Training Jasper

I have received quite abit of mail from people who have asked for advise on different topics about Shih Tzu dogs. I think I will use this page for the most frequently asked questions. As I am able to, I will add more on how I trained Jasper and other things like grooming and whatever comes up. Now remember, I'm no pro! This is just the ways that worked for Jasper and me!! Check this page often to see what I have added! :-)

The mostly frequently asked question was about potty training or house training. Whatever you want to call it! It has to be done!! The following is a letter that I wrote in response to a visitor who asked about potty training. I just cut, copied and pasted in my response to her in this webpage. And that is what I'll do in the future. I hope this will help many of you!! Now on with the show!! :-)

Potty training... oh we had our days!! Somedays we did real good and then others... well it was terrible! The worse was when he was about 5 months old... and I was sitting in the dinning room having my morning coffee before work. I had just came in from taking him outside... and he would not go potty. I knew he would have to go potty soon but just not at that time. So, I was sitting there and what does he do!! He pees and poohs right in front of me and on the carpet too!! I was sooooo upset!! I cleaned up the mess and bad puppied him. What I mean by 'bad puppy' him, I would scold him and make him sit still, right by the wee wee spot, for 5 minutes or more while I cleaned up the mess. (One thing Jasper hates is being called a 'bad puppy'.) When I went into work I was telling my friend Joyce about it... and I was ready to give him away! I was telling everyone they could have him! Well, Joyce had her husband, Johnnie, call me at work to talk to me and calm me down. Johnnie said...... I must restrain Jasper in a crate and only let him out to go potty. Jasper, at the time, stayed in a crate all day while I was at work. I didn't want Jasper having to stay in the crate in the evenings too. I wanted him out to play with and do stuff with. I had read in books to 'crate' them until potty trained... so Johnnie was right, I had just forgotten about that...with all my excitement of having a new puppy!! When Jasper was in his crate he had a 'potty pad' to use if needed to go potty. And he did use it! He never wet his bedding. So what I did... I took Johnnie's advice but applied it a little differently. When I got home from work, the first thing I did was to take Jasper outside to go potty. Then we came in and I would change my clothes. Then this is the big step that made the world of difference. I restraint Jasper by taking his leash that was attached to him and attached to to my belt loop of my jeans!!!! LOL!! Sooooo wherever I went, Jasper went! And when he would start to squat.... I would hurry him outside to potty!!! LOL!! We looked so funny but it sure did work!! After three days of this....... Jasper was trained!!! Thank You Joyce and Johnnie!!! I guess Jasper got tired of doing the cooking, the cleaning, washing clothes and all that stuff! He wanted to be on his own..... so he knew the way to do it was to learn to go potty!! :-)

When he turned one year old... I started to leave him out of his crate while I went to work. (This is another story in itself!! LOL!!) What I did then and still do is, I leave a potty pad in the utility room and if he has to go potty when I'm not home... he'll use that! Oh yes, we still have an accident from time to time...but hardly ever!! He's a good little doggy!!

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