Shih Tzu is a royal dynamic ancient dog breed that resembles a lion. Training a Shih Tzu requires consistency, dedication, and time. The pretty, gorgeous-looking lap dog can sometimes become stubborn and start to un-compiling up with your commands.
Dealing with a stubborn Shih Tzu can be challenging to housebreak. Shih Tzu is a friendly lapdog; we will deal with their stubborn behavior by providing them with more love and attention.
A basic understanding of dog behavior with a calm and friendly attitude can make your stubborn Shih Tzu a well-behaving companion.
Well, if you are also a victim of owing a stubborn Shih Tzu and looking forward to the effective ways to deal with its stubbornness. Then, you are at the right place, and keep reading more.
How To Deal With A Stubborn Shih Tzu?
Dealing with a stubborn Shih Tzu is not easy, but the ways include establishing a proper tree, breaking things into segments to ease them up, standing firm on your ground, praising your Shih Tzu with rewards, etc. Let’s discuss these in detail:
Establishing a Proper Hierarchy
Shih Tzu is very good at picking up new things. They listen, see and observe more. They only obey the person whom they see has excellent authority in the house.
So for that, to make the Shih Tzu listen to you first, you should make him see him as a strong alpha of the house. If you fail in doing so, he will be more down towards the person with the strong temperament in the house.
You have to maintain a stronger stance in front of your dog. You should always command the dog to sit before serving it a meal and rewarding it.
Moreover, as a master, you should enter a room first, then the dog. It will help cure your dog’s aggression and is an effective way to deal with stubborn behavior.
Break The Things Into Segments To Ease them Up
The saying is perfect: if you cannot do a task, do it in segments and sections similarly if you want your dog to have a grooming session of around 1 hour.
Then directly sticking and enforcing the dog to have a session will not work with a stubborn dog.
You can go for easing things. Like you can start with 10-15 minutes sessions and then see the condition and results; you can increase the duration slowly and gradually up to 1 hour.
Indeed, easing the short-run things for the dog can end up easing long-run stuff for yourself.
Stand Firm At Your Ground
The primary thing in dealing with stubborn behavior is to teach your dog all the basic commands after entering his comfort zone. Then don’t go on a jet ride; it needs to obey your every order.
You can give some pauses within your order and stand aside too. Like if you are playing in a park with your Shih Tzu, and now you want to end it.
Then, it might happen that the dog doesn’t want it to end, so now dealing directly and forcing him to come out and let’s go is a bad approach.
Here you can delay your order or shift it with an indirect approach. You can grab a water bottle and some of your dog’s loved snacks, then call your dog for a refreshment break. It would deny this time.
Praise Your Dog With Rewards
A pat on the back for obedience can make the pup’s day. Offer your proper dog motivation for doing things right and on time.
But also, make sure you reward them with something nutritional that should disturb their appetite too.
Praises and rewards would encourage your dog. If you want your dog to bring the thrown ball again and again, you should award him with something after each repeat: the dog must have some driving force and motivation at the back.
Is The Stubborn Behavior Of Shih Tzu Dogs An Inherited Trait?
Dogs have around 78 chromosomes in their DNA. These chromosomes are responsible for carrying around 18,700 genes that resemble different traits like coat color, eye color, dog height, etc.
The belief is that the possibility that a dog can get a trait from its parents is 65%. It means if the parents that gave birth to a new Shih Tzu were stubborn, then the likelihood of the newborn Shih Tzu being stubborn is greater.
Likewise, humans that inherit their traits from their parents, this Shih Tzu also inherit their traits from their parents. So, we can say that the stubborn behavior of a Shih Tzu dog is an inherited trait.
The Aspect Of Spoiling Refusals With The Stubborn Behaviour
Sometimes there is no such thing as stubborn behavior in your dog if your dog doesn’t comply with our commands. We people just start it exaggerating the compliance of dogs with stubborn behavior.
Sometimes it is possible that your Shih Tzu refuses to go for a walk. It doesn’t mean that it has got stubborn. It could be because of that the dog is tired, or it’s too warm or cold outside.
To sum up, if your dog refuses to do a thing once, it’s not stubborn behavior, but if it keeps repeating the same over time, then it’s a matter of concern and stubbornness.
Major Elements That Initiate Stubborn Behaviour in Shih Tzus
Stubborn behavior is usually when your dog is less motivated and worried. It could be because of a lack of such training.
Stubborn behavior also grows when your dog has high expectations of you, or the dog should easily understand the training that you provide him. Therefore, develop a bond between your dog and look into its likes and dislikes.
There are a total of 3 reasons that our team has found, and we are sharing them with you. These three reasons mainly initiate stubborn behavior in a Shih Tzu.
Not Understanding What is expected
Due to the training gap, the dog usually misunderstands some of the commands. It could also be possible if you didn’t practice that command well.
If you command your dog to shut the door, it is possible that it didn’t understand that, and if a dog doesn’t understand something, how can it do that?
As a result, the owner establishes expectations and ends up hurt. So, the major reason that provokes stubborn behavior in a Shih Tzu is the misunderstanding of commands.
Lack of Attention
A Shih Tzu needs a reason to listen to humans; if the reason isn’t, he won’t bother you and your command. There are two primary reasons why dogs listen.
First, a Shih Tzu should see you as his master and leader. When Shih Tzu considers the commander to be a leader or master, he quickly listens to it and obeys it.
The second condition is listening for reward; when the dog has gained some instinctive reasons to obey, then rewarding your dog for each good job can make the training process faster.
On the contrary, if you don’t take care of rewarding your friend, then he loses interest in you and doesn’t bother to listen to you for long. As hence this behavior again provokes stubborn behavior in a Shih Tzu.
Unpleasant Results and Boss Attitude
Another major reason for your dog being stubborn is when you command your dog, he obeys it and sees that he has ended up with something unpleasant.
Like you just call your dog, he runs from downstairs to upstairs and just asks him to sit. So, his excitement has now no more present. Moreover, never implement a boss attitude over your Shih Tzu; it can also make the dog stubborn.
Why Are Shih Tzus So Mean?
It could be you or any of the previous owner whose negligence and inappropriate behavior has developed aggression in the friend.
Sometimes the small dog syndrome and extensive care can also develop bad habits within your Shih Tzu.
Lack of exercise and loneliness can also lead to making Shih Tzu so mean.
Stubborn Shih Tzu Tricks
Getting started dealing with your stubborn Shih Tzu, you should take care of the following four things so that you may not exceed the limits of harsh behavior.
Shih Tzu Are Hard To Train If Once Got Stubborn
You should realize and admit that these Shih Tzu aren’t going to change their habits easily. You have to be very punctual in training them.
Your training shouldn’t be that hard and harsh and also shouldn’t be that polite.
Moreover, to practice your Shih Tzu and cure its stubborn behavior quickly, it is advised to praise the dog for obedience. Also, you can give some polite punishments for disobedience.
Shih Tzu’s Are Adorable
Shih Tzu is a small, adorable dog with a very friendly nature. They are warm-hearted and always want to play and have fun. While dealing with the stubborn behavior of your Shih Tzu, never confuse adorable acts with stubbornness.
Spend A Memorable Time With Shih Tzu
If you had bought a new Shih Tzu dog or puppy, then it’s quite obvious that in the start, he would show you some stubborn behavior because of loneliness.
So, we advise you to spend as much time as possible with a new Shih Tzu that strengthens your bond with your dog. And also serves as the initial ice-breaking remedy.
How To Train A Shih Tzu With A Stubborn Attitude?
Exposure To Different Sounds And Experiences
Like other dog breeds, Shih Tzu can develop nervousness if surrounded by overcrowded places, which can give birth to timidness and aggression.
Expose your Shih Tzu to different sounds and people so that he feels comfortable. It sounds like whistles, lawnmowers, vacuums, machines, and different cars shouldn’t provoke any panic behavior.
You have to train them and make them feel calm with different sounds around. You can start it by playing sounds on your mobile to make him feel comfortable.
Obedience And Leash Training
Obedience without proper leash training can stick you up while on a walk with your dog. Make your dog comfortable by wearing a leash and a collar. Train it with the signs so you won’t need to pull hard to stop your dog.
Small Dog Syndrome
Shih Tzu is a lapdog and has a small size. So sometimes owners are much concerned about it and keep protecting their dogs which can lead to fearful behavior in your dog.
You can avoid it by bringing and interacting with your dog with other animals and dogs as well.
Separation Anxiety
As a very social and family-friendly dog, Shih Tzu doesn’t like to be alone all the time. You should include the training on living alone and enjoying your own company with your dog.
So, in cases of living alone for some period, it doesn’t develop any feelings of separation anxiety.
Allow Flexibility
People love friendly dogs, but all other breeds of Shih Tzu are slightly different. They are less likely to follow up on your rules constantly; they have a dynamic mood.
The same training tactics might not be functional for all; you should have some flexibility. One thing may be suitable for one day but not that effective the other day.
Positive Reinforcements
Shih Tzu is very energetic, and it sometimes makes them notorious. So, while training Shih Tzu, their stubborn behavior could be a significant hurdle.
Be firm without scolding and punishment; here is the right approach.
Shih Tzu needs humans’ attention, but sometimes when they are stubborn and doing mischievous activities, you should not make eye contact with them.
You should ignore them rather than help him to seek your attention.
It will discourage his bad activities. While training your stubborn Shih Tzu, always make sure to use positive reinforcements.
Final Words
Shih Tzus are highly sensitive towards punishments, yelling, and violence and the use of these harsh ways can’t treat stubborn behavior effectively.
One has to be more friendly and supportive, wait for the right time, break things into pieces, and praise and reward him for curing the stubborn behavior.
The high value of training and proper motivation can make you successful in dealing with stubborn Shih Tzu.
It was all from our side on how to deal with a stubborn Shih Tzu. If you still have any quires left, you can write down; we would love to hear from you.
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