Shih Tzu dog Tricks – Teach Your Shih Tzu To Retrieve

Teaching your Shih Tzu dog to run and retrieve is a very basic and easy training command for him or her to understand. It is one of the easiest of tasks to train your Shih Tzu dog to do, such as pick up a newspaper or a piece of mail, and it's fun too!

You can begin the exercise by first showing your puppy or Shih Tzu dog how to focus on the area in which you want him or her to retreat from. You do this by simply pointing to the location with your finger. Your goal here is to get your Shih Tzu dog to scope out the exact area while looking for something to bring back to you.

The best way to take care of this first step of retrieve training is to use little bits and pieces of dog food or dog snacks. Take out the food and just sprinkle two or three treats on the ground. Do not let your Shih Tzu dog run to eat the food too fast. In fact, you should first train him or her to sit and stay until released, then you point to the ground and say "pickup", "pickup".

Each time your Shih Tzu dog grabs a piece of food, drop another piece behind you and then point while giving the "pickup" command. As you can probably guess, your Shih Tzu dog is going to associate the command you are giving him of "pickup" with the notion to look for something to put in his mouth. This part of training does not take long at all, especially if you are using tasty treats and also training your Shih Tzu dog when he or she is hungry, as this helps to increase their motivation.

The next step is to start throwing smaller non-food items instead of snacks. For example, after you throw a couple of treats and your Shih Tzu dog responds to the "pickup" command, surprise him or her by tossing a small ball and then point and command them to pick it up, in the exact same manner that you did with the dog treats. By this time they should run to pick up the ball without hesitation and even start to bring it back to you. Be sure to praise him or her each time they do it.

Finally, it is time to teach your Shih Tzu dog how to drop the object in front of you after he or she retrieves it. Once your Shih Tzu dog has the ball, or whatever object you are using, they should naturally run back to you expecting praise. Give them the "drop it" command and as you pet his or her head with one hand, take your other hand and pull the object out of their mouth and drop to the ground. Do this as often as you can. Tie the entire process together by starting from the beginning and tossing a ball for them to retrieve. From now on you will enjoy your Shih Tzu dog coming back to you and dropping the object right at your feet, every time!