Bishon puppy?

Question

I have recently purchased a new puppy. She is awesome in everyway except she barks or yaps when she has to stay in her playpen. She is almost pottie trained and we have only had her for less than a week but I don't feel comfortable in letting her roam around the house without supervision.

My question is....does this ever stop?

Thanks

Answer 1

Bichon's are yappy. She's probably feeling insecure. If you can't give her another puppy to keep her company, make sure she has lots of puppy toys, and maybe a blanket with your scent on it.

Nevertheless, you will have to put up with it for a while, until she learns it won't get better. if you keep going back in the room to reassure her, she'll never stop.

Also, consider putting a radio with soft music next to her crate/playpen, so she has something to comfort her.

Answer 2

You have to train her to stop. It'll take A LOT of patience on your part but if she yaps and you take her out that's you rewarding her yappy behavior. If you yell at her, stand over her and glare - anything you're still giving attention to the problem thus reinforcing the behavior

Get some ear plugs, or a good CD to drown out the noise for a bit. When she realizes all you do is ignore her she'll stop. Small dogs can be very vocal - but all dogs reflect their environment. If brought up in a calm atmosphere that is how their attitude will be.

Don't let this pup run all over you. Make sure to train her extensively and don't forget to discipline. Place lots of rules and regulation. Dogs thrive in a structured atmosphere.

Get some toys such as the kong and stuff it full of treats. Make a big deal about her going into her playpen or crate. When you put her in give her a special treat that she only gets when she goes in there, and pet her before you walk away. After that - no contact till you're ready to take her out.

And if you're ready and she starts yapping - walk away. The only time you should take her out is when she's quiet. Even if she ends up being in there longer than you expected.

Time and patience.

Good Luck

Answer 3

I commend you for your good work so far in housetraining your Bichon Frise puppy. Bichons are notorious for being difficult to train. I personally think it's because they are so smart they're devious little scamps :)

You don't say how old your puppy is ... so I'll offer two scenarios

1. It's highly likely she's from a pet store and that immediately raises concerns. Most pet store pups are taken from their mothers and siblings at way too young an age. They are then trucked around the country by less than ideal truck freight, and delivered to cages in pet stores. Need I say, this is not a good beginning.

Even if purchased the first few days in the store, the pup remains too young to be away from it's mom and littermates, and will have significant developmental challenges.

One of the challenges is socialization and nurturing needs ... which become the job of the purchaser. (It is my experience that people can never totally make up for the lack of proper same-special rearing, but we can sure give it a try.)

It may be that your pup needs more close time with you. I once raised two 'little dog' rescue pups in an apron! No joke. They had been yanked from their mom at 5 weeks & my vet friend warned me that they could well be harmed by such irresponsible treatment. So I vowed to socialize and give them the touch and security they were missing by a more natural rearing. They hung out in that apron for 4 weeks as I worked around my retail shop. Much socialization with customers and other pets sure helped them develop better.

2. Perhaps they came from a backyard breeder who raised them in their home? (They could still very well be pet store genetics which becomes a problem) And Again, the vision of $$$'s often motivates otherwise good people to separate pups at too young an age from both mom and siblings. Anything before 10 weeks is less than healthy .. and the closer to 12 weeks, the better.

3. Or you might well have done your research and purchased from a breeder who has done the proper testing (OFA and CERF) before breeding their bichons. This too could be an in-home situation with quality dogs, or a kennel situation.

Whatever the source of your pup, it could be she's needing more touch time, and/or it could be that she's a typcial Bichon and doing her best to train you to be on call for her every minute. In either case, you can address it by making sure she gets lots of EXERCISE .. yes, yes even pups need true exercise :) And touch time. . . but she also needs to learn to be independent enough to be alone for short periods of time.

If you work full-time, the Bichon is a bit of a pain because you need to find someone who will go to your home a couple times a day to let the pup out to pee/poo and stimulate it so that it's brain develops properly. Bichons who live in isolation fail to thrive. Bichons left alone in a crate or playpen or even free to roam a home often develop undesirable behaviors ranging from poor housetraining to chewing oneself from anxiety (often mis-diagnosed as allergies :(

Good luck figuring out how you can best help your pup develop as normally as possible. Puppy kindergarten and puppy play dates are super tools for development (after vaccinations).

sincerely,
'Joyous' Gaile Avent
Please visit the BICHON FRISE INFORMATION STATION
http://www.bichonfriseusa.com
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