Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

I have a one year old shih txu/maltese mix and over the past year, he has become so aggressive and i don't know why. whenever someone comes to the house, he goes nuts! he barks uncontrollably and lunges at the stranger and tries to bite them.

we have been working with a trainer who tells me to yell "NO" every time he barks and bites, but when i do, he barks more and gets more excited and it doesn't stop him from trying to bite

does anyone have any experience with this? i am at my wits end and am expecting twins in two months and this behavior has to stop!

thank you

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

get a can and put someting in it that will make a lot of noise when thrown.(or something like that) throw it to the ground and yell no at the same time. it really helpped when my dog was stealing food right off the counters. I saw the trick on dog knows best. Saved me a bunch or re made diners. Good luck.

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

it took a good month to get her out of the habit. When someone comes in the door you can also so affection and say the word friend or good friend. it is hard i know and takes a lot to train them to calm down when someone comes through the door. Same dog was a pee'er when anyone especially males came through the door. so i worked on her a lot with my mom coming through the door and never gave her the chance to sit to be petted(that is when she would pee) my mom would walk right to the back door and she would great her outside. it trained her in the way that she one did not jump or bark, and get gave her positive feed back when she followed my mom out the door. tell your friends who are walking through the door also to raise one leg in front of their body on a diagonal.(you can also do it when he is jumping on you) that will help also to train not to jump. barking is a little harder to control. My chi is bad with it. getting better but still after of 2 years of having him he will go on a barking fit. and then i pick him up and tell him no. it seems to help a little. the smaller dogs like to use their bark to make themselves feel bigger. it is hard to turn off. HTH

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

how about if you had the guest greet with a cookie favorite toy? maybe you could ask someone to practice like a sibling or parent...

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

Great responses! Also, work on some door training with a willing participant. Have someone come over specifically to work with the dog. Keep coming in and out. Do not let the person in until the dog is calm. If the dog is already in an excited state, the person entering will just raise the level of excitement. I think yelling no is not a good idea for your dog because it seems to charge his energy higher. Calmness mixed with some of the ideas from the others are all great ideas. But never let anyone in until he is calmed down. Eventually he will learn he has to be calm when people come over and he will get a treat from them or you! Good Luck!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

I had a similar problem (Our lab would get so excited and jumps all over people when they come in.)

This is what we did that helped: When the doorbell rang I'd walk to the door with her and make her sit at the door. After she was sitting I told her to lay down. Praising her once she did each step. After she was down I said stay. I'd let the person in at that point. I would keep staying stay if she looked like she'd get up. If she jumped up on them I'd yell no and make her sit down again. I'd actually get in between her and the person and if she jumped on me I'd knee her a bit. Once she was laying down and calm again she got a treat. We practiced with my husband and then with our siblings. Obviously, you'd have to teach her the commands before she gets the whole sequence, but teaching her to sit down and lay down was key.

I have tried the can when she would grab food and it worked for us. A trainer also recommended a squirt bottle with water, but our dog thinks it is the best game ever, so that didn't work.

If your dog is crate trained maybe you could keep her there until the people come in the door and let her settle down a bit and then try the lay down bit so she isn't aggressive.


IMO I wouldn't give her any treats until she is calm and laying down.

Good Luck! and congratulations on your twins.

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

thank you all so very very much for all of your help! We actually had some friends over to the house this weekend and after we did the can trick and the "no", we had the friend give Otis a treat (once he had calmed down a bit) and he was fine for the rest of the night!

I also really like the idea of having people come over to the house to get him in the habit of seeing new people in the house and knowing that they aren't there to hurt him.

I am going to try each and every one of your ideas to see which one works best. thank you so much - i was literally at my wits end!

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

My dog has similar issues with aggression. What we find works the most is we spray her with water every time she becomes aggressive or barks. It's actually worked wonders because she hates the spray bottle. She gets all nervous when she see's it. Just pick something the dog doesn't like. It can be a spray bottle, loud noise, etc and do this every time they display a behavior that is not acceptable. You have to be consistent with it though to work. They will eventually equate the negative reforcement with the bad behavior

Re: Help! Aggressive Shih Tzu!

smp123,

How is the "training" going? What things have you tried? What's worked? If you need additional help, please feel free to FM me.

Kimberly