Bichon/Maltese barking when alone

undecided · 04-09-2017 11:23AM #1

Hi just looking for a few pointers. She is. 6 months and generally very quiet when we are in the room. We leave her to sleep in the crate in kitchen at night with no problems. But if we are not in the room we have trouble. I used to leave her in the kitchen with back door open and things were quiet but she gets very destructive. So today I left her crate at back door with both doors open so she has access to the crate and yard. Was for about two hours and she kicked up stink. I come back to the kitchen leaving things as they are and not a peep. I think it's just a issue of being alone. There is mostly somebody with her most of the time but any time she is left alone we have issues. Any tips please?

CeilingFly · 04-09-2017 11:32AM

We had this issue with same breed - saw "me or the dog" programme about it and this is what we did.

We put jazz fm on the TV so that there is calming music and a bit of bacgroud chat (its on frequently, not just when we leave) - also we leave a few toys. The Kongs filled with treats can give a couple of hours distraction.

Also we make zero fuss when leaving and zero fusss when returning. No "goodbyes" or "we're back" so that our coming and going is just a standard thing that happens.

We started with 15- 20 minutes and have built up to a couple of hours.

The barking stopped within a few times of starting the above.

For the breed - 2-3 hours is maximum in my opinion before they get a little stressed. But it does mean we cn go out for a quick bite to eat or go out shopping.

There's also a great FB group for the breed https://www.facebook.com/groups/Maltichon/

undecided · 04-09-2017 11:51AM

Thanks for this! I'll try the radio thing definitely worth a shot. We do give her toys and she had run of the yard. Thanks for the link!

Bichon/Maltese barking when alone

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