there with your puppy. The
last thing you want to be doing is engaging them in play or using any sort of exciting
language.

14. The other challenge is if you’re moving around a lot with your puppy, there are all sorts
of interesting smells that they’re just discovering now, so try to remain in a small area.
Don’t move around too much and that way your puppy will quickly become bored with
the sights and smells and sounds in this little circle you’ve created and they’re more
likely to go potty then. It’s really important that you give your puppy an appropriate
amount of time to go when you’re out there.
Maybe it’s four or five minutes, or maybe if they’ve been really distracted and you’ve
been guiding them away from these distractions over and over again, maybe it’s six or
seven minutes. But it’s important that you don’t remain out there for 30 minutes.
You’re gonna give your puppy a handful of minutes let’s say and what’s really important
is if your puppy doesn’t go, what you do next. If your puppy doesn’t go, you’re gonna
bring them right back inside and directly into their crate.
Be careful that you don’t let your puppy sort of meander around the kitchen or wherever
because that’s the opportunity that they may have been looking for to go potty. So
you’re just gonna put them directly back in their crate.
You’re gonna wait a couple of minutes and for those couple of minutes, you’re gonna
keep a close eye on your puppy in the crate. If your puppy has an accident indoors,
you’re going to be there to supervise them. You can actually mark that moment for them
with an oops or hay and it an interrupt that process entirely.

15. After those couple of minutes are up, you’re going to take your puppy out, take them
directly outside, and then wash, rinse, and repeat. Follow the steps that we talked about
a little bit earlier and just do it over and over again until your puppy realizes that the only
place that’s appropriate to go potty is outside.
Remember, puppies are going to do whatever it is that they find rewarding. So if they’re
continuously making mistakes in your home, that’s not their mistake. It’s actually your
mistake.
Shih Tzu Puppy Playpen
Now a puppy Play Den solves a big conundrum when raising a puppy. For starters, we
know that puppies should not have free-range of the house, especially while you’re
gone. We need to prevent potty and chewing mistakes.

16. Many puppy experts recommend toy-feeding your puppy in their confinement space to
habituate them to it, to teach them to enjoy being alone, and to help them become chew
toy trained. This greatly reduces the likelihood that a dog will chew on inappropriate
items or develop distress or anxiety later on.
But: we also know that a puppy usually needs to go potty soon after they eat. Plus, most
of us working stiffs will have to leave the puppy for a few hours at some point. So how
do we reconcile long-term confinement, toy-feeding, AND potty training?
All of these loose ends are resolved with a Puppy Play Den. The puppy Play Den was
first suggested by the world-famous trainer, behaviorist, and vet, Dr. Ian Dunbar in his
landmark book, “Before and After You Get Your Puppy.”
The plan was later picked up by Open Paw, which created the textbook for planning and
care of shelter animals.
The Purpose of a Long-term Confinement area as far as puppies are concerned is
two-fold:
One is prevention.
Errors increase the likelihood of more errors, so we confine the puppy to an area that
precludes chewing and potty mistakes around the house when we cannot supervise
them.
Two is pro-action.

17. We want to maximize the likelihood that the puppy will learn to use the provided toilet, to
chew only chew toys, and to settle down calmly without barking. Prevention and
pro-action are your best friends.
Most behavior problems are predictable and therefore preventable. Don’t wait for your
puppy to make mistakes. You’ll just be running after the puppy doing damage control
and you’ll always be playing catch-up.
It’s much better to preemptively set the stage and short circuit problems before they
appear. The basic components of the Play Den are A Waterproof floor. A crate or
comfortable bed Hollow, stuffed chew toys, water, And a doggy Toilet, not pads, in the
farthest corner from the bed (we’ll go into detail with the toilet in a second).
An Optional add-on is an X-Pen that you can use to surround the individual pieces if the
room is too large, or cannot be safely puppy-proofed.
Let’s drill down on the individual components.
STEP ONE: LOCATION
Figure out where you’re going to set up your puppy’s Play Den. Ideally, this could be a
kitchen, bathroom, utility room, or section of a room sectioned off by an exercise pen.
Ideally, you want this close to the outside door so you can get them outside quickly
when it’s time to take them out of their Play Den.

18. It’s good to establish going outside to potty as part of the routine any time the puppy is
going to spend time with you.
TWO: BEDDING Give your puppy a crate or a bed.
Plastic Crates are the preferred tool here. You can take the door off. You can even take
the top off for an easy to clean bed with high sides.
A typical dog bed may encourage chewing on the wrong thing.
In a pinch, a towel can take the place of more easily chewable bedding.
THREE: STUFFED CHEW TOYS:
We’ve recommended before, as do many puppy experts out there, that toy-feeding your
puppy in their confinement space is hugely beneficial for teaching them to enjoy being
alone and to help them become chew toy trained.
This greatly reduces the likelihood that a dog will chew on inappropriate items or
develop distress or anxiety about being alone later on. Toy-feeding and work-to-eat toys
are the fastest and best methods. These include Kongs, Buster Cubes, Squirrel Dudes,
Barnacles, or Atomic Balls.
Confinement prompts your puppy to focus on their stuffed chew toys, leaving little time
to worry or bark. We’ve talked about how to deploy these toys before in our Kong
article, but remember any brand or configuration will work mostly the same.

19. No matter what, though, it’s important that these are the only sources of food or
chewable available. Do not use a food bowl.
FOUR: a bowl of freshwater – Pretty self-explanatory.
FIVE: YOUR DOGGY TOILET Listen: Ditch the puppy pads.
I know I said previously that you can use pads but I personally don’t like them and this is
why.
Puppy pads do very little to help potty train your puppy. They just prolong the process
and potentially create bad habits. Instead, we recommend a home-made toilet.
Understand that puppies form three soiling preferences: Olfactory, Substrate, and
Spatial.
If they smell poop or pee, even someone else’s, it’s a toilet to them. Smell triggers potty
behavior. Dogs form a preference for the surface they like to go on. For a puppy, this is
your opportunity to teach them what you want them to go on.
If you don’t pay attention to this, they’ll form a preference that may not be what you
wanted, such as your hardwood floors or your area rugs. They also will also come to
prefer going in certain places according to landmarks.
This component won’t be in place until you take them outside, but getting the Olfactory
and Substrate dialed in will absolutely streamline the outdoor process. This is why I hate
puppy pads.

20. Based on these three preferences pads just teach your puppy to prefer pads which will
hinder your work later on. And if you remove the pads, they’ll find something else in the
house to go on that feels similar to them like bath mats, rugs, or even in the spot where
the pads used to be according to a spatial preference they formed if the pads were used
too long.
On a side note, though, pads might be a good solution for people that cannot or do not
want to outdoor train their dogs. Disabled dog owners or people that live in high-rise
apartments might actually want to pad train their dog. Just be aware of the ramifications
and go into it intelligently.
Otherwise, making the toilet is a snap. You can just get a cat litter pan, baking pan, or
plastic gardening tray, and line it with whatever substrate you intend to have your dog
go on.
If you have a lawn outside, use a sod; if you have gravel outside, use some of that in
the toilet; and if you have only pavement outside, use some concrete pavers in the
toilet.
This type of toilet works super. Whenever your puppy is with you, you’ll be taking the
puppy outside. But on those occasions when they need to spend time in confinement
the toilet will keep the potty training on track and aligned with your household needs.

21. Try to have short play and training sessions hourly. If and when you cannot pay full
attention to your puppy, this is the time to put your puppy in their Play Den with proper
chew toys and their self-training toilet.
This is just like putting a baby in a playpen or crib when you can’t supervise them! Keep
in mind that any potty or chewing mistakes your puppy makes are potential setbacks
that anticipate more to come.
If an inexperienced puppy is allowed unsupervised free run of your home, potty, and
chewing mistakes are guaranteed. And your puppy could become hyperactive and
anxious.
As we said, problems are predictable and preventable, so steer that ship where you
want it now, instead of just being at the whim of fate. Of course, once your puppy has
mastered their household manners and enjoys time spent by themselves, they can
potentially enjoy the full run of your house and yard any time you want.
How To Teach Your Dog To Ask To Go Outside

22. We have several puppy potty training articles on our blog, and one of the common
questions that people ask us is, “How do I get my puppy to let me know “when they
need to go outside?”
I’m gonna teach you exactly how to do that, and this method isn’t gonna require any
bells. The only bells you’ll be ringing are bells of joy.
It wasn’t long ago that we had to teach our Shih Tzu some potty training and in this
section of our article, I’m going to show you the exact method we used to have our Shih
Tzu have an easy and reliable way to ask us to go outside to potty.
Puppy potty training accidents can be unpredictable so here’s a dog trainer hack. We
know that after your puppy’s been in their crate all night that they’re gonna have to go.
So here’s what I want you to do.

23. You’re gonna grab your puppy’s leash, you’re gonna go open your puppy’s crate and
pick them up. Clip-on their leash, and then head up to the exterior door that you’re going
to use to take your puppy outside to potty.
The reason we picked the puppy up is that we don’t want to risk the chance that your
puppy’s going to have an accident when they come out of their crate, between their
crate and exterior doors.
So the best thing you can do is pick that puppy up so that they don’t have an
opportunity to make that mistake, and then you can take them up to the inside of that
exterior doors.
Now, what most people do at this point is to take their puppy directly outside, but here’s
the trick. At this point, we want you to set the puppy down and hang onto the leash.
Your puppy’s really got two choices. It’s either have an accident on the floor, which
we’ve talked about in previous potty training articles. You know, it’s not the best
outcome, but it gives you an opportunity to tell the puppy that that’s not what you want,
or your puppy’s gonna indicate.
They’re gonna maybe sniff, or they’re going to maybe go towards the door or they’re
gonna look to you. They’re gonna look a little bit uncomfortable, and that’s the moment
you mark with your, “Do you want to go outside?”
And this is the foundation for this skill that your puppy needs to come to you to indicate
that they need to go outside. Now, this isn’t the kind of skills that will be learned in one

24. session. You’re gonna need to plan the same routines a few mornings in a row, as well
at other times of the day.
You need to be really supervising your puppy and very aware if they start to indicate
that they need to go potty, and maybe those signals are sniffing or looking to you or
scratching or whatever they might be, you’re going to learn them in those morning
sessions.
If your puppy indicates they need to go outside, you need to pick them up and
immediately take them out. It’s beneficial to have your puppy come and find you to let
you know that they need to go outside rather than them being stuck waiting at the door
or while you don’t know that they need to go outside.
So remember, set your puppy up to be successful by starting this first thing in the
morning when you know that they need to go. If your puppy happens to pee in the
house, make sure you mark that moment with an, “Oops,” or a, “Ah,” or something to
mark that precise moment that they have made a mistake.
The reason we love this method is it gives your dog the responsibility of letting you
know that they have to go outside now and saying that, you need to be supervising. So
whether they make a good choice or a bad choice, you’re there to let them know.
Potty Bell Training For Shih Tzu

25. Potty Bells are pretty popular, they can be pretty useful and the way I like to teach it
requires a little bit of explanation.
Some dogs you can just put the bells up and there are people indicate to them that they
want them to ring the bells and then they go outside and then the dog figures it out.
Dogs are brilliant, that’s fantastic if you’ve not figured it out cool if not, do it this way.
I would recommend doing it this way just to make sure you’ve got the actual foundations
and the actual behaviors that we really want. If it works for you, that's great, it’s not a big
deal. So we’re going to start by teaching the dog nose targeting.

26. Once they know how to nose target onto our hand we’re going to ask them to nose
target onto the bells. And then we pair nose targeting with the bells with going outside
until you get to that last step you’re not gonna hang up your bells.
They’re gonna be put away somewhere near the door but they’re not gonna be out all
the time if we put them out all the time before the dog really understands what they’re
doing, what they’re getting paid for then you run the risk of making a behavior go extinct
by not paying it.
If they don’t have enough of the reinforcement history with that behavior then it’s gonna
go extinct quickly.
So if the bells are up and they jingle it and no one’s home or they jingle it and you don’t
hear them then they will learn it doesn’t work and stop using it.
To make sure we’ve got a big strong behavior they understand exactly what they’re
doing and exactly what they’re getting paid for then we make it look more and more like
real life so we’re gonna start with nose targeting.
Hand Targeting
We taught our Shih Tzu this method when we lived in an apartment so that she would
not need to come and find us and stare. The stare could mean anything and we are not
as smart as she is.

27. And I say that because she understands our words but we don’t understand any of hers
so we needed a way for her to be able to tell us through other means of what she
wanted.
The first step was to teach her what the word touch meant. The way we went about this
was that we would place our hand in front of her and tell her to touch, then gently move
our hand onto her nose.
When her nose touched our hand we gave her a treat, we said the word “touch” to her
and when she pouched our hand we said “good girl”. We repeated this several times
and then stopped moving our hand so that she would have to move her nose to make
the connection and when she did she was given a treat.
Once we felt comfortable that she knew what touch meant we went ahead and placed a
bell on a wall in a position near the door that would be easy for her to reach. Now we
would wait till she needed to go outside and when she was a puppy this wouldn’t be
very long.
When she was ready we brought her to the bell and placed our hand near it, and asked
her to touch and tried to get her to accidentally hit the bell. When she did she got a treat
and some praise. then we took her right outside to do her business and then right back
in.

28. We wanted to be sure that she associated ringing that bell to only go outside to relieve
herself, not for playtime. After a few days she associated ringing the bell with needing to
go outside, she never rings the bell to play.
By doing it this way it was a strong connection for her that the bell was just to do her
business and that was it.
All right Shih Tzu owners, good luck with your potty training, if you have an alternate
solution, we’d love to hear about them. Keep practicing, and we’ll see you next time.
Thanks for reading.