Helpful Dog Tips

 

Products for taking home new puppy

Bag of Food

Metal Dishes

Collar and Leash

Toys

Crate

Bed

Puppy Pads

Treats

 

 

Food Ingredients

It's always best to feed your dog a higher quality dog food.  Always read the ingredients.  Most grocery store brands are low quality and all the companies money is spent on advertising.  Chances are if you have not heard of it, it probably is a high quality food.  Try to keep from feeding mostly grains but what grains they eat need to be whole grains, you want your first ingredient to be a meat.  Meats are tricky, sometimes you'll see things that says "chicken by-products".  What this means is they take the leftover chicken parts and grind them up, its not fit for human consumption.

Shih Tzu's also have allergies to these low quality foods.  If you feed these to your shih tzu its possible it could cause tear stains, sneezing, itching and more.  Please stay away from any colors or dyes in foods.  These will cause upset stomachs.

 

 

Suggested Food Brands  

Royal Canin

Canidae

Blue Buffalo

Wellness

 

 

Food Dishes

Shih Tzu's prefer shallow dishes because of their short face.  It is also suggested to never use plastic bowls for water or dry kibbles because plastic holds germs.  Always give fresh water every day, and wash dishes daily in order to prevent yeast or germs as well as the metal dishes.

 

 

Grooming

Always use dog products only.  Exception to this rule is you can use Tearless Baby shampoo on the face only.

Always comb your shih tzu before a bath to get out any tangles or mats that may be there, you will also need to comb or brush them after their baths.  I use a metal comb only on my shih tzu's.  It causes less damage on the fur.  Something like this.

They must have a bath every week to two weeks to keep their fur looking clean and pretty.  It can be as much as every day (although not suggested) as long as  you use an oatmeal shampoo for dogs.  If your going to show your dog, you need to at least bathe them once every other day, this is a lot easier on the dog and the owners to keep down the mats.  Oily fur causes mats easier.

Always blow dry thoroughly.  Try to get a blow dryer for dogs, but if that's not possible and you have to use a human dryer, always put it on the lowest setting and try and hold the cold button in as much as possible.

Try and get the pup used to getting their teeth brushed at an early age as its easier to learn and deal with and they wont fight you as hard later on.  Yes dogs have teeth diseases too.

In order to keep the tear staining down, there are products that keep this under control if you start using it early enough.  If not it can still work just takes longer.  You will always want to wash their eyes out everyday with a warm wash cloth also to keep the matter out of the eye.  Here is a link that will help you understand tear stains.

Nails need to be cut after a bath, the nails are softer at this point and easier to cut.

Please watch this video to understand the grooming of a shih tzu.

Regardless of whether or not you groom your dog yourself, its always suggested to take your pup at an early age to a groomer in order to get them accustomed to going in the event they ever have to go to get used to them.  I take my dogs to the groomers only for hair cuts which is about once every 3 months if I want to keep the fur cut short.

 

 

Flea Products

You always want to use flea products on your dogs.  This keeps down the chances for worms, flea bites, and allergies due to fleas.  One flea bite can cause severe scratching for two weeks.

Some flea medications are prescription required by a vet.  I use Program which is not required to have a prescription.  Its a pill that you give once a month on the same day.  It doesn't prevent fleas but it prevents the infestation of fleas, almost like a birth control for fleas.  It kills the eggs before they hatch.  You can use this in combination with a flea shampoo.

 

 

Crate Training

I crate train my dogs, but I only use them in the event that we leave the house for work or to run errands.  This is for the protection of the dogs not for punishment.  It one can keep them from ruining your floors to keep them from using the potty and keep them from chewing on cords or other things you don't want tore up, chewed up or damaged in any way.  Never EVER use a crate for punishment.  My dogs sleep in the crate during the days because we leave the door open, that is HER bed but only because she chooses it to be, not because I force her to.

Lets say you want to crate train, do it early! And make it fun for them.  Always leave a toy or few toys in there, and maybe a blanky or old t-shirt with your smell on it in the beginning.