# Help training Bichon Frise



## Partsman41953 (May 13, 2012)

Hello, 

I have a soon to be 2 year old male Bichon Frise who has me trained pretty good, sad to say. He marks in the house, barks if we put him in his crate for any length of time, and will not sleep all night long. My wife and I are basically at the end of our rope with him. We also have a 10 year old female cockapoo who is not totally trained but she is housebroken and has what my wife and I call "selective hearing"!! She listens mostly to me but not much to my wife. 

Anyhow, the problem is Toby, the Bichon Frise. I do not know if he feels he needs to mark his territory from Tootsie, our cockapoo, or what the problem is. Toby is not neutered as my wife and I were thinking about getting a female Bichon but if we are having this much of a problem with Toby we may reconsider. Also, I have heard conflicting information on whether neutering would stop the marking behavior. 

I would also like to know what we can do about Toby feeling less stressed when he is in his crate. There are times where my wife and I cannot keep an eye on him so we put him in his crate, which is next to Tootsie's so he is not by himself. His barking is driving us crazy!!

We would also like to know how to go about getting him to sleep all night. He will wake up around 1:30, he starts out sleeping in a crate in our bedroom, and then I will take him to his crate downstairs where he will sleep a few more hours before he starts barking again at 4:00 a.m. This habit HAS to stop. I purchased a shock collar to see if I could train him but after purchasing it was afraid to use it. 

What can I do to get him to understand that this behavior has to come to an end?

Thanks,


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## BoredomBusters (Dec 8, 2011)

Castrating to stop marking is unlikely to work at this late stage, as it will be through habit as much as anything else.

Bichons can be barkers, but there are lots of different ways you can re-educate dogs to bark less. You can never stop them barking completely (they are dogs after all), but I think you need to seek out a good trainer in your area who has behavioural knowledge (or a behaviourist) and ask them to come out to help you.

I would never recommend adding dogs to the family until the current dogs are how you want them (ie trained and pleasant companions). Getting a third dog will just learn all the bad habits from your other two.


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## Colette (Jan 2, 2010)

I agree with BB that a good trainer should be able to help you, but please try to look for a humane one!

In the meantime, please ditch the shock collar. There is no need to hurt or scare your dog in order to train him. Even if you do succeed in reducing the barking (which you might not) you could cause other problems, such as urinating in fear, self-harming behaviours like paw chewing, even aggression.

Could you re-crate train him? 
Start again from scratch. Reward him just for going in there at first, then build up to having the door shut, and very slowly and gradually build up the length of time he is shut in. Always keep him "below threshold" ie keep sessions short enough that he does not start barking. Reward him for being quiet in his crate.

For helping him to be relaxed in his crate, I would suggest giving him high value treats / toys in there like stuffed kongs. Not only should these help to keep him occupied but chewing seems to be therapeutic for dogs and can relieve stress. You could also try spraying it with Adaptil.

If he barks for attention at other times, ie during the day, make a point of ignoring it. If he has learned that barking=attention (even a bad response) he will do it all the more. 
From now on if he barks for attention, completely blank him (no talking, touching or even eye contact) until he stops. If necessary, leave the room. When he is quiet, praise him. Like with all attention seeking behaviour, he should soon learn that barking= attention completely stops.

As you say he doesn't sleep through the night, there are two obvious things that spring to mind.

1) How much exercise and mental stimulation does he get throughout the day? 

My parents bichon Solo has trouble sleeping all night if he's had a boring day with limited exercise. He's simply not tired enough.

If your dog is spending most of the day sleeping, is bored,lacking in exercise or mental stimulation, he may benefit from some more effort put in here. Try playing some games with him, taking longer walks, doing some training, using interactive toys like treat balls or kongs, etc.

2) Is something disturbing him? 

It might be that you have a neighbour who always gets in at a certain time in the early hours, causing him to alarm bark. If this is the case perhaps consider putting his sleeping place in a different part of the house, or a better sound proofed room, or covering the crate to block some of the noise.

With regards to marking... maybe make a point of rewarding him for peeing outdoors some more, whether thats normal peeing or marking. Just to emphasise the point. Also, make sure you clean the areas he has marked thoroughly, with a specific pet cleaner or bio washing powder to remove the smells (nothing ammonia based!) If he can still smell his scent mark, he will continue topping it up!


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## lostbear (May 29, 2013)

I agree with Colette - get rid of that shock collar - they are cruel, and cause a lot more problems than they solve.


You say Toby is not neutered - he may be territory marking, but it is unusual for him to be doing this indoors. Is your cockerpoo neutered? If not, he could be trying to impress her with his masculinity and also making sure that other (male) dogs know she's spoken for.

You have left Toby entire as you were thinking of getting a female bichon - obviously you must be wanting to breed, or Toby's testicles wouldn't be important! Have you looked into what is involved in breeding a litter? It isn't just a matter of putting two dogs together and letting them get on with it - you really need to have both health-tested to ensure that there aren't any genetic problems lurking (especially if both are apparently healthy carriers of a bad gene), and also know the history of your dogs parentage - will the lines of the two dogs go together successfully, or are you likely to have problems?

Like all breeds, bichons have health problems associated with them - they suffer from a range of allergies and skin problems (common with white dogs), are prone to luxating patellas (where the kneebone shifts out of position) and hip dysplasia, can develop Legg-Perthes disease which affects the thigh bones and the jaw and is hideously painful (and hideously expensive to treat.) They are prone to bad teeth. You don't want to risk producing puppies with this sort of health problem.

As you yourself have said, you are having second thoughts about getting another bichon because of the problems with this one. These problems won't improve if you introduce another dog into your home - they will, if anything, get worse. Please don't even think of another dog (of any type) until you have got your current difficulties sorted, and even then, please think very carefully before breeding. Breeding responsibly is not cheap - the costs of the vetinary testing alone (some tests need to be done each time, as the dogs can develop problems as they age) can be very high. Most reputable breeders only breed a littler when they want a pup to bring on themselves - that alone tells you that it's no picnic. And - it's hard work, even when everything goes smoothly. If there are complications it is expensive and heartbreaking.


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## alice12x (Aug 11, 2015)

Hi I have a bichion frise I have had him in a routing since I got him he is 1 yr old now when I go out he gets put in kitchen and he knows that I have no cage for him as they can become more stressed he also goes into kitchen at night when I switch my tv off he knows and goes straight to his bed I keep his bed in kitchen also it never gets moved the more walks he gets the better they become he is a fantastic dog off leader now they are also very clever and do anything for a treat at the beginning he used to bark and bang on door but once you ignore it and he knows he is not getting out until you get up it settles stick to it same routing every night


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