View Full Version : Some small breed questions!
misticaleclipse
06-21-2006, 02:56 PM
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
pup-man
06-21-2006, 03:12 PM
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
At around 4 months.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
At around 6-7 months
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
At around 6 months
This is what happened with my 4lb poodle mix.
Tinaweena
06-21-2006, 03:18 PM
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
I also have a shih tzu Emily. She was an apartment dweller till she was 1 year, so that's when she learned stairs.
She stopped growing around 6-7 months old.
She was about 8 months old before she was totally house broke. (also due to peeing a pee pad girl while we were in the apartment, and a backyard dog when we moved)
And here she is, for good measure.
http://i5.tinypic.com/156p8q8.jpg
misticaleclipse
06-21-2006, 03:23 PM
Thank you very much. I have another question also.
When did they start sleeping through the whole night in there crate/without going outside?
Edited to add that I love the picture, very cute!
pup-man
06-21-2006, 03:52 PM
Mine slept around around 4 months old.
Keana
06-21-2006, 03:59 PM
I don't have a shih tzu, but I have a chi. He started going down stairs at around 4 mos. He reached his full height and length at around 10-12 mos., but continued to fill out until he was almost 18 mos. old. And, he was fully potty trained at about 5-6 mos. Hope this helps. Charlie is adorable btw.
bubbatd
06-21-2006, 05:12 PM
I really have no clues about small breeds....only know my Golden pups did stairs from 6 weeks on .
Ripley didn't go up and down stairs on his own until he was about 8 months old. He was capable of it long before that, but I was an overprotective mom and since he only weighed about 3lbs, I just carried him.
Ripley stopped growing at about 6 months, I think he was completely done (growth plates closed, etc) at 7-8 months.
He's still not housetrained reliably at 2.5 years of age. :p
misticaleclipse
06-21-2006, 05:17 PM
Ah thank you :) He has received his compliment quota for the day though so ill pass it on tommorow (wouldn't want it to go to his head, jk :D )
misticaleclipse
06-21-2006, 05:25 PM
The reason I'm asking about the sleeping is because he still does not seem to sleep through the night. I say seem because I go to bed with him and then my fiance goes to a bed a few hours later after letting him outside again. We started doing it this way because otherwise he was waking me up at 3-4am and I didn't feel safe going out alone at that hour with him.
He has slept the whole night a few times since then, but I'm not sure if I should try getting him to sleep the whole night again because most of the time I try he wines and if I don't let him out I'm affraid he could mess in his crate.
Should a 6 month old shih tzu be able to hold it for 8 hours over night?? (also hes small for its age i've been told at under 10 pounds)
Aussie Red
06-21-2006, 05:45 PM
I raised Barney from a puppie before I got into animal rescue but he was about 3 months old for stairs. same for house breaking as I left the back door open and he loved the outside but he was around 5 months before it was fool proof on out side potty. Never was crated he slept through the night with me on the bed was 2 1/2 mo. old before he quit waking me up to potty. He was a smaller Shih-Tzu full grown at about 8 mo. weighed 9 lbs
LabBreeder
06-21-2006, 07:03 PM
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
1. At 9 1/2 weeks for both.
2. No small dog, but Tira topped off height/weight wise around 1 year (at least that I can see)
3. Tira was quite awhile cause we had her pad trained due to where we lived when we first got her (3 roads right by the house). She used the pads solely within 2 or 3 weeks of getting her. Gunner uses the pads (2 - one for pee, one for poo...he's picky, lol) at night and goes outside during the day. No accidents at all from 10am til 4am (when I get up and go to bed usually). It took him about 2 or 3 weeks to go outside with no indoor accidents while we're up.
LabBreeder
06-21-2006, 07:06 PM
nvm....:)
misticaleclipse
06-22-2006, 10:45 PM
nvm? not sure what that means?
suzanne118
06-23-2006, 06:27 AM
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
1)My dogs went up and down the stairs out 4 mon ths old.
2)Rosie my cavalier gained weight when she got spayed, emz has not been spayed yet she is still skinny
3)My dogs learnt quite quickly they learnt about 4 or 5 months of age:)
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g281/susie16_photos/i195583736_54848.jpg
girlbuffalo1
06-23-2006, 01:06 PM
I understand that each dog is different but he should be able ot hold it all night by 6 months--Wrigley could hold it all night by 3months (he weighed around 6lbs at the time). Wrigleys growing has slowed a bunch (he is almost 6 mo and now 11 lbs) I can't forsee him getting any heavier maybe just a bit taller....
RetrieverLove
06-23-2006, 04:44 PM
Of course my answers are a bit different considering I have a Golden Retriever.
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet. Emma was able to go up and down the stairs as soon as we brought her home at 12 weeks.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing? Emma techincally didn't stop growing until she was 2, but after 1yr of age the changes were very small.
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid! Emma was completely housetrained almost 2 weeks after we brought her home. She did have a few slip ups so I'm going to say that she was totally house trained by four months of age.
I wish you the best of luck with your Shih Tzu! They certainly are adorable dogs.
misticaleclipse
06-23-2006, 09:50 PM
***update***
Charlie has slept through the night the last two nights, yea! :D :D I'm very happy!
I also think the house training is completed, but I'm being very careful just incase.
As for the stairs. Its strange because when he was 3 months old he was giong up them consistently and then he just stopped. He never had any big tumbles or injuries, but maybe it spooked him and its just a mental thing.
Southpaw
06-23-2006, 11:38 PM
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
--Lucy started doing this at about 11 or 12 weeks old. We didn't get her until she was 10 weeks old, and there weren't any stairs at her breeder's house so it was totally new for her. Getting her to go down the stairs took a bit of time, but once she got the hang of it, it was no big deal.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
--Can't really say anything about this because Lucy is just coming on 5 months old and I'm sure she's still growing.
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
--Once again, not at that point yet lol...Lucy will be 5 months old on July 1st though and she's *very* close to being housebroken!
4) When did they start sleeping through the whole night in there crate/without going outside?
--Maybe I'm a meanie but we have never let Lucy outside in the middle of the night. She's always held it all night, and she never makes a peep during the night so I don't think it bothers her.
She's a bichon/toy poodle mix, by the way...last month she weighed 3 pounds so we might be up to 4 pounds now, lol.
I have 2 Shih Tzus
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? They both went upstairs at about 3 months. One was afraid to go down until around 5 months, the other 4 months. We tricked the one that was scared. We would leave him upstairs and then act like we were having so much fun downstairs. He would whine and whine and then one day he just came down!!!
2) At what age did your small dog stop really growing? They both weigh exactly 15 pounds and seem to be stable.
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? I would say around 5-6 months where we can trust them totally not to pee in the house.
I think you also asked about sleeping through the night. Typically, your dog should be able to hold it for however old they are in months + 1 hours is how many hours they should be expected to hold it. So, 8 hours for a 6 month old is not good. It should only be 7 hours. Guess you'll have to lose an extra hour of sleep for another month! ;) Or, my pups still don't sleep through the night, but they have a doggie door inside their indoor fenced in area so they go out and play and poop whenever they want! It's great!!!
Zan
tinksmama
07-02-2006, 11:31 AM
Well, Tink goes up stairs,(4 1/2 lb chi mix) but I've actively discouraged her going down stairs,b/c of our house set up, she has too much opportunity for trouble if she learns..I'd rather keep her NOT doing that...
She's 14 weeks, so still growing-
she's slept all night in her crate since 7 weeks old, no noise at all,and she was only 2 pounds back then!
Jackson
08-10-2006, 01:52 PM
My Jackson didn't start going up and down stairs until he was about 5 months old. He is now 8 months old and I think he is pretty much finished growing at about 9 lbs. He sleeps through the night but is an early riser so he wakes us up to go out in the morning after about 6-7 hours. He is *close* to being house broken as we are using pee pads whenwe are not home and he tells us most of the time when he has to go outside. We are thinking he should be able to hold it for longer periods of time and are being more diligent with getting the pee pads off the floor for longer periods of time now.
I have a question about barking...Jack has started this recently and it is getting on our nerves! We do the process of elimination...check water, food, pee mats, put him outside, put him up on the bed (He can't jump that high), throw the ball. Unfortunately he wants us to get up and play usually very early in the morning. BUT as soon as you do get up to play...he falls asleep! I have been thinking of getting a dog whistle to blow when he barks to distract him from barking. I think it is similar t the high pitched plug in units you can buy? Anyone have any other ideas?
aijah
08-10-2006, 02:04 PM
:confused: hello everyone.. i am a complete newbie to this forum thing.. i guess i cant post a new thread on my own? terrible shame i have a million questions atm.. my shih tzu is pregnant.. very much so.. and i am seeing things that i do not recall with my bigger dogs when they were pregnant.. and i need comforting i think.. lol.. she is my baby and 6 years old (almost) and when i bred her i sought out all sorts of advice.. she is from a reputable breeder and i just want to have one of her daughters.. but anyway..
she is not "due" for another week or two.. first supposed date is the 16th and last is the 23rd, but she is very big.. cannot manage stairs or climbing at all last few days.. and.. she has already gotten her colostrum.. doesnt that normally only happen right before? and so i took her temp a bit ago.. 4 times.. it ranged from 97.5 to 98.3.. doesnt that seem extreamly low? and she will barely eat for the past 2 days i have to really offer her meat or "human" food to get her to eat.. is this all ok? i called her vet and he said no worries, but it seems so early.. any advice?
aijah
08-10-2006, 02:14 PM
you know with mine.. it sounds silly.. but.. you watch the dog whisperer? basicly they dont know what annoys you til you tell them.. and we do this by a certain sound.. i use a snap of my finger.. my husband does sort of a shush sound.. the trick is to do this and make a dominant move toward the dog at the same time.. very hard to explain.. but if you can picture it.. the dog barks.. you make the sound and step toward him.. if he stops back away or relax.. of not do the sound again and move closer.. it is about repeating the same thing until he stops.. it sounds mean, but dogs dont understand words.. they understand signal and primal behavior.. i have never spanked my dogs.. i use this method for all forms of undesired behavior.. and it always works.. at the end of the day.. all i have to do now is snap.. and they know its a no no.. :) you are forcing a submission to you if you will.. being a pack leader ;)
Jackson
08-10-2006, 03:37 PM
you know with mine.. it sounds silly.. but.. you watch the dog whisperer? basicly they dont know what annoys you til you tell them.. and we do this by a certain sound.. i use a snap of my finger.. my husband does sort of a shush sound.. the trick is to do this and make a dominant move toward the dog at the same time.. very hard to explain.. but if you can picture it.. the dog barks.. you make the sound and step toward him.. if he stops back away or relax.. of not do the sound again and move closer.. it is about repeating the same thing until he stops.. it sounds mean, but dogs dont understand words.. they understand signal and primal behavior.. i have never spanked my dogs.. i use this method for all forms of undesired behavior.. and it always works.. at the end of the day.. all i have to do now is snap.. and they know its a no no.. :) you are forcing a submission to you if you will.. being a pack leader ;)
We love this show and my bf shushes the dog just like Caesar all the time...it's not really working though...it becomes a game almost to him! I have tried clapping and it doesn't work either. We even try the bite ( where he nips back at the dog with his hand ) This is why I am thinking the whistle may be better...With Caesar is it usually isn't the dog with the problem---it's often the people---I guess you just have to find the way that works for your pet, just as with children you have to find different ways to punish them for misbehaviour as well! Pets are harder to understand since they can't talk and tell you what they want.
Brattina88
08-10-2006, 03:40 PM
Aija - how big is she?
and how big was the stud?
Did you to health screening like eyes/hips ect ect??
If the vet said no worries, than things should be okay. If you're getting really nervous you can take her in so your vet can look at her and tell you then.;)
aijah
08-10-2006, 04:06 PM
she is 1o lbs plus a bit of change :) well likely a few pounds heavier atm.. the stud was 11.5 lbs.. yes Maam.. when she was 1 then 2 she has several health screens.. and of course goes to the vet once a year... i was told she was of good breeding stock, and in prime health.. the one thing i was not sure of.. my hesitation to breed her if you will.. was that she lost an eye about 2 years ago, just when i was wanting to breed her the first time,at the age of 3 and a half (nearly 4) due to a dog attack.. (chow) my vet said that was no reason to not breed her... otherwise no troubles, her sire and dam were both show quality, not champoins but show winners in confirmation.. i am just concerned that she seems to be doing things early?
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
1) Climbed stairs at 3-4 months. With some help, mostly to overcome fear. Once I showed him how to do it, I wish I didn't cause he keeps climbing up and down.
2) 7-8months. maybe even 6. He was big at a young age. Now he's 16.5 lbs
3) 8 months, and just today he had accidents. But he is sick today (upset stomach) so I'll give him a break.
He was sleeping through the night by 5-6 months.
However, at 6 months, he got snip-sniped and from then on, due to my gf falling for puppy dog eyes, he sleeps outside of his cage, in our room.
But oddly enough, he goes back in his cage, door open and sleep there sometimes :)
aijah
08-10-2006, 04:44 PM
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k299/aijahb/?sc=3&start=20
Momof2Pups
08-13-2006, 12:52 PM
I have a Shih tzu and wanted to know when your dog did certain things
and at what age?
1) When did your dog go up and down stairs? Charlie is 6 months old and does not go up or down stairs yet.
2) He does not seem to be gaining that much weight. I have seen many shih tzu's many sizes. At what age did your small dog stop really growing?
3) How long did it take to be 100% housetrained? It appears that we are not, but im very paranoid!
I have a chi mix.
She probably went up and down stairs at 6 months. She stopped growing at about 10-12 months (that I started noticing)
Wow, well, it took until about 9-10 months(that was a looong time, but she had such a tiny bladder it was much harder than with my other dogs.) to housetrain her with a doggie door, but now we don't have it anymore and she's going all over the place! :confused: