# HELP!!! Papillon Problems!!



## Elizabeth Bennette (Sep 20, 2010)

Hey everyone, I have a 1yr old Papillion that is a great dog, when she is right by me. But as soon as I put her in her kennel and stick her in the laundry room where she can't see me she starts barking and won't stop. This is my first small dog but I have done Great Dane rescue for 8 years so I am, by no means, new at dog training. I have tried everything I know to do to stop Zoe from barking. I know that putting a muzzle on her is not good for her because she can get over heated, but I have tried: water in a spray bottle in the face, Vinager in a spary bottle in the eyes, swatting her with a fly swatter, popping her on the nose, yelling NO!, ignoring her, praising her when she is quiet, giving her Benedryl (which she quickly learned how to not swallow), Giving her bones to chew on, making her run on the treadmill for and hour on full incline before I put her in the kennel, taking her to the dog park, and walking her. They all worked for a little while but not for long and I have only seen a very small improvement. The problem is that she is 5 LBS, and I am so used to the Danes that I'm afraid that I will hurt her. She only barks when she can't see or hear me. It is not a high pitched bark that would lead me to believe that it is separation anxiety. It is more of a lower bark that is like she is MAD. She is VERY smart and catches on very quickly, but she is also VERY stubborn. I'm at the end of my rope and if it does not stop soon I'll have to put her up for adoption, witch I hate to do because I have never been as connected to a dog as I am to her. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!! Thanks.


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Elizabeth Bennette said:


> Hey everyone, I have a 1yr old Papillion that is a great dog, when she is right by me. But as soon as I put her in her kennel and stick her in the laundry room where she can't see me she starts barking and won't stop. This is my first small dog but I have done Great Dane rescue for 8 years so I am, by no means, new at dog training. I have tried everything I know to do to stop Zoe from barking. I know that putting a muzzle on her is not good for her because she can get over heated, but I have tried: water in a spray bottle in the face, Vinager in a spary bottle in the eyes, swatting her with a fly swatter, popping her on the nose, yelling NO!, ignoring her, praising her when she is quiet, giving her Benedryl (which she quickly learned how to not swallow), Giving her bones to chew on, making her run on the treadmill for and hour on full incline before I put her in the kennel, taking her to the dog park, and walking her. They all worked for a little while but not for long and I have only seen a very small improvement. The problem is that she is 5 LBS, and I am so used to the Danes that I'm afraid that I will hurt her. She only barks when she can't see or hear me. It is not a high pitched bark that would lead me to believe that it is separation anxiety. It is more of a lower bark that is like she is MAD. She is VERY smart and catches on very quickly, but she is also VERY stubborn. I'm at the end of my rope and if it does not stop soon I'll have to put her up for adoption, witch I hate to do because I have never been as connected to a dog as I am to her. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!! Thanks.


She's a papillon. They are manipulative by design lol. Every time you are paying attention to her good or bad, it's reinforcing her. Barking means you will come and that's what she wants. IGNORE HER. I even had to lock one of mine upstairs at first. 

Trust me, I understand how hard it is to break this habit (Mia screamed in anger when I first got her), but this breed NEEDS consistency. They are too smart for you to be inconsistent with them. They remember things too well and if it works once, they will keep doing it. 

I would also start nothing in life is free if you haven't. Papillons even moreso than many other breeds need boundaries. They were nicknamed little tyrant dogs after all. I would hate to see you give up on this dog, it sounds like it will be something that will just take some work and consistency. It has little to do with her size, just lack of consistency coupled with a breed that is typically pretty high strung.

Are you sure it's not SA? One of mine has SA and we've had to try lots of things from drugs to behavior modification. I'll Be Home Soon is a great read on that front.


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## Elizabeth Bennette (Sep 20, 2010)

Laurelin said:


> She's a papillon. They are manipulative by design lol. Every time you are paying attention to her good or bad, it's reinforcing her. Barking means you will come and that's what she wants. IGNORE HER. I even had to lock one of mine upstairs at first.
> 
> Trust me, I understand how hard it is to break this habit (Mia screamed in anger when I first got her), but this breed NEEDS consistency. They are too smart for you to be inconsistent with them. They remember things too well and if it works once, they will keep doing it.
> 
> ...



Laurelin
Thank you so much for replying so promptly I will try to ignore her and see if that works. 

If you could direct me to some informational links about nothing in life is free, I'm not really sure what that is.

As far as SA goes I don't think that it is that. As I said I have worked with Dane which suffer SA horribly and this is nothing like that, she doesn't tear up her bedding or any thing else in her kennel. 

If you could also give me some tips on another small problem. I have Zoe in a small kennel (just big enough for her to stand up and turn around in) but she will still poo and pee in it and then sleep in it! I have never seen a dog do that before. Any ideas?


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## petpeeve (Jun 10, 2010)

Stop "putting" her in her kennel. Going into a crate should be voluntary.

Stop spraying water in her face. This likely accomplishes very little.

Stop spraying vinegar in her eyes, for goodness sake. It's acidic, it may cause damage, and simply put it's just not the right way to train.

Stop swatting her with a fly swatter. Yikes !

Stop popping her on the nose. Yikes again.

Stop yelling.

Stop using the word NO !

Stop giving her Benadryl to dope her up.

Stop "making" her walk on a treadmill.


START giving her a reason to look up to you. Become a fair and effective leader.




I'm surpised that you claim you are so connected to her. Sounds to me like your relationship needs A LOT of work.

Here's a crate training video to help get you started in the right direction ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Gb-TF9c9U


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## Laurelin (Nov 2, 2006)

Elizabeth Bennette said:


> Laurelin
> Thank you so much for replying so promptly I will try to ignore her and see if that works.
> 
> If you could direct me to some informational links about nothing in life is free, I'm not really sure what that is.
> ...


Nothing in life is free: http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/6856-nilif-nothing-life-free.html

It is basically developing a working relationship with your dog. 

I like that video too that was linked in the previous post. I've done some of that (I clicker train). My dog that used to want to scream in her crate now gets excited when I tell her to kennel. She races in there. 

The pooing and peeing in the kennel is not something I have experienced with my papillons. I would maybe see a vet and try to rule out something like a UTI? Maybe more potty breaks would be helpful? Feed earlier in the day and take her out as close to bed time as possible? I'm not sure, like I said none of mine do that. 

Just hang on. Be patient and consistent and you'll see results. And regression is normal in any training. Two steps forward, one step back.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I agree with petpeeve. Many of the techniques you've mentioned, like the spraying, and swatting are outdated methods of training. Positive reinforcement works wonders! 
Teach your dog what you DO want her to do instead of what you DON'T want her to do. It's like seeing the glass half full instead of half empty.
So, instead of yelling at my dogs to quit barking, or spraying them or whatever, I let them bark once to alert me to someone/something on our property, but after that I give them the "quiet" command. It's something they've learned. So, instead of yelling at them to stop barking, I'm telling them to do their "quiet" command, which they're happy to perform for me!


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## barnetto (May 30, 2010)

I read that I need to teach my Simone that being along can be enjoyable, but I've been having trouble with it. She likes to pitch fits when left alone. I tried Kongs with her in her crate, but she empties the first ring of the kong really fast (doesn't bother trying to get stuff further back) and then starts yelling for attention. It just doesn't occupy her long enough.

Started something new which seems to be working better. I left her in her normal baby-gated area. Beforehand I had sprinkled cheese in a path from the vantage point where she watches her brother leave to the back part of the kitchen, under my step stool (I'm short, can't reach those top shelves without it), then a few splotches not in a path so she'd have to work to find them, and left a kong with peanut butter in her brother's crate.

The result was that she yelled for a minute, discovered food next to her, followed the trail all around the kitchen, and then kept looking. It was working marvelously until my bf woke up, saw her sniffing like a maniac (and she was completely ignoring him). He was convinced she needed to go to the bathroom so he crated her up and she didn't find all the stuff I hid. 

Probably not quite right for you. I just need her occupied for the 20 minutes I'm out with her brother, but you likely need Zoe occupied for much longer.

I think in time I'll get more creative with where I hide things. I expect soon enough she'll be really excited when I leave her on her own because she'll know that means tasty stuff has been hidden. And then I'll hide less stuff and in more difficult places and hopefully eventually I can phase that out...


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

Elizabeth Bennette said:


> Laurelin
> Thank you so much for replying so promptly I will try to ignore her and see if that works.
> 
> If you could direct me to some informational links about nothing in life is free, I'm not really sure what that is.
> ...


If she has bedding in her kennel, I would take it out and put her in a (clean) naked crate with no bedding for awhile to see how she does. Some dogs will happily go on any porous surface (carpet, rugs, blankets, etc) because it absorbs it. (I wonder if this is why my cats will race across the yard, into the living room, and over to my oriental rug in order to puke? Hmmm ) 
Tag (my papillon) had a housetraining regression AND a crate training regression a few times (he's not quite a year and a half). I took the bedding out of his crate (he wasn't going to freeze without it) and (literally) took the cage outside and hosed it down so it was clean. I kept the crate bedding-free for a few nights until he got the hang of it, then put a very small lightweight blanket in. He's currently got a huge sheet folded on top of a rug with the whole mess topped off with "his" blankie, and he's clean in his cage as reliably as any living thing can be


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## Jray (Jan 25, 2021)

petpeeve said:


> Stop "putting" her in her kennel. Going into a crate should be voluntary.
> 
> Stop spraying water in her face. This likely accomplishes very little.
> 
> ...


Jeez, that sounds like animal abuse to me


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## DaySleepers (Apr 9, 2011)

The post is a decade old now, and the original poster is no longer around, so I'm closing it to further replies. You can join in our current discussions or create a post of your own if you'd like.


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