Never Let Your Shih Tzu Dog Beg For Food and Attention

Unless they are trained not to do so, most Shih Tzu dogs will form the natural habit of begging for both attention and food. Some Shih Tzu dog owners except this behavior and think it’s cute, but most people get annoyed very quickly when their Shih Tzu dog starts to beg every time he or she wants love, attention, and especially when they smell something tasty cooking in the house.

What is wrong with begging you might ask?

For starters, begging is another form of demanding and it gives your Shih Tzu dog an aspect of control within the family “pack”. I describe your family as a pack because that is exactly how your Shih Tzu dog sees it.  Anyways, while it seems adorable when Sparky rolls over on his back expecting a belly rub every time you enter the room, or just sits all teary-eyed staring straight at your plate of food when you’re eating dinner, this behavior has the possibility to gain momentum and become aggressive.

Just how aggressive can a Shih Tzu dog possibly become?

If you do not think that your Shih Tzu dog could ever possibly bite your hand because he or she expects you to give them food every time they beg, think again.  For years a friend of mine would hand feed his Shih Tzu puppy pieces of food at any time of the day he was eating. If it was breakfast, his dog would get two pieces of bacon. At lunch time my friend would hand feed his Shih Tzu dog a few bites of his sandwich. The same went for dinner.

After some time, his Shih Tzu dog matured, and my friend did not realize that he was reinforcing a dominant leadership role into his Shih Tzu dog every time he gave in to begging. Once he decided to change this behavior with his Shih Tzu dog, he learned quickly just how dangerous the situation was.  At one of his meals, my friend absolutely refused to feed his Shih Tzu dog anything and the begging and crying turned into aggression and barking. Then without notice, his Shih Tzu dog leaped up onto his plate and snapped at the food, taking a little bit of my friends flesh with it.

Begging can be eliminated with proper training

The above example may seem a bit extreme and you still probably could never imagine you’re adorable Shih Tzu dog biting you in the attempt to get food that he or she was expecting. However, the problem is real and you must start early in your Shih Tzu puppy’s life with instilling the rules when it comes to begging.

During your meals, you need to train your Shih Tzu dog to sit and stay in a specific area when the family is eating. This may take some time but eventually they will remain in a sit position until after your dinner is over and then of course you should praise their actions by offering them up a nice hot meal that they can eat in their own food bowl, but only after everybody else is finished eating.