Puppies need your attention. They crave company, a lot of interaction from their owner, and they require exercise.
When you take your new puppy home and feed them, the responsibility does not stop there cause you need to make sure that you have time for your puppy.
You now have an additional commitment to do, and your schedule should revolve around your puppy until you have a routine that your puppy will get used to.
A Bichon Frise puppy is no different cause you need to train them, get them used to their new surroundings, give them enough daily exercise, and get them to the nearest vet to have them checked for a clean bill of health.
What Happens If A Puppy Is Left Alone For Too Long?
When you leave your Bichon Frise puppy for too long they can feel separation anxiety. This can be a problem when they start to have some negative behavior such as pooing and peeing in places they are not supposed to.
If they are inside the crater, remember that they need to pee frequently, and you will surely see their soiled crate, including what is inside it, once you are home.
When you need to go to work after a few days of bringing your Bichon Frise puppy home, consider how long you can leave your Bichon alone in the house on a normal workday.
A 10-week Bichon Frise puppy can hold their pee for an hour, so when they are inside the crate, they will need to urinate, and their cage can get soiled in just a few hours. So, you cannot leave them alone for an hour or two.
At 10 to 12 weeks, you can leave your Bichon alone in their crate for two hours to three hours, and at 3 to 6 months, they can hold their pee for three to six hours (you only need to consider the one hour rule per month).
For a Bichon Frise puppy that is older than 6-months, they can hold their pee for 6 hours or so.
When you are at work, and you have a young Bichon waiting for you, it may be wise to get a pet-sitter to take care of them or to pop to your home as required. A neighbor or a friend who lives nearby can be someone you can rely upon. You can also do the task if you can come home for a few hours to check on your Bichon.
How Long Can a Bichon Frise Adult Dog Be Left Alone?
A trained and well-behaved Bichon can be left alone for 6 to 8 hours. You can stretch it up to 9 hours, perhaps with some luck, but it is not ideal to leave them for more than 8 hours.
If your adult Bichon is not used to being left alone and you started leaving them for more than 8 hours every day, you will gradually see that it affects them. It may help to give them some exercise before you leave home and give them some more exercise at night.
This can be a good routine that he will remember and anticipate, plus help to adjust his behavior.
Remember that an adult Bichon may not get used to being home alone as they develop negative behaviors when they are frequently left alone for long hours. One of the negative behaviors can be separation anxiety, this will show with your Bichon as they start to break things, bite on furniture, scratch on the wall, bark incessantly, howl for hours, and can also defecate and urinate inside the house. These are negative behaviors that your Bichon will manifest soon as you step out of the house.
Bichon will feel distressed when their favorite human left the house that even if they are with some members of the family, they have such an attachment with another member, and when that person leaves; they feel stressed and depressed that they show their negative behavior.
What To Do When You Need To Leave For Work?
Make your Bichon get used to your routine. You need to train your Bichon Frise puppy and make them used to your routine.
Show your Bichon by getting them used to you going out of the door and then arriving after a few hours. Get them used to this before leaving them all alone in the house.
Your Bichon will get used to you departing and arriving and will understand that their human will come back and all they need to do is wait.
Leave them with something they can listen to. Have your Bichon listen to calming music or even the talk show on the radio with just the right volume. This way, they will not be anxious and feel alone in the house.
They will have something to listen to and will get used to the sound. Let them get used to the music and the people talking over the radio.
Prepare a safe space for your Bichon. Before you leave home, make sure that you have prepared all the things that your Bichon Frise will need. Keep their surroundings safe and remove any materials that can cause a disaster while you are out. Remove any electrical cords that they may chew on or pull.
Leave them with a few toys they can play with. While you are away, make sure you have prepared a few toys for your Bichon to chew on. This way you are also preventing them from getting to your furniture or chewing on your shoes.
Once your dog gets bored, they tend to check on things they can chew, and if there are toys ready for them, you are avoiding them from chewing on other things inside the house.
Provide old clothes with your scent on them. This is helpful particularly to younger Bichon cause they will not be focusing much on the separation since they can smell your scent on the clothes. This is a sure-fire way to calm a dog as the smell of their humans relaxes them.
Train them before you start leaving them home. Be sure that you have trained your dog even the basics before you leave them for hours. Asking the vet for some advice will be helpful since they have an insight into the dog’s behavior.
A dog trainer will be able to help you train your Bichon faster than you can do it. House training will also be faster with their help. This may be a bit expensive, but for your dog and their welfare, this is not much compared to the negative behavior separation may cause them.
Give them their exercise. If you have time in the morning before you leave for work, you can exercise your Bichon even for a few minutes. They will be more relaxed and will not have too much pent-up energy that they can use for destruction while you are away.
This is also the most helpful way for your dog to release their anxiety or to lessen it. An exercise calms a dog and helps them use their energy, plus they will focus their mind on rest and sleeping while you are away.
