I keep Cooper's hair in a puppy cut so it doesn't require as much grooming as if he had a long coat. I brush him once a day and use Diamond Eyes on his face once a day. Throughout the day I also wipe away any eye gunk from his
How did you house train Cooper?
When I first got Cooper I was living at my parents' house, and their house is kind of like a maze; you have to go through several doors to get outside, and it's quite a long walk. I knew there was no way a tiny puppy would make it outside.
Was Cooper easy to train?
Overall, yes he was quite easy to train, but he's not always quick to learn. He learns some commands after a few tries. Others require a lot more repetition. Cooper has a very long attention span when there are treats involved, so even if we need to practice a command
Why do you train Cooper with food instead of love?
Cooper is rewarded with a combination of food, love, and praise :) Cooper is very food-motivated so when he's first learning a trick he needs to be rewarded with food to keep his attention, but once he's learned a trick he is not always rewarded with food. However I do normally
How did you train Cooper to recognize color? Aren't dogs colorblind?
Dogs are "colorblind" but that word might not mean what you think it means. There are different kinds of colorblindness and with most kinds, you can still see some color. Dogs see the difference between yellow and blue clearly. That's why Cooper is only sorting yellow and blue at the
Why do you spend this much time training him? Why can't you let him just be a dog?
Have you heard of Munchkin the Teddy Bear (YouTube) (also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), the tiny little shih tzu girl who became famous for wearing a teddy bear costume? She wears that costume in almost every photo and video, and some people assume that she must wear it most or
Do you think Cooper is a genius?
You might have noticed that a lot of the article headlines about Cooper call him a "genius" or say things like, he's "smarter than most toddlers." However, you need to understand that these are just clickbait headlines designed to get you to click onto the article. As his owner, I
Why did you choose to get a shih tzu?
A lot of people wonder why I (Kirsty, owner) chose to get a shih tzu (instead of a different dog breed). The short answer is: the shih tzu ticked all the boxes for the traits I wanted, and was a good fit for my lifestyle.
In 2012 I was preparing
Why do you teach Cooper such weird/complicated things?
I do it partly because I like to challenge him and keep his mind active, but I also think that dogs are capable of a lot more than most of us give them credit for, especially when it comes to communication. Have you ever heard of Koko the gorilla? Did
How did you train Cooper?
I started training Cooper a few days after I got him when he was 8 weeks old. I would ask him to sit, and when he did I would praise him and give him a piece of chicken. He figured it out very fast! I used this same method to
