Expert: Kaza - 1/8/2008

Question
my 10 week old Bichon Frise went to work with me for the first two weeks after I purchased him, now i leave him home in the utility room,with a gate so that he doesn't feel closed in and with toys and water. However, he screams constantly and when we get home he is a wreck!!! It takes up to 20 minutes at times to calm him down. I have never seen anything like it. I feel awful but we have to work. Please advise.

Answer
The dog is insecure basically due to your inexperience.
How long is he being left alone as I would not advise more than 3-4 hours, if it is much more then I advise giving the dog up, these are people dogs, they need to interact, failure will cause the dog to become withdrawn, insecure, panicky and emotionally unstable.
Now lets talk about his needs, a dog instinctively has to den (crate) they need to feel secure in their surroundings and the way we can give them this level of freedom is to crate them when we are not there.However not for more than 3 hours at a time whilst so young.Denning isnt cruel its natural, its a dogs cave , its a freedom to live as a dog not as a confused human.
I really would like to know how long he is alone before I can attempt to resolve these issues for you.
As I have said if you are both working fulltime nad cannot afford for the dog to go into doggy daycare then for the sake of the dog give him up....
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