The Maltese Shih Tzu, also known as the Mal-Shi, Malti zu, and the Malt-Tzu, is a dog breed hybrid. They are a crossbreed of a Shih Tzu and a Maltese dog and have characteristics of both breeds. The average lifespan for a Maltese Shih Tzu lies between 12 to 14 years, but can reach up to 20 years if well cared for. They are suitable for families with older children. If you plan to bring one into your home, you may be wondering whether these dogs are easy to train. 

Maltese Shih Tzus tend to be intelligent, playful, and affectionate, but they have a few common behavioral problems that owners may find challenging to cope with. These include excessive barking and whining, destructive chewing, and separation anxiety. They may also display aggression towards other dogs, children, and strangers.

Training Maltese Shih Tzus is not difficult if you are consistent and patient. You simply need to follow the same methods for training for all dog breeds. It is important that you establish your dominance early on or the Maltese Shih Tzus will continue to dominate you.

With consistency, patience, love, proper training methods and reinforcement; you can train a Maltese Shih Tzu companion dog on how to behave properly in any setting.

Housebreaking your Maltese Shih Tzu

Once you get your Maltese Shih Tzu, housebreaking should begin immediately. The goal is to avoid accidents in your home and practice enough consistency so that your dog learns what to do. 

It can take up to eight months of training to fully housebreak a Maltese Shih Tzu. They are intelligent and respond well to training, and they can even learn ways to indirectly communicate that they need to go out. 

Training tips for your dog

Maltese Shih Tzus are very intelligent, eager to please dogs and so picking up new commands should be quite easy for them. The difficult part is teaching them the limits of when to follow a command. Given how affectionate they are, Maltese Shih Tzus might at first try to follow the commands of strangers or sniff out other dogs. Commands such as “stay” and “come” should be your main focus when training a Maltese Shih Tzu.

When training your Maltese Shih tzu, train them every day during a time when it is most alert. Take advantage of its need to please you. Keep sessions short: 5 minutes or less  Use positive reinforcement such as giving a treat and giving praise during the training sessions. Use negative reinforcement in the form of saying ‘No!’ or ‘Stop!’ if your dog misbehaves.

It is highly recommended that you keep training sessions short, but frequent. Shih Tzus are very intelligent dogs, but they can quickly become bored when they are asked to perform the same trick over and over.

Summary

Now that you have an idea of what it takes to train a Maltese Shih Tzu companion dog, give it a go. The key here is persistence and patience. Maltese Shih Tzus can be trained, though they aren’t always the easiest when it comes to training. If you don’t think you can train your own dog, you can always hire a dog trainer to do the work for you.