of a puppy’s drain; in particular, the study noted that natural fish oils and “appropriate dietary concentrations of DMA [Docosahexaenoic Acid]” increase the trainability of a young puppy. As puppy foods begin to be offered on the market that are a direct result of this research, perhaps the real question is not whether you should feed your Shih Tzu “brain food,” but rather if you’re up to raising an even smarter Shih Tzu!
Maturity (18 months to two years). When a Shih Tzu hits sexual maturity, a funny thing can happen: he may try to improve his pack status (if you have other dogs in the home) and/or exert his dominance with you or another household member. Fortunately, the Shih Tzu is not a breed that is inherently pushy. If you’ve been working on your dog’s basic obedience, as well as good living skills, this period shouldn’t present any problems.
Aging Shih Tzu. The Shih Tzu is a relatively healthy breed and many dogs can live fifteen years or more. Once your Shih Tzu hits ten or 12 years of age, he is considered a “senior.” During this period of his life, it is important to continue to stimulate his brain and provide enriching activities for him. This, in combination with certain foods that are thought to help slow the degeneration of a senior dog’s cognitive abilities, can help your senior dog remain brighter and more aware well into old age.
TZU TIP
Researchers) continue to delve into how nutrition can improve cognitive function in the aging dog. Foods enriched with antioxidants have been shown to reduce the behaviors related to cognitive degeneration and may possibly reverse some of the harmful effects of aging on a senior dog’s brain.
During this phase of your Shih Tzu’s life, it is important to keep providing new experiences—this can be accomplished with outdoor walks, visits to new locations, and training new commands, skills, or sports. Since learning may be a little slower, it’s important to be patient, set your senior up for success in learning new skills, and keep it fun, as always.
Operant Conditioning
Understanding how dogs could be taught new behaviors and extinguish undesirable behaviors began in the late 1800s with Pavlov’s famous experiment involving a group of dogs, a bell, and some food. In the experiment, the dogs would hear a bell ring and then were given food. Pavlov was able to condition a specific response from the dogs: when they heard the bell ring, they would salivate.
By the time a puppy is 12 weeks old, he has already learned much from his fellow littermates and his breeder.
The experiment paved the way for future exploration into how dogs learn and from this, other researchers delved into the most effective ways to teach a dog specific behaviors. Modern-day training techniques have literally evolved from the laboratory into the field.
If you’ve done a little training in the past, you’ve probably heard the terms “operant conditioning” and “positive reinforcement.” But, what do these terms really mean and how do they affect you and your Shih Tzu? Without going into tremendous detail and boring you beyond tears (unless you’re looking for a good way to fall asleep tonight), operant conditioning is the conditioning of an animal (be it a porpoise, dog, cat, bird, human, or wolf) to provide a specific behavior in response to a cue. In boiled-down dog-training terms, operant conditioning is training a dog to respond to a command or hand signal with the desired behavior.
Of course, there are many ways to get from point A (giving the dog a command) to point B (the dog gives the desired behavior). Positive reinforcement is a method of shaping a desired behavior, such as a sit, using something the dog sees as a benefit. In other words, if the dog does something correctly, he receives something pleasurable.
The opposite of positive reinforcement training is negative reinforcement training. As the name implies, this involves the dog receiving something undesirable in order to shape a behavior. This method works on the dog’s desire to avoid discomfort or pain. An example of training using negative reinforcement to shape a behavior would be the use of a choke chain. A pop on the collar causes the dog momentary pain. The dog must figure out what he needs to do (or stop doing) to prevent the painful pop from happening again.
Reward-based Training
Though the avoidance of pain is certainly an effective way to teach a desired behavior, it is not any fun for the dog. Fortunately, in the past thirty years, advancements have been made in how to approach training. Trainers realized that rewarding a dog for providing the desired response worked just as well as punishing a dog for providing the wrong response. In fact, in addition to finding out that dogs learned quickly with reward-based training, it was discovered that the reward-based trained dogs retained the material well, without losing their enthusiasm.
Breaking it down. In order to make positive, reward-based training as effective as possible, there are a few rules to follow.
Rule #1: Set your dog up to succeed. The less chance your Shih Tzu has to fail, the more quickly he will learn the correct behavior. This is why, for example, when training a dog to sit, you will lure your dog into a sit, using a treat, before giving the command.
Rule #2: One will cost you 20. For every mistake you make in training your dog (i.e., you give your dog a command and he doesn’t respond or gives the wrong behavior), it may take up to 20 correct repetitions to undo the one wrong action. If this isn’t impetus for getting it right the first time, what is?
Rule #3: Take baby steps. When making an exercise more difficult, it’s important to move very slowly and change only one variable of an exercise at a time. Variables can include: time (the length of time that the dog remains in a position); distance (how far away from the dog you move while the dog is in a position); or place (the setting in which you ask your dog to perform the behavior).
Rule #4: The eighty percent correct factor. Before increasing the difficulty of an exercise, it’s important to make sure your Shih Tzu has a solid understanding of it. If your pup is giving the correct behavior quickly and with confidence at least eight out of ten times, he’s considered good to go. This does not mean you have to repeat the exercise ten times in a row. You will most likely lose your Shih Tzu’s attention if you try to do this. Instead, break up the exercise throughout a training session or even throughout the day, asking for a few repetitions here and there.
Rule #5: Blame the trainer, not the dog. There are no stubborn Shih Tzu! If your Shih Tzu doesn’t “do” a command or is having trouble learning a new skill, he is confused. Take a look at how you are approaching your training. Did you make too big of a step? Are you training too long and losing your dog’s concentration? Are you making training fun? Usually, if you look hard enough you can find where there was a breakdown. Go back to making the exercise simpler and more enjoyable (and more playful) for your Shih Tzu and you should be able to roll right through your slight training bump.
Rule #6: Find what motivates your Shih Tzu best. Reward-based training involves rewards. For many Shih Tzu, treats work wonders but you might have a ball-crazy dog or one that likes to play tug. Take a little time to figure out what your puppy loves the most and use this for your reward.
Rule #7: Use treats as lures. With positive, reward-based training, you’ll be using treats as a way to shape behaviors. For example, rather than pull up on your Shih Tzu’s collar as
