Help Shih Tzu howling!

Hello everyone! I'm new to this...I have a 19 month old male Shih Tzu named Norbu, who I absolutely adore! For the most part, he's a normal puppy. He loves to play, LOVES people or anything that pays attention to him for that matter! When he was about 5 months old, I was in the shower and heard this horrible howling/crying that sounded like someone was beating him. I ran into the living room and he was just sitting there looking at me. It happened a couple more times after that and then stopped. It's been about 6 months since he's done it - at least when someone's been around to hear him until last night when he woke my roommate and I up at 3 in the morning. I almost knocked her over running out of my room as she was running down the hallway to get to the kitchen where he sleeps. Again, he just looked at us with this "what are you guys doing up?" kind of look. He seems fine, no injuries, but this sound is just horrible and will seriously send shivers up your spine. Has anyone ever experienced this and can tell me what might be causing him to do this? I'd appreciate any input! Thanks!

Kristen

 

My cousin's shih tzu does this too (I think) but she has severe seperation anxiety. If its the same noise my cousin's dog makes, your right, it trully is bone tingling. I've never heard a dog do that before I heard her.
If your dog only does it once in a while and has'nt done it for 6 months I would'nt think it was SA related though....maybe he does it only when something scares or startles him?

 

Vanessa,

Thank you for the input! It makes me feel better knowing someone else does it, too! I know it's not SA because from the time I got him, I've worked full time and he's by himself for 10 hours a day, but when I'm home he goes with me everywhere that he can. I was just worried that it might be some kind of neurological disorder or something...thanks for the help!

 

Make sure you don't reward him for this behavior. If you think there might be something wrong, you might try to sneak to make sure everything is okay. But if every time he howls you come running and gush over him, you may find he's got YOU trained.

 

My sisters Shih Tzu does that also, but they have a cocker spaniel that does it and the Shih Tzu learned it from the cocker. My sisters husband thinks its funny and encourages the Shih Tzu to do it, so the shih tzu does it all the time now.

 

Is it possible he hears a distant police or fire truck siren? Dogs just love to sing along with those. Trains can also make them burst into song. Or maybe he's hearing another dog somewhere who is howling.

 

you know, that makes sense... I have 2 shih tzus and they can hear my minivan when I drive up... I can understand them hearing my husbands big diesal pick up truck... but my minivan??? I only know this cuz we are having our house worked on and they told me. Maybe your baby is hearing some other animal howling... or a siren or something. They have very good hearing...