It is medical fact that a dog's digestive system is designed more to gorge. For this one reason alone, I suggest feeding your shih tzu by "meals." If you leave food out all the time, and I have fed my shih tzu with free feeding, so I know about what they will do.....they will eat, and eat, eat....until they will become overweight and have soft, runny stools. Most of us just hate "runny stools." One way to avoid them is to not "free feed." You need to divide your shih tzu's food into meals. So how many meals should that be? Try feeding an adult shih tzu 3/4 cup to 1 cup of dry kibble "twice" per day. This would mean a morning meal and an evening meal. Some dog nutritionists even suggest just one meal per day. So you would divide your 3/4 cup or 1 cup of dry kibble into 1/2 cups for two meals. Another good reason to feed your shih tzu in meals is that you will know exactly when the shih tzu slows down eating or stops eating, which is a sure warning sign, the shih tzu may be ill. If you have more than one shih tzu or other pets in the house to feed, you minimize your pet's opportunities to guard his food. If there is always food in the bowl, your pets, or just one of them might decide to protect this valuable resource and the territory around, thus creating some behavior problems. If the food bowl is picked up when it's empty, the feeding area becomes neutral to all the pets in the household. Unless you have a "Duke" in the house. Duke believes all food bowls belong to him, all food belongs to him, all the girls belong to him, and that he should be a privileged shih tzu to be able to go through any door that is opened, etc., etc. Duke is a whole other story at Stain Glass Shih Tzu. Duke also walks with me by putting his head through my legs and actually walks along with me for a few minutes. I think he is saying to me: "I am right up there with you, I can even take the same steps as you take." I think Duke really, really admires me or something. And I sure do like Duke also. That is why I sort of play his games of him wanting to lead the show with me. I am not certain, however, that he truly realizes between he and I, that I am the actual leader. Then again, maybe he does. Duke is such a character. I have a lot of fun with Duke just watching him be himself. Visit us at Stain Glass Shih Tzu website to see what Duke looks like. Every now and then, you will have a shih tzu that is extra unique in some way. Duke is one of them. You can take advantage of training your shih tzu about the higher-ranking member of your social group. You are not the "alpha dog." Your shih tzu knows you are not a dog. You are a member of his social group. You are the leader of the entire pack, whether your pack consists of you and 4 shih tzu or other pets, or whether your pack consists of just you and one shih tzu, you are the leader of your particular household pack. The leader controls the "good stuff." If the "good stuff" (the food) is available all the time, your dog controls it. If you, as the leader, choose to share some of your food with him out of the goodness of your heart, and he performs a deference behavior such as sit or down to get you to share, you're reinforcing a healthy relationship. I had a comical experience with one of my pregnant moms lately. She was residing in the cottage, where she actually loves to stay. She never tries to go anywhere else. Since she has become pregnant I want her in the house so I can give her extra meals separate of the rest of the gang. The first night I tried this, she fought me like crazy as I picked her up to bring her in the main house. The next night, she hid under the cottage porch at the time she suspected I was going to bring her in. I had to let her dwell there for a couple of nights. I couldn't catch her in time. She outsmarted me on this and I imagine she was delighted she did. The next time I tried to catch her, I did it at a different time of day and caught her off guard (I outsmarted her). I brought her in and each time I would get her inside, I would take her straight to an extra bowl of food with something enticing added as well (I do this for my pregnant and nursing moms). Finally, she started just preferring to come in where I wanted her to be. Bianca thought she did not need me for anything. She is pregnant, but she thinks she has no use for me even in her pregnancy, until she figured out I was a hand that was feeding her. And not only that, I was giving her extra attention and extra feed, of which she could not get hid under porch. She is now convinced I am important to her, and cooperates as she should. Incidentally, Bianca is expecting babies by our famous Dukie Boy (Duke I talked about above). Bianca is the daughter of my Cindy. Cindy has a keen intelligence about her and many of her offpsring have been just like her. Bianca is one of them. Bianca's father was Bert (of whom I no longer have). Bert was a gorgeous silver/blue. The match of Bianca and Duke went so well the last time, I decided to mate them again. They both have the imperial/teacup genes in their background and they produced imperials and teacups, even though they themselves are the standard size shih tzu. You can use their meals as a training method to suit your needs, that is, if you serve them meals, rather than to free feed. You can also control their weight. If they look too skinney, increase the amount. If they look like they are getting too fat, decrease the food. I favor feeding shih tzu in meals as you can tell from reading this article. |
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