Destructive Dogs when left alone

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letrec_fan

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When we go out now, our dogs have been getting more and more destructive everytime we leave them alone. If someone accidently leaves a door open, our bichon frise will raid bins etc and she is doing my mums head in. For eg. came back from day out today, been left for around 7 hours (a long time admittedly) and she had wee'd all over my mums bed and raided the bathroom bins. My mum has now said she is to stay in the cage when we go out but I am not sure this is a good idea (not going to argue right now at the mood she is in!) but is there any traps or tricks we can set up for when we are out to catch them out/scare them so they stop doing this? Obviously spray collars wont work since we are not there. I was thinking maybe a stair gate since this would rule out the upstairs (thought I am sure she would find a way around, or over that in a few hours!) Just a note to add, they are always left with the radio on and today they also had a rawhide chew to munch. They had also been taken for a decent walk before hand and been given the chance to go to the loo, tho, after 7 hours, I guess our bichon gets desperate.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thank you...:D
 
No wonder she pee'd all over your mums bed, I wouldn't have blamed her if she'd dropped a turd there aswell!:D Seven hours without a pee break is way too long to leave a dog. My lot are all put in one room if left on their own and if I'm out for several hours I arrange for a helpful bod to let them out to do a tinkle. Can you arrange something similiar?
 
Bichons are very bright and active little dogs, 7 hours is way to long to leave, have you atleast got a dog walker? or do u take her for a long run before you leave, is she tired when she is left, do u leave her kongs filled with food to stimualte her and hide them or long lasting uncoocked bones to knaw on?
Bin raiding is natural, dogs are scavengers, thats a simple solution, place bins up a height when u go out or empty them before hand, and try the baby gate on the stairs, and make upstairs out of bounds.
A crate is a good place to start, but it's no sibstitute for exercise and stimualtion and if this cannot be given it may be better to find her a home with someone who can offer all of that, they are such sociable little dogs.
 
Thanks for the suggestions but I dont need to rehome my dog and I know they are active. This was a one off day out to celebrate easter. All the other times we are here all day, playing with her, interacting, walking etc. She is very rarely left alone, yet when she is, she does above mentioned things. She was left a rawhide bone to chew as mentioned above, however hidden kongs may be worth a go. Next time, I will ask my mum when we go out for this long and see if someone can let her out during the day when we go out...
 
crate her, simple as that. 7 hours is not unacceptable - in fact you leave her longer than that when you go to bed. If she is used to a crate then pop her in with a kong and leave her to it. It is not every day, if it is only on occasion she should cope. I will leave mine very occasionally for up to 9 hours and they are fine. They have a good walk in the morning and then are walked again at night. My old dog actually chooses to go about 15 hours without going out. he spends all day outside with me, then comes in about 5.30 once I have finished on the yard and then settles down for the night, I always take the younger dog out at about 11 but my old boy normally chooses not to bother. He then has a lie in in the morning and I have to go and get him to come outside for his wee.
Your little dog has a seriously active brain, if she has an outlet she will use it to get up to tricks, if you curb her outlets she will probably just sleep.
 
If it was a one-off and every other day someone is there to play with her all day why post this thread - surely it won't happen again?

Sorry but 7 hours in a crate I feel is too long. night time is a different situation.

Confine to the kitchen if poss with bins etc... out of reach and provide plenty of toys/treats as distractions. Arrange for someone to let her out or walk her during this time and i'd be surprised if there were any further incidents. :)

Please tell me you didn't reprimand her for wetting your mums bed? :mad:
 
As I've said before, no matter how tired their body is after a walk, if their brain isn't tired, they will still have the energy to do mischief/be destructive. When you know she is going to be left for a longer time, do you do a few extra things during the walk with her? Doesn't need to be big or complicated things, without simply that if you walk past some trees, perhaps you can go zigzag or in an eight around them with her, if you pass a stone, perhaps she can jump up on it, you can "accidentally" drop a few treats, that she then can search for etc.

If you feed her dry food, let her sometimes work for it a little and don't put it in a feed bowl, without throw it out over the floor.

If she has a Kong, fill it with something like carrot purée or yoghurt, perhaps mixed with a little liver pâté etc., put it in the freezer and then you can leave her with both her frozen Kong and a gnaw bone. If you want to increase the difficulty level, a while before you leave her, you take the Kong out of the freezer and hide it, then she first have to search to find the Kong, before she can begin with trying to get the frozen stuff out of it.

A while before you leave her, you can hide treats or food inside a brain-exercising toy (boredom breakers), the ones I have and likes the most, are only meant to be used under supervision, so they're not something that you should leave her with, as a Kong or a gnaw bone.
I have some of Nina Ottosson's, my dogs favourite is Dog Tornado Wood. They are sold in the UK, e.g. swellpets, petplanet and mutleyandmog .
As I recall, Prose's Stella enjoys this boredom breaker Boston-terrier-challenge .


If you feel that the problems, aren't only caused by her being bored, do you have a D.A.P? HHO thread about Dog Appeasing Pheromone (D.A.P.) diffuser.

In clinical trials with D.A.P.™, destructive behavior and vocalization (excessive barking and whining) were improved or resolved by 72 percent and 85 percent respectively.

Veterinary information D.A.P.


You don't have to use the thing to plug into an electric socket it seems, D.A.P. dog collar Somebody who has used a D.A.P. Dog collar.

A double-blind placebo-controlled study which ran over a period of 4 weeks, involving D.A.P. dog collars and police dogs in Austria .

:)
 
Bichons are very bright and active little dogs,
Click to expand...

My OH is currently looking after his son's. And wow what a delight she is. At 7 months old she is out for around 3 hours a day - and could still do more......... She seems to have unlimitless energy. And for someone like me who is most definately a big dog person, I'm a convert to the smaller, fluffier variety.

She too is a bin raider, a shoe thief, and general all round cheeky little miss! I just love her.

OP - crate her or confine her to the kitchen, for the few hours that she may be on her own. Any longer - get a dog walker.
 
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