Expert: Kaza - 6/10/2010

Question
I have a  2.5 year old adopted at age 8months bichon. He was given up because the original owners were not able to house train him. He had passed puppy training classes when I received him for 8 weeks. Recently he has escalated his barking at rabbits and squirrels while observing them through my sliding glass door and windows. He will bark and jump up and paw at the door/windows for long periods of time, until the animals are no longer visible to him. Sometimes this will continue for the 2-3 hours during the day that these animals are most active around my home. He also will bark and search for them when we are leash walking.
He gets plenty of exercise/walks and I have tried all types of behavior related interventions but to no avail. I originally used a crate to house train him but now I only use it for very short periods of time when I leave the house. I am very frustrated and cannot redirect his attention when he starts this behavior. I could be dangling a piece of bacon in front of him and he would not even notice. HELP!
thank you

Answer
Hi Oskana
what people forget is that the Frise is a terrier type dog, it is thought of as a lap dog when in fact everything a Jack Russell will want to do so will your Bichon Frise.A few suggestions
1) Place a leash on the dog in the house and control him through teaching him NO and placing him to heel at your side. Rodents and squirrels have a distinct smell of which the dog any dog will want to hunt.
2) Whilst in the home he is actually simply protecting his boundaries and the squirrel is invading that, simply leash and divert his attention. Throw a ball and stimulate his senses in this way will discourage his wanting instinctively to hunt the prey.
THis should help but you must be consistent at al times, it is the stimulation that will deter his attention because he will be tired and want to sleep after some good stimulating exercise.