Hi,

I have a Shih Tsu and the lady we purchased him from trained the puppies with puppy pads and we thought "oh wow! what a great idea!" but now I think it was a bad idea because he thinks it is OK to go in the house! He misses the pad 9 times out of 10 so I have been training him to go outside. He knows his word to go and I praise him like crazy when he does go outside. The problem is he does not ask to go out, I just watch the time and his behavior and let him out when I think he has to go otherwise if we are not paying attention he will just go in the house.

Does anyone have any good tips and ideas on how to teach him to go outside? I know the problem is he thinks it is okay to go inside and that he does not know how to signal to us that he has to go. When we leave the house we put him in our laundry room and at night he sleeps with my daughter where there is tile on the floor and he holds it until we let him out put during the day while we are home if we don't notice that he has to go he just goes inside.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I also have shih tzu with this problem, he is adorable and we love him, but he has been the hardest bugger to train. We try to stay on top of him as much as possible, but he does have accidents, I don't get it. He has gotten better only because we have gotten him a indoor potty. Sounds nasty I know. But there is a system that you can use and put it in the laundry room and it acts like a litter box for cats and it has become "his place". That is the only thing that saved us. Sky mall has one and there are several others out there. Good Luck... interesting breed aren't they?

If you are interested in training him to go outside as I advise, check the sticky at the top of the page.

Perhaps having a contained place would work as suggested above. If you watch a dog outside, they sniff around for the right spot and then eliminate with their nose still over the last spot they sniffed.

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Originally Posted by MsMewiththat

I also have shih tzu with this problem, he is adorable and we love him, but he has been the hardest bugger to train. We try to stay on top of him as much as possible, but he does have accidents, I don't get it. He has gotten better only because we have gotten him a indoor potty. Sounds nasty I know. But there is a system that you can use and put it in the laundry room and it acts like a litter box for cats and it has become "his place". That is the only thing that saved us. Sky mall has one and there are several others out there. Good Luck.... interesting breed aren't they?

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Yes, they are an interesting breed! He is very intelligent and listens very well and as you said VERY adorable! He just thinks it is OK to go in the house!

Thank you for the indoor potty idea, I am going to check that out, it would certainly be better than scrubbing the carpet all the time!

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Originally Posted by gmschofer

Yes, they are an interesting breed! He is very intelligent and listens very well and as you said VERY adorable! He just thinks it is ok to go in the house!

Thank you for the indoor potty idea, I am going to check that out, it would certainly be better than scrubbing the carpet all the time!

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Yes, I have had other breeds and he is by far my favorite. He is borderline dog. MY parents tease us all the time because he talks and is so much more than just a dog. Although we are aware that he is a dog, he is the cutest, funniest dog I have ever had. Sweetest BY FAR, so affectionate and obedient in most other ways. However, that option to potty in the house was a killer. Since we got him the system for indoor use that is his spot. I am so with you on the scrubbing the carpet thing. It's no fun. Good Luck

Here's a tip if you are having a hard time with him letting you know when he needs to go out. Put a bell by the door, that he can reach. At first when you take him out, ring the bell yourself several times. Praise him after he does his business, and come in and ring the bell again. Then after a few times, take his paw, and teach him to ring the bell. Praise him every time you take his paw to ring it, and then of course go outside. If you stay consistent with that, he should catch on, that he should ring the bell when he needs to go out to pee. Doing that with other potty training techniques, and you shouldn't have to be cleaning up accidents anymore.

Good luck!

That's interesting. Has it ever worked for you? I've heard of people doing this, but no luck with mine. One dog started staring at me when he wanted out.

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Originally Posted by starbuck8

Here's a tip if you are having a hard time with him letting you know when he needs to go out. Put a bell by the door, that he can reach. At first when you take him out, ring the bell yourself several times. Praise him after he does his business, and come in and ring the bell again. Then after a few times, take his paw, and teach him to ring the bell. Praise him everytime you take his paw to ring it, and then of course go outside. If you stay consistant with that, he should catch on, that he should ring the bell when he needs to go out to pee. Doing that with other potty training techniques, and you shouldn't have to be cleaning up accidents anymore.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by askaway123

That's interesting. Has it ever worked for you? I've heard of people doing this, but no luck with mine. One dog started staring at me when he wanted out.

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I actually have never personally had to do this. I've always taught my dogs to come to get me, and yes you can tell that "stare" when they need to go out, and then they scratch at the door to come in. But I have friends that teach the method with the bell, and said that it's worked well.

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Originally Posted by starbuck8

Here's a tip if you are having a hard time with him letting you know when he needs to go out. Put a bell by the door, that he can reach. At first when you take him out, ring the bell yourself several times. Praise him after he does his business, and come in and ring the bell again. Then after a few times, take his paw, and teach him to ring the bell. Praise him everytime you take his paw to ring it, and then of course go outside. If you stay consistant with that, he should catch on, that he should ring the bell when he needs to go out to pee. Doing that with other potty training techniques, and you shouldn't have to be cleaning up accidents anymore.

Good luck!

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Thank you, that is a good idea, I have heard of it. Thanks again!