This is a specific conversation about Dog training — equipment and tools that help — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Night shifts and a flat — that's a real constraint, and it shapes everything about what training tools make sense. Good training equipment amplifies good technique rather than replacing it, but the right gear genuinely does make a difference when you're working around noise limits and a neighbour-sensitive environment. So tell me: what are you actively trying to train your Shih Tzu to do, and what have you already tried? Knowing that helps me point you somewhere specific rather than just useful-in-general.
She's one year old, a Shih Tzu called Biscuit. I work nights so I sleep during the day and she barks when I'm trying to sleep. I've tried telling her off but that just gets her more wound up. I want to teach her to settle quietly — maybe go to her bed on cue. I haven't used any training tools before.
inparticular.ai
Biscuit sounds like she's got plenty of personality. Telling her off when she barks tends to backfire with Shih Tzus — they read any attention, even cross attention, as engagement, so she's probably learned that barking gets a reaction. What you actually want to build is a positive 'go settle' cue she associates with something good. Before I suggest anything, one quick question: when she barks during the day while you're sleeping, is she in the same room as you, or is she loose in the flat?
She's loose in the flat. She'll wander in and bark at me, or bark at noises from outside.
inparticular.ai
That tells me a lot. The core issue is that she has no trained default behaviour — no place she's been taught to go and stay calm. The good news is that a clicker and a solid 'place' or 'bed' training protocol will fix this, and it's quiet work. I'd recommend the PetSafe Clik-R Clip Trainer. It clips onto your finger, so your hands stay free, and the click sound is crisp but not loud — much quieter than a box clicker, which matters in a flat. You pair each click with a small treat to mark the exact moment she does the right thing: paws on her bed, lying down, staying calm. Because the timing is precise, she learns faster and you're not repeating commands or raising your voice. You can do five-minute sessions before your shift or just after you wake up. It's about £5 on Amazon UK and it's the single most useful thing you can add right now.
That sounds manageable. Will she get the idea quickly, or is this going to take weeks before I see any difference?
inparticular.ai
Shih Tzus are smarter than people give them credit for, and food motivation makes clicker training click pretty fast. Most dogs understand the clicker marker within one short session — they figure out that the sound predicts a treat. From there, getting a reliable 'go to your bed' cue usually takes one to two weeks of consistent short sessions, maybe five minutes twice a day. What takes longer is duration — getting her to stay settled for twenty or thirty minutes while you sleep. But you'll see a real difference in the first week if you're consistent. The key is to never reward her for barking, even accidentally — so on the days you're too tired to train, just ignore the barking completely and reward any quiet moment instead.
Really helpful, thank you. I'll grab the PetSafe Clik-R and give it a go.
inparticular.ai
Good luck with Biscuit — she'll get there. Start with something easy like getting her to step onto her bed for a click and treat, then build duration from there. If you find she's easily distracted by outside noises, a white noise machine near your bedroom door can also help mask the triggers while you're building the behaviour. But the clicker work is the foundation — get that solid first.
