How to Train a Shih Tzu Dog Step by Step
Learning how to train a Shih Tzu dog starts with one rule: keep sessions short, reward-based, and started at 8 weeks old. Run two or three sessions per day, 5 to 10 minutes each. This breed responds to high-value treats and consistent positive reinforcement. Skip punishment and long drills; a Shih Tzu that gets bored or stressed will shut down, and you will lose weeks of progress.
Shih Tzus were developed as palace companions in imperial China, not as working or herding dogs. The American Kennel Club describes the breed as “alert, lively, and friendly”, and that profile explains a lot about how they learn. They are social and treat-motivated, which is a genuine training advantage. They also bore of repetition faster than most breeds and will not push through confusion the way a retriever will. Train with that reality in mind and you will make real progress. Fight it and you will spend months calling the dog stubborn.
At what age should you start training a Shih Tzu?
Start training your Shih Tzu the day it arrives home, typically at 8 weeks old. The socialization and learning window closes around 12 to 16 weeks. Skills you introduce during that first month transfer more easily to new environments and hold up better under distraction than anything you teach after 4 months.
Adult Shih Tzus do learn new behaviors. Expect more repetitions. A 2-year-old rescue typically needs 2 to 3 times as many repetitions per behavior as an 8-week-old puppy to reach the same reliability level. That is not a dealbreaker; it just means you plan more sessions per skill.
One timing detail that matters: between 8 and 12 weeks, puppies go through a fear-sensitive period. Keep early training positive and low-stakes. A harsh correction during this window can create a lasting negative association with the cue, and you will spend months undoing the damage. Light, short, and rewarding is the only way to run sessions at this age.
What commands should you teach a Shih Tzu first?
Teach sit first, then stay, then come, then leave it. Each command builds on the previous one: sit creates focus, stay extends it, come applies it at a distance, and leave it generalizes impulse control to real-world objects. Skipping the order creates gaps you will have to fill later anyway.
Use high-value soft treats: small pieces of cooked chicken, freeze-dried beef liver, or moist cheese. Shih Tzus have small mouths, so keep treats pea-sized. Rotate through 2 to 3 treat types across sessions so novelty stays in your favor. A dog that gets the same treat every time will start showing less enthusiasm for it by week two.
Mark the exact moment of correct behavior with a clicker or a sharp verbal cue like “yes,” then deliver the reward within 2 seconds. Timing is everything. A reward arriving 5 seconds after the sit reinforces whatever the dog was doing at second 4, not the sit.
| Command | Difficulty | Average sessions to consistency | Key tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sit | Low | 3 to 5 | Lure with treat, fade the lure by session 3 |
| Stay | Low-Medium | 8 to 12 | Build duration before adding distance |
| Come | Medium | 10 to 15 | Never punish a dog that responds to recall |
| Leave it | Medium | 10 to 15 | Pair with a release word like “take it” |
| Down | Medium-High | 15 to 20 | Harder for compact, short-legged builds |
| Loose-leash walk | High | 25 to 35 | Requires daily outdoor practice to stick |
Consistency in this table means 8 correct responses out of 10 attempts across multiple rooms and locations, not just in the kitchen with no distractions running.
Why does my Shih Tzu ignore my commands?
If your Shih Tzu ignores commands, one of four things is usually the problem: the reward is not valuable enough, the session is running too long, the environment has too many competing distractions, or the cue word has been repeated so many times without a response that it has become meaningless background noise.
Test the reward first. The ASPCA recommends high-value treats specifically for dogs that appear resistant to training, and that aligns with what actually works in practice. Sit for dry kibble versus sit for freeze-dried chicken produces very different response rates in almost every Shih Tzu. If your dog ignores the cue for a mediocre treat but responds immediately for a better one, the problem was never the dog.
Then check session length. Once a Shih Tzu starts sniffing the floor, glancing away repeatedly, or lying down without being cued, you are past the attention window. End the session right there. Five productive minutes consistently beats fifteen frustrated ones.
Cue poisoning is the third issue, and it is more common than most owners realize. If you have said “sit” a dozen times without getting a response, that word now predicts nothing reliable to the dog. The fix: retrain the behavior using a hand signal or a completely new word. Get solid, rewarded repetitions on the new cue. Once the behavior is reliable, you can re-attach the original word to it.
How do you potty train a Shih Tzu?
Potty train your Shih Tzu with a strict schedule, a correctly sized crate, and consistent outdoor rewards. Take puppies outside every 2 hours during the day, plus immediately after waking up, eating, drinking, and playing. Reward every outdoor elimination with a high-value treat delivered within 3 seconds of the dog finishing. Clean every indoor accident with an enzyme-based cleaner; this breaks down the scent compounds that would otherwise attract the dog back to the same spot.
The crate has to be the right size. It should be just large enough for your Shih Tzu to stand, turn around, and lie down comfortably. Not larger. A crate with extra room gives the puppy space to designate one corner as a bathroom area, which defeats the purpose entirely. Dogs do not want to soil where they sleep, but only if sleep space and bathroom space are not the same zone.
Expect accidents until at least 5 to 6 months. Small dogs have smaller bladders and faster metabolisms than large breeds. Reliable potty training for most Shih Tzus takes 6 to 12 months. That is not a training failure; it is anatomy. Tracking your puppy’s schedule on paper for 5 days is one of the most useful things you can do: most puppies eliminate within 15 minutes of eating and within 5 minutes of waking up. Those patterns let you get outside ahead of accidents rather than cleaning up after them.
How do you stop a Shih Tzu from barking?
Teach an incompatible behavior instead of trying to suppress the barking directly. A dog cannot bark and hold a solid sit-stay simultaneously. When the trigger appears, cue sit-stay before the dog ramps up. Reward the quiet, focused sit with something the dog actually wants. Over 2 to 3 weeks, the dog shifts from barking at the trigger to looking at you when it appears.
This works better than punishment-based approaches because it gives the dog clear direction on what to do instead. Suppressing a bark without replacing it leaves the dog in ambiguity, and the barking typically returns under stress or novelty.
For specific bark types, the protocol changes:
- Door barking: teach a “place” command (go to a mat and hold it) and send your Shih Tzu there before you open the door. The dog cannot bark and hold a stay on the mat at the same time.
- Boredom barking: add a 20-minute structured sniff walk or a food puzzle before your longest daily absence. A mentally and physically tired Shih Tzu barks significantly less.
- Alert barking at sounds outside: play recordings of the trigger at low volume during meals and increase the volume over 10 to 14 days. This is systematic desensitization, and it produces durable results when done consistently.
Never yell at a barking dog. From the dog’s perspective, yelling looks like you are barking too, which often increases arousal rather than reducing it.
How do you socialize a Shih Tzu puppy?
Socialize your Shih Tzu puppy between 8 and 16 weeks by exposing it to new people, surfaces, sounds, and calm animals in positive, controlled conditions. The goal is not to flood the puppy with as many experiences as possible. The goal is to pair each new thing with something the puppy values, usually treats and calm handling, so it builds confidence rather than avoidance.
Aim for 3 to 5 new positive exposures per day during this window: a stranger offering a treat, walking on tile versus grass versus gravel, hearing traffic, meeting a calm adult dog. Keep each exposure short, 2 to 3 minutes. Watch body language throughout. Ears flat, tucked tail, freezing, or refusing treats means the puppy is over threshold. Back off and make the exposure easier. Loose body, curious sniffing, taking treats readily means the session is working.
Socialization done well between 8 and 16 weeks measurably reduces fear-based behaviors later, including the reactive barking and stranger wariness that often gets misidentified as a permanent personality trait in adult Shih Tzus who simply were not socialized during the window.
FAQ
Can Shih Tzus be trained easily?
Shih Tzus are fully trainable but they are not the easiest breed to work with. They were not bred to take commands from humans the way working or herding breeds were. They respond best to positive reinforcement and high-value food rewards. Most owners with consistent 5-minute daily sessions see reliable sit and stay within 2 to 3 weeks. The main challenge is motivation management, not a lack of capacity.
How long does it take to train a Shih Tzu?
Basic obedience (sit, stay, come, leave it) takes most people 4 to 8 weeks of daily short sessions. Potty training takes 6 to 12 months for most Shih Tzu puppies due to their small bladder size. Off-leash recall with real reliability in high-distraction environments can take 6 months or more regardless of breed. Consistency of daily practice matters far more than any particular training method.
Are Shih Tzus stubborn?
Shih Tzus disengage when training is not rewarding or sessions run past their attention window. That looks like stubbornness from the outside, but the fix is straightforward: raise the treat value or cut the session shorter. Dogs frequently labeled stubborn by their owners are usually under-motivated or over-drilled. Change the reward or the duration before deciding the dog has a character flaw.
What should I do if my Shih Tzu nips during training?
Puppy nipping during training sessions is normal and is not aggression. When your Shih Tzu makes tooth contact with skin, end the session calmly and walk away for 30 seconds. Return and resume. Consistent session endings after nipping teach the dog that biting stops the interaction. If a Shih Tzu older than 6 months bites with real force during training sessions, get a certified applied animal behaviorist involved rather than attempting to solve it independently.
Bottom line
Start training at 8 weeks, run two to three 5-minute sessions daily, use soft high-value treats, and end every session while your dog still wants more. The most common mistake Shih Tzu owners make is pushing past the dog’s attention window and then blaming the breed. Keep sessions short, keep rewards high, and the basics will be reliable within 6 to 8 weeks.