The Shih Tzu is a breed that loves to cuddle with its owners and they make wonderful lap dogs. Some playtime with the best chew toys for Shih Tzus is all they need. Their exercise needs are modest, and this play time or a daily walk will be sufficient.
They will overheat quickly, and therefore Shih Tzus don’t like too much exertion. But when they have their favorite toy, then they are quite a bundle of energy and enjoy playtime.
So when your Shih Tzu is energetic and wants to play, what chew toys are good for Shih Tzus
Best Shih Tzu Throw and Fetch Toy
Our Shih Tzus favorite toy is a round squeaky ball. But they won’t play it alone for too long. Plan to get that arm worked out throwing the ball for catch and retrieve.
Our go-to ball is the Hart Dura Play soft and squeaky ball.
A game we play is to sit on our deck and throw the ball over the railing into the yard. Our Shih Tzu will watch through the deck rails to see where it goes, then run down to retrieve it. This game can last for hours if we let her keep playing and provides both mental stimulation and physical exercise.
When it is hot outside, we know our Shih Tzu can get too hot pretty fast. So we fill a small dog pool with water, then throw the ball from the deck into the pool. Well, our Shih Tzu loves climbing in the pool, rooting around for the ball to bring it back for another throw. Great exercise and really keeps our Shih Tzu cool too.
Best Plush Toy for a Shih Tzu
We have a box full, no 2 dog boxes full of chew toys and plush toys for our Shih Tzus. They vary from nylon bones to braided ropes to squeaky plus h toys. Our favorite go-to for our Shih Tzus is a little red Foxxy. We call her Foxxy … well… because. This is her absolute favorite stuffed toy, Wish I knew where to find this Foxxy toy again as I’d buy 3 more of them. And when our Shih Tzu is tired of playing, this nice soft plush toy makes a great pillow to relax on.
In general, the smaller plush toys of 9 inches in length and smaller are what our little dogs love. We have some larger ones, but they don’t get played with or chewed nearly as much.
Oh, and the softer and plusher the better. There’s nothing more rewarding for our Shih Tzus than to rip the stuffing out of their favorite chew toy. Good thing we can fix them and sew them back up…ready for the next round. Oh and watch out for the squeaker. We usually throw it out once the dog has ripped the toy open as we don’t want our pup to choke on it.
Challenging Toys to Stimulate a Shih Tzu
Some of the “hide an animal” interactive toys such as squirrel or hedgehog-type toys. hiding treat dispensers, ball launchers or throwing, and fetching, sensory toys such as squeaking or moving. These can all be good choices for keeping your Shih Tzu active and preventing boredom.
Any activity where you are involved with playing with your pup is interacting and stimulating to your Shih Tzu. If you have time to play with your dog then great. If you need your dog to stay occupied without you then these toys can help keep your dog challenged.
Our best challenging toy is throwing the ball. Into the pool, into the grass, behind a bush. Over the other side of the deck. Our Shih Tzus enjoy searching for their go fetch ball.
Best Chew Toys for Shih Tzus
What can I give my Shih Tzu to chew on? We have tried nylon bones, kong toys in a couple of different sizes, nylon braided ropes, small rubber toys, and tires. None of them and I mean none of them keep our ShihTzus occupied for long. They abandon these chew toys in favor of their favorite ball or plush toy.
Are Shih Tzus chewers? Ours certainly are chewers and so for chew toys, we get…. well treats that are long-lasting and provide good chew.
Small real bones with a bit of meat from the dog pet store rib bone. These are very tough and keep our little guys chewing for hours.
Cheese bones. Only Ok as our dogs don’t get too excited over them. Your Shih Tzu may react differently so experiment and see.
Bully Sticks. Oh, yea… now we’re talking. These are perfect to keep our dogs occupied and busy while we watch our movie uninterrupted. The distraction helps keep them calm and relaxed so they don’t freak out when our surround sound sub kicks in.
And of course with any dog treat including bully sticks. There is always a danger of the treat becoming lodged in the pet’s throat or becoming a choking hazard. We always give treats supervised and remove them when we leave the dogs alone.
Kong Chew Toys are generally well reviewed as they provide a soft and durable construction. They are soft enough for delicate chewers and puppies, and tough enough to hold up the even zesty chewers. We use them on occasion and they are in the top 5 chew toys.
Dog Chew Toys and Treats to Avoid
Rawhide treats…Absolutely no. We don’t feed rawhide tour Shih Tzus because rawhide is not easy to digest. We have also found when rawhides get smaller they could become a choking hazard. So no rawhides in our home.
Nylon bones. These can be very brittle and could damage the tee of a small mouther mouth Shih Tzu. For larger jawed dogs they may be ok, but we avoid these for our delicate chewers.
Pig Ears. These are known to be higher in fat content, and too much fat isn’t good for a Shih Tzu. There is also the potential for bacteria, not to mention they just seem disgusting to me. Our Shih Tzus may disagree with me, but that’s not going to change my mind. The same goes for hooves. Maybe for an outdoor dog, but I want cleaner foods in the mouths of my Shih Tzus who are likely going to cuddle with me after.
In Closing
While the Shih Tzu is not an overly active breed, they do love their playtime. even a short playtime of 10 or 20 minutes will be enough to satisfy your Shih Tzus activity level. then it’s time to wind down and cuddle.