10. Teaching the adult Shih Tzu to pee and poo outdoors

E-MAIL NO.1 FROM AN AMERICAN DOG OWNER

"...> wrote:

Hello,
I read your website today and I have question. Wonderful website by the way. The woman told the Shih Tzu to pee on the newspaper, how did she get the dog to then pee outside? I have a 3 1/2 year old Female Shih Tzu who most of the time goes the bathroom inside. We are at our wits end with her and don't know what to do.
Please advise


REPLY TO E-MAIL NO. 1

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr Sing KY [mailto:ezyvets@yahoo.com.sg]
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 7:10 PM
To: Sherry
Subject: Re: Shih Tzu question

Pl let me know what you want the Shih Tzu to do?
Which website URL are you referring to?




E-MAIL NO. 2

"Sherry wrote:

I want her to pee and poop outside all the time, not in my house the majority of the time.

REPLY TO E-MAIL NO. 2

Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2007 05:47:47 +0800 (CST)
From: "Dr Sing KY" Add to Address BookAdd to Address Book
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Subject: RE: Shih Tzu question
To: "Sherry
Sat Sep 15, 2007 5.47 am

I am Dr Sing from www.toapayohvets.com

Your dog is used to pee and poop in the bathroom for a very long time.
I presume you live in a house and you want your Shih Tzu to eliminate outdoors.

The following is one method using positive training.

1. Give the dog a daily routine or timetable for feeding (breakfast and dinner) and exercise (going outdoors if you live in an apartment).

2. Ensure that the door to the outside is not closed if you live in a house.
Otherwise how does the dog go out to eliminate when he needs to?

3. Note what times the dog eliminates. Is it 2 times per day in most adult dogs in Singapore. Is it <10 minutes after meals? Is the timing variable?

3.1 Take the dog to the outside area (outside toilet) you want him to eliminate at those times he needs to do it. You need to do this several times over several days. For the first few days, the dog will wait to go back to pee and poop.

4. Use the newspapers/tissues to absorb the dog's urine and/or poop in the bathroom. Take the papers down to the outdoor toilet.

Bring the dog near these papers so that he can smell them and be conditioned to eliminate in the spot. Say "pee here" in a firm voice.

5. Praise and food treat if he does eliminate outdoors. Play with him. Do not go back home immediately. The dog enjoys the reward of time spent with you as he gets fun after eliminating and not being taken back home. Later you will find that the dog barks to ask you to go down.

6. You will not succeed in the first few days. Be patient.

7. It is important that there is a fixed time to go downstairs for the next 7-14 days otherwise it will be difficult to train the adult dog. If the dog has fixed time peeing and pooping, your outdoor toilet training will be much easier as you just bring him outdoors and follow above steps 3 - 5.

Let me know if you succeed. Best wishes.