Bichon frise x shizu hard to train?

[Dogeatsdog24]

I was wondering if I could have some practical advice regarding my dog
Without being jumped on and accused of all sorts or assumptions made as its really not helpful and it just makes me put up a barrier up amd then gos no where. Sorry i had to write this it's just i want to fix things without being attacked.

So the problem is . I have 2 dogs 1 is a German shepherd. She's 5 years old and has never been a problem . No issues around food begging, stealing ie anything like that. No trashing the house no pooping /weeing in the house etc . Everything is good .

I also have a bichon frise × shizu hes 2 years old . And he's the complete opposite. He can move around so silently he's like a ghost i can be changing babys nappy. I put the nappy next to me whilst I do babys poppers up etc . I turn round the nappy had gone and he's on the stairs chewing it. This happens with dead silence. He will also try and take food as well as soon as my back is turned I don't even leave the room . He will silently and quickly sneak up. When we are eating main meals I do shut him out . But thats not practice if the children are eating biscuits for example.

I have a gate on the top of my stairs that he's managed to open or one of the kids have not closed properly. He's got into the bedrooms pooped and peed on them

He poops and pees outside I always let both dogs out before I leave the house. And also before bedtime I make sure they pee/poop before they come back In. Within 10 mins of being in bed he poops and pees all over my hallway . But he does not do it in the day when I'm on school runs which take a couple of hours.

I know they are 2 different dogs but 1 is fine the other is not . It's very stressful my house keeps getting trashed because of the small dog doing what he's doing. I honestly want to cry it's awful.

Can anyone tell me about crate training ? Is it worth a go . What's the best way to do it? I understand I'm meant to make it a positive place to be for the dog .

The last choice is to rehome but I don't really want to do that. If we can change things at home. As my children would be so upset. And my other dog would miss him to.

Consistency and prevention ate going to be key here.
A crate is a really useful tool but you'll need to introduce it very gradually and ensure its a happy place for him to be. Have a look at Dog Training Advice and Support on FB. The admins are all qualified trainers and offer fantastic free advice and training resources in their guides.

As for the stealing nappies etc.. it's really just a case of consistently preventing the rehearsal of the behaviour, so you could pop him on the other side of a gate with a treat/ chew or let him out for a wee whilst you change the nappy and dispose of the dirty one. It needs to be done every single time in order to work so it's a bit of a pain and an extra thing to think about but if he can't get ahold of it then he can't drag it around your house and make a mess with it.
I used a similar tactic with a dog who used to play Andrex Puppy with my toilet rolls - the bathroom door was kept shut for around a year solid and eventually she forgot about doing it and we were able to leave the door open again and haven't had any issues for years.

I have multiple dogs... the key to happiness is:

• make time fo each dog regularly, take them on individual walks or to training sessions.
• teach them tricks, stay, go bed, drop ... that will help with food stealing...
• reward for toileting outside, leaving door to garden open in the lovely weather.
• take the stair gates down (if they are not needed for DC) then wait downstairs until the dog wants to go up, a firm No each time should eventually thech them.
• you can crate train, but once you irond out the unwanted behaviour, you won't need one!

I think if you clean the hall with white vinegar and or/put their food/ bed/water there it can break the association. No dog will toilet where it literally sleeps.
Its a habit my dog a bichon cross used to get into running up to the landing and peeing there ...I think he saw it as a place that wasn't "house" but "outside". I used a stair gate type cardboard barrier to stop him running upstairs, and it broke the association, now he is fine on the landing. So prevention might be taking him on a lead from the garden to his bed area and closing door on the hall at night, or cleaning it all with white vinegar, or as you say a very large crated area...should be much bigger than a bichon sized crate.

Bichon types are very inquisitive and attention seeking, they aren't like guard dogs or retrieval dogs. They also don't like cold wet outdoors compared to nice warm indoor toileting areas (hence my dog toileting near the back door at one stage aged 4 months)

It might help taking him into garden on a lead for a few weeks to toilet there too to reinforce the connection, with your older dog running free. My dog is completely trained now but he did have his moments and I would just do a lot of positive reinforcement, phrases, one positive action associated with another no punishments at all. They are such friendly affectionate inquisitive curious little creatures.

The snatching is because he has got used to taking things like treats from your hand and pats etc whilst on the move and just intermingling with you freely. I think you may have to teach a more formal way of interacting, like waiting for food on his plate only or pats when he is sitting down or lying down or waits first. He can't distinguish between good and "bad" interactions with the family at the moment, so special tuggy times with a tuggy toy or games of hide and seek with toys at a formal time (I do this occasionally but never on demand) might satisfy that need in him. He is trying to get your attention by this mischievous acts but he doesn't see them as mischief...just normal interaction/playing. Even getting cross with him will be "attention" for him,which id what he is now used to.

I have litterly been drowning my hall way in white vinegar. I have a gate at the top of the stairs. He can't access the actual landing. Both dogs sleep on the stairs. Their food and water is kept on the hall way.

Sounds like a teenager. I don't give treats from the hand though . I has before stroking patting, happy tones of voice etc .

What's the reason you don't treat him from your hand?

Hello OP, I have had many different breeds of dog & currently have a rescue Bichon Frise x Shih Tsu. I am not an expert but can comment on my own experience. I have found her to be very quick to learn behaviours that are wanted and not wanted. She is very watchful and keen to be praised, which is a great characteristic for successful training! This is my first small dog and I have noticed that she is very sensitive, so she responds well to calm, assertive, consistent training, repetition of the opportunity to model the behaviour you want, such as peeing in the garden and not in the house or leaving something you don't want her to have, rather than running off with it. Your description of your dog as being like a ghost made me smile because I would say that mine is the same, she just seems to appear from nowhere. I have noticed that she thrives on attention, especially one to one attention and she has a tendency to run off with things like socks or gloves as this is likely to gain her attention, but I have taught her to leave the thing she has stolen and she is happy to trade it for affection and praise. She becomes anxious if there is any stress or tension or unexpected noise so she wouldn't learn well if under pressure. I would keep the training light and repetitive until he is in no doubt of what is expected of him.

I think it may help to spend individual time with him & build a special bond, so he feels safe and secure and also so that he really wants to please you by doing the right thing. Also make a point of rewarding and praising him when he gets it right.
I'm sorry that I can't comment on crate training as I have never used one but good luck OP.

Incase for some reason I ran out of treats or something. Plus from the above post it does not seem like a bad thing if he can't tell the difference between being given a treat and taking/stealing food .

Thank you .. just a question say he grabs something he should not. And I say drop it. And he does. Do I praise him for that ? Or is he going to think I pick it up again because she calls me a good boy?

I would respond with a firm command, always the same one, such as "Leave it" and as soon as he leaves it, praise him immediately as if he has done the best thing ever and made your day. The timing is critical, so you are only praising him when he has NOT got hold of the thing. If he does grab it again, out of mischief or confusion, then repeat the firm command and praise when he drops it. In my experience dogs love to be in your good books and most problems arise when they are not sure what we want or what is allowed and what isn't, what is a game and what definitely is not.

I think you work on prevention first. So spend a lot of time on the feeding cues and the playing cues and whilst those are 'sticking" you try not to have situations where children have biscuits in their hands or the dog is in the same room whilst nappy changing or indeed allowed in their rooms. Drop it is a very important command but it should supplement all the other beneficial habits not be the dogs sole focus.
My dog expects to go on a walk twice a day. A missed walk and he starts jumping on me and barking. I learnt from this I shouldn't miss that walk. The dog wouldn't learn anything if I told him to stop barking except that barking is bad. He would still need that walk. Something else would go on churning jn his doggy brain. No walk. I'm bored. Life is hard. Shall I get her to play a different game maybe?? No point really in this for me the human fellow participant I gain nothing from this tradeoff, walk would be better!!!!

(Although I'm sure someone will tell me my dog is spoilt to expect a walk I do think it's the minimum.)

Hmm, personally I would always treat from the hand as it means they have a positive association with people and being touched.

I don't think it makes any difference re. stealing as that's all about obedience and impulse control.

I wouldn't say spoilt but I would say that dogs do need to learn that things can't always happen exactly when they want them to.

@Nettleskeins I agree with you that dog training is a holistic thing, with many building blocks, I was just answering the OP's specific question.
I also agree with you that enough walking and exercise is a basic requirement for a well balanced dog, dogs have busy brains and walking is one way of exercising their brains and their bodies. A bored and frustrated dog is not going to be a calm house mate and will be making his own entertainment!

@fieldsofbutterflies I also treat from the hand, for the same reason, to build up trust, to reinforce training & rewarding wanted behaviour.
I agree with your comment that dogs do need to learn that it is not their place to dictate when things happen! I try to mix the timing of walks up a bit anyway, because my life doesn't always run on wheels but also to prevent the whining and being herded out of the door. I also throw on additional walks too as a nice surprise to keep them on their toes 🙂

Thanks @indianrunnerduck we do the same with ours ☺️

Some days he's out at 6am but others it's not until 11. Sometimes we even skip a walk which I'm sure would horrify some of the posters on here 😂

Some days he gets 45 minutes and other days it could be three hours - it really just depends and I've found that switching it up means he never expects anything and missing a walk or going out later doesn't impact his behaviour in any way.

I also switch walk times up tbh - I completely agree...but if it has been a loong gap between walks I know his barking would be reasonable, and not something I could ever train him out of..(But he is half poodle 😀)

I know the feeling, I own a beagle

Aaah we have the same breed OP - ours is 10 years old now though. What's really interesting though is that my DM has one of his littermates, and the two dogs are completely different personality-wise.

I would say my dog is more of a Shih Tzu and his brother is more of a Bichon - they look nothing alike even though in theory they're exactly the same! Photo added to show what I mean (sorry about the cheesy image!!)

But both dogs have bonded very closely with our families, and have a strong preference for a certain person. They are very sociable dogs and while they both would love to pinch a snack they can be well trained. However, we have to remember to put food out of reach if we leave the room because if our dog is left alone and thinks he can climb up to get the food, he will!! He's not daft, he wouldn't do it if we were in the room watching but he can't seem to resist if he's left alone!

Our dog loves to be praised and responds really well to it. That helps with training. As a PP said, lots of praise when the dog drops any stolen item will help - the dog won't start stealing items just to get the praise.

Maybe controversially we don't shut our dog away when we're eating. He's been trained to lie down quietly while we eat and not beg at the table. I feel that being around food and learning that he can't have them is a helpful lesson.

Is your dog having a poo in the hall because you've gone to bed and "left" him on the stairs/in the hallway? Could it be separation anxiety because he knows you're at home but he can't get to you? Or could he be claiming territory over the German Shepherd by marking the space as "his"?

Ha that's picture is ace 🤣.

I don't know about the claiming territory thing. It is no idea what to do about that . The German shepherd sleeps on the corner step and the little dog sleeps on the step below. Been that way since he was 8 weeks old so it's all he knows really.

Anxiety again I don't know he doest indicate he's not happy. Does not cry or anything like that .

How much walking does he get?

My dog (also small breed) prefers to wee/poo on walks rather than in the garden so needs a minimum of two 30 min walks a day (morning and evening.)

I'm sorry op I know it's not helpful but I did laugh at your description of him being like a ghost, he sounds like a little bugger character 😆

And

Here is my little ghost OP