# Crazy Shih tzu Puppy!!



## Mabby (Jun 2, 2007)

I have a 15 week old Shih tzu female puppy. She is driving me insane...I dont know anyone else who has had a pup and dont know if this is normal behaviour. I've had her since she was 6 weeks (too young I know, but there were reasons I wont go into involving the mother).

She runs around my flat like something crazed, constantly chases and bites my 2 cats and kitten. She wont let me move an inch without attaching herself to my sock, foot, trousers, whatever she can get hold of and will not let go, despite me saying no, trying to get her off etc. 

She pees and poos where ever she pleases, she was trained to puppy pads but now wont use them when going outside/for a walk she often doesnt go and then goes all over the floor. 

If she sleeping and I stand up/attempt to leave the room shes awake running after me. If I do manage to leave the room she constantly barks and whines and bangs into the door. No matter how long I leave her or ignore she she keeps going. However if she sees me leave the flat, (shes behind a baby gate in my bedroom) she doesnt bark at all.

I've tried keeping her on a lead with me but she keeps tripping me leaving me puddles wherever I step. 

She is making my life a misery, I love her to death but dont know how much more of this I can put up with.....please can someone offer some advise on if this is normal, what I'm doing wrong, anything please.

I have had her checked out at 2 vets, both say she has no problems with her bladder etc and is physically well. I've tried crate training her, but she constantly barks and barks and runs into the side of the cage no matter how many hours I leave her, my nerves or the neighbours nerves cannot cope with the barking. 

I am at my wits end with this puppy, maybe I'm a cluesless first time dog owner I dont know, she seems really intelligent I've taught her to sit etc... I just dont know what to do.....


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## blackrose (Oct 7, 2006)

She sounds like an untrained puppy. That is perfectly normal puppy behavior. Not acceptable, but normal. 

Fifteen weeks is still young. I have a twenty week old puppy and she is just now starting to understand that TOYS are supposed to be chewed on, not us or the surroundings. I still can't trust her to not have an accident. However, fifteen weeks is old enough to start expecting more from your puppy. 



> She runs around my flat like something crazed, constantly chases and bites my 2 cats and kitten. She wont let me move an inch without attaching herself to my sock, foot, trousers, whatever she can get hold of and will not let go, despite me saying no, trying to get her off etc.


 What kind of exercise is she getting? How much play time? How much mental stimulation? The above discription sounds like Chloe when she is hyper. If your Shih Tzu wants to play, saying "no" and trying to get her to let go of you is viewed as play. 
If she is running around getting into mischief, take her for a walk. Tire her out so when you come home she gets a drink and then goes and lies down. If she is still active after the walk, work on training with her. Teach her to sit, down, stay, come, rollover...(not all at once, but one at a time). 

Chloe used to have a bad habit of jumping up and grabbing ahold of our shorts. What worked to get her to stop was as soon as she jumped up, we would stop dead in our tracks and say a firm, "Ah-ah!" and make her get off. Once she had all four feet on the floor, we would start walking again. If she tried to grab our pants again we'd do the whole thing over again. We would also redirect her to a toy and praise her when she chewed on it. 



> She pees and poos where ever she pleases, she was trained to puppy pads but now wont use them when going outside/for a walk she often doesnt go and then goes all over the floor.


 How did your train her to go to her puppy pads to pee? I would say take her back to square one. Treat her like a new puppy that isn't housebroken that you just brought home. You either need to teach her to go to her puppy pads to eliminate or to go outside. Pick one or the other, because doing both at the moment will probably confuse her. I would personally take her outside, but I know that isn't always feasible for some people.
How frequently do you take her out to go to the bathroom? I take Chloe out about every hour. When she was younger, I took her out every 45 minutes. 



> If she sleeping and I stand up/attempt to leave the room shes awake running after me. If I do manage to leave the room she constantly barks and whines and bangs into the door. No matter how long I leave her or ignore she she keeps going. However if she sees me leave the flat, (shes behind a baby gate in my bedroom) she doesnt bark at all.


 If Chloe is laying down asleep and I get up to go to a different room she gets up and follows me, even if it is to just lay down and sleep in the room that I end up in. 
My guess is that the reason she cries when you leave the room but she doesn't cry when you leave the house is because she knows that when you leave the house, you won't be coming back no matter how much she cries. If you leave the room and she cries for two hours straight, you will give in and come get her. Whenever you do that, you are reinforcing two hours worth of crying. 
Chloe used to cry everytime I would leave a room and she couldn't follow. I would walk up the stairs (we gated off the bottom so she couldn't come up) and she'd just sit at the bottom of the stairs and cry and whine and bark to her hearts content. 
I hid up at the top of the stairs, and as soon as she stop crying for a split second, even if it was to draw breath, I started praising madly and rushed down the stairs. I had to sit up at the top of the stairs for a half and hour one time, but she did eventually stop for a second. Now if I walk upstairs and leave her behind I might hear a little "ahro" in protest, but nothing major. She doesn't seem to comprehend that her not barking applies to all of the rooms in the house, so we are working on that. 



> I've tried crate training her, but she constantly barks and barks and runs into the side of the cage no matter how many hours I leave her, my nerves or the neighbours nerves cannot cope with the barking.


 Read some of the threads that are posted on here about crate training. Start off very gradual. Feed her in the crate with the door open. Let her explore it to her hearts content. After a while, feed her in her crate with the door closed. As soon as she is done eating and her attention is starting to be off of her food, open the door. After a while of that, leave the door closed when she is done eating for longer and longer periods. Stay by the crate when all of this is taking place. When she is fine with being in the crate with you there by her side, start taking a couple of steps back. Gradually, when she is fine with you in the same room as her, step out of her sight.

Another thing is that whenever you leave a room and she can't follow, give her a yummy treat that will take some time for her to eat - a stuffed Kong, a real bone, rawhide, a greenie, whatever. This associates you leaving the room with her getting a yummy treat. It will also keep her occupied. A dog that is happily eating a bone stuffed with peanut butter can't bark and cry.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Mabby said:


> If she sleeping and I stand up/attempt to leave the room shes awake running after me.


My shih tzu is a complete opposite. If he is sleeping I can leave the room and be talking in the next and he won't wake up, I can pick him up and pet him and he won't wake up or he won't open his eyes if he does wake up.  

With you taking the pup from the mom and litter so early may have something to do with all of this except the using the bathroom in the house part. You will just have to ignore her when she does this. Snoopy would do what your dog does where he will follow you and be so close to your feet that you'd be afraid of stepping on him. But one time he got close while I was stepping over the stack of 12 pack cans that I had blocking the door and he got hit and it flipped him over. I know I should have been more careful but he was fine and now he doesn't follow me like that anymore.


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

> I have a 15 week old Shih tzu female puppy. She is driving me insane...I dont know anyone else who has had a pup and dont know if this is normal behaviour. I've had her since she was 6 weeks (too young I know, but there were reasons I wont go into involving the mother).
> 
> She runs around my flat like something crazed, constantly chases and bites my 2 cats and kitten. She wont let me move an inch without attaching herself to my sock, foot, trousers, whatever she can get hold of and will not let go, despite me saying no, trying to get her off etc.


This is perfectly normal behavior in a puppy who is allowed free run of the house before she has earned it. You need to contain her in one area of the house using baby gates and/or an ex-pen. 



> She pees and poos where ever she pleases, she was trained to puppy pads but now wont use them when going outside/for a walk she often doesnt go and then goes all over the floor.


Well of course she does. You haven't housetrained her, so she goes whenever she has to. Puppy pads are a PITA and more trouble than they're worth. Housetrain her by taking her out immediately when she wakes up, after she eats, after playing, and after napping. Supervise her when she isn't contained in the "safe area." And, use an enzymatic cleaner on the areas she's peed/pooped on. Otherwise she'll use the same spots because she can smell it even if you can't.




> If she sleeping and I stand up/attempt to leave the room shes awake running after me. If I do manage to leave the room she constantly barks and whines and bangs into the door. No matter how long I leave her or ignore she she keeps going. However if she sees me leave the flat, (shes behind a baby gate in my bedroom) she doesnt bark at all.


Put her in her crate for naps, and drape a blanket over it. You must be responding in some way because when you leave the house, she knows it's pointless to bark, so stops. I have a Shih Tzu foster who is now a re-home (and will stay to live with me) who is 18 months old. Would bark when I left the room or when he was put in his crate. I ignored him. He stopped. His previous owner said he would not eat dog food, and viewed the crate as "jail." Well, he eats dog food for me, and when I leave for work, he walks into his crate of his own accord. Because this is the routine I established, and I remained persistent and consistent. Your puppy will learn, but you must teach her. Rather than thinking interms of what you don't want your puppy to do, think, instead, of what you'd rather she do. Then train it.




> I've tried keeping her on a lead with me but she keeps tripping me leaving me puddles wherever I step.


Then you're not taking her out often enough.



> She is making my life a misery, I love her to death but dont know how much more of this I can put up with.....please can someone offer some advise on if this is normal, what I'm doing wrong, anything please.


I can understand your feeling this way, however, she's a normal puppy. It's your job to teach her house rules and manners, and to train her. Get some professional help, and start learning how to raise a puppy through books, and obedience or puppy classes.




> I have had her checked out at 2 vets, both say she has no problems with her bladder etc and is physically well. I've tried crate training her, but she constantly barks and barks and runs into the side of the cage no matter how many hours I leave her, my nerves or the neighbours nerves cannot cope with the barking.


Establish a daily routine with some structure, and stop giving in to her demands for attention. Take her for walks around the block, and give her toys to play with.



> I am at my wits end with this puppy, maybe I'm a cluesless first time dog owner I dont know, she seems really intelligent I've taught her to sit etc... I just dont know what to do....


Well, we all were clueless at some point. Enroll in a puppy class, start learning about dog behavior, her breed in particular, and take a deep breath! You can do this.


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## Mabby (Jun 2, 2007)

I have read various puppy training book but dont seem to be getting any results. 

At the moment she hasnt been going for regular walks as she's just had an operation for 'cherry eye' and was told not to take her out only to eliminate. I live in an apartment with a balcony so I can take her out to eliminate, I think maybe the problem is that she's eliminated so many times inside she now assumes that its the place to go as I've been using a disinfectant to clean up messes, but wasnt til reading on here that its not going work. Have now got a better cleaner but as everywhere probably already smells then I dont know what to do. 

To train her to puppy pads I just put her on them anytime she woke up or after she ate etc she still had the occasional small accident, as she doesnt seem to know when she wants to pee or make any sign. One minute shes sat there normally and when she moves theres a puddle. 

I have no trouble taking her out for a poo, as she runs round and I know she needs to go but with pees there are no signs shes about to go. 

Thanks for all the advise. I will keep trying its just getting me down and I feel like I'm letting her down.


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## Mabby (Jun 2, 2007)

Just wanted to add been taking her out to use the toilet the past 2 days. She goes outside, every hour, but still keeps peeing inside with no warning every 10 mins or so, or just randomly...surely this isnt normal for a puppy of this age?


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## Ella'sMom (Jul 23, 2007)

My last dog, a yellow lab used to get up and follow me into every room I ever went into. He could be in a deep sleep and he would still get up even if I tiptoed out of the room. I think that's normal dog behavior to want to be with their pack. 
Hang in there. Puppies are tough - I swear I think that newborn babies are easier! The patience and love you give her will one day pay off. Good luck.


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## Mabby (Jun 2, 2007)

Thanks Ella'sMom, I didnt realise she'd be such hard work, but I love her to bits and not going to give up!


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