Expert: Breeder - 7/28/2006

Question
Hello! I got a Bichon in March and he is now 7 months old.  He's great! He never barks, he's playful, loves people and dogs.  I'm very happy.  He's done very well with going to the bathroom on the paper except for one little problem.  He misses the paper a lot! He usually ends up urinating half on the paper and half off or a lot of the time just like right next to it.  I have about 4 papers laid out and he still misses! I wouldn't mind except that the paper is on a rug so, the rug is beginning to get ruined.  Any suggestions for getting him to go directly on the paper? Thanks!!

Answer
Bichon take a long long time to housebreak.  I would not use papers.  If you want to housebreak the dog the only way is to get him outside every 2 hours.  These dogs do not do well home alone all day.  So if noone is home during the day you may never completely housebreak him.