Shih-Tzu Mix Puppy not listening...?

[Beech]

My puppy, well she is just over 1, and she doesnt listen very well to myself or my boyfriend... she does listen to the words, cookie, sit, go to your bed. But come here, dont do that. go in one ear and out the other... Also, she likes to eat her poop... is this normal? or is there something to stop her from doing it. I have went to the vet and got Forbidden, and she liked it... Please Help...

[Melissa K]

She's not listening because you haven't taught her what those words mean. I recommend you enroll in a training class in order to teach her what you want her to do.

BTW, "don't do that" is not effective with dogs. Dogs don't understand the absence of a behavior, they only understand doing a behavior. If you don't want her to chew on the sofa, for instance, don't tell her "No" or "Don't do that," tell her "Leave it" or "Come" and then give her a toy to chew on.

Stool-eating is normal. The best thing to do is clean it up right away so she can't get to it. If she is eating it because she is having accidents, houestraining will solve the problem. As far as food additives, you can try a tablespoon of crushed pineapple on her food.

[Xing]

First lesson : Try to put her in your p8ssy and she will understand what to do....

[Purebreds Rock!]

You know, my shih tzu used to eat his poo. This is what we do/did with him and it must have worked because he doesn't do it anymore. We trained him that every time we knock on the sliding glass door and he comes in, that he gets a treat. Talk about wanting to come inside! So, when he pooed and then turned around to start to eat it, we would knock on the door and he would run inside. A treat was much more desirable than poo, I guess. We are lucky, though. He was never interested in eating old poo.

Oh, and my shih tzu doesn't listen, unless I am holding treats. Then he is all ears. He likes to pretend that he is dumb, but I know he's not!

[Psistidan]

Stool eating is usually caused by not feeding a good food. If the food has a lot of by-products or ground yellow corn, it just goes right through them and is just as tasty when it comes out. Feeding a high end food may help with stool eating. I have also heard that a teaspoon or so of A-1 steak sauce tends to make a dog not want to eat their poop.