Jump to content
BC Boards

constant whining


Recommended Posts

Hello all. I need some help and advice. My husband and I recently rescued a bc/aussie/lab mix. He is now 12.5 weeks old. My question is how can I stop his constant whining? He has been to the vet and she says there is nothing wrong with him medically. He whines/crys/barks when he eats, plays, well pretty much doing anything BUT sleeping. Ignoring doesn't seem to have any effect. A squirt bottle doesn't work either, he loves the water and whines more while trying to eat it and being all wiggly puppy. Please help!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How long have you had him ?

 

I was just wondering in case it might be that once he feels secure that you are his "forever" home it might help.

 

Is there any way to find out if he had that problem before you got him ?

 

If it is merely behavior he has become accustomed to exhibiting, then maybe it is simply a habit he can be trained out of ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of dogs aren't whining for any particular reason, they are just vocal dogs. It doesn't sounds like there's a problem that is making him whine, just that he likes to do it. Since he's not doing it for attention ignoring him isn't going to extinguish the behavior. The only think I can think of is to teach him to speak on command, then you can teach him to "shush" on command. Instead of teaching him to bark maybe you can teach him to whine and praise him for it, then reward him with a treat or another high value reward when he's quiet and he learns being quiet is more rewarding than being vocal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some dogs are more vocal that others. Unfortunately, I have 3 of them. I ignore it when they are seeking attention and tell them to be quiet when they are just vocalizing for the joy of it. Yeah, it drives me nuts too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Tommy talks all of the time about just about everything. Sometimes she has to go out and sometimes whe wants me to go find her ball and sometimes I think she just talks.

 

Zeke is the opposite. He never makes any noise at all. He just comes up and butts me with his head or licks my fingers when he wants attention.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good to know that there is some hope of getting him quiet. We have had him for almost a month now. He was quiet for the first week when the whining started. :( I will try teaching him to "sing" when he wants to be so vocal, then after we have mastered "sing" I will start working on the "queit". Thanks so very much for the ideas.

 

Sage, my 9 month old bc, is supper quiet. Heck he won't even bark unless someone is actually in the yard. So was a bit of a shock to get Finn, who won't stop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zeke reminded me of our last dog Angel, she was very quiet most of the time. She had matured to where we could trust her to roam free in the bedroom while we were sleeping at night, and in the morning when she wanted to go potty she would come over to my side of the bed and bump my rear with her nose, if that didn't work she would very softly "woof" on my side of the bed trying to wake me up without disturbing my wife's sleep, very polite dog :)

 

Xena is more of a barker, but it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, she has really improved from back when she would often get on a non-stop barking spree at times.

 

So stay encouraged, undesired behavior now does not mean it will not improve with some training and patience :)

My Tommy talks all of the time about just about everything. Sometimes she has to go out and sometimes whe wants me to go find her ball and sometimes I think she just talks.

 

Zeke is the opposite. He never makes any noise at all. He just comes up and butts me with his head or licks my fingers when he wants attention.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We took in a rescue Retriever that used to whine. Whenever I would leave for work or go anywhere I would always tell her I would be back. I started taking her whenever I would go on short trips to the store, post office etc so that she knew that we would always bring her back home and that we were NOT going to leave her. I would always reward her after the short trips and eventually she quit whining. I truly felt she whined because she did not feel secure at first and thought she was being left again.

 

That was 10 years ago. Last time she whined was when my daughter went off to college and she laid on the back porch and whined for 3 days. Now when my daughter comes home and it is time to go back off to college --- she always tells Comet that she will be back. This seems to satisfy her and she is fine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I had better work on my timing for the clicker, maybe I am clicking to slowly.

 

My husband finaly gave up and went to the butcher shop and got some raw beef leg bones, cut into 6" pieces.

 

Thanks so much for the help all of you. The stories about how your dogs, who started out "noisey" have since turned into quiet, relaxed dogs brings hope. I will get pics of the little bugger the next time we are out for a potty break and game of "chase the ball".

 

One quick question... are aussies and labs usually vocal dogs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a whine-y dog (non Border Collie). He is very vocal and over time we learned what various whine-y noises mean. I have been very careful about what I do and act in reaction to his whines and at just a year old he has quieted quite a bit. He is just vocal, and he says stuff all day long.

 

I can now hear the difference in the "I'm nervous or not happy quiet whine" and the "I'm bored" whine and so I can quietly reassure him when hes nervous and ignore him or direct him to a chew when he is bored. Over time I figured out the difference in behavior between the "I really have to go now my bladder is full" whine vs the "I'm bored and want to run around and bark at the neighbor's because you people are boring" whine and he doesn't get to go out every time he makes noises at the back door. Now if he is ignored he whines for a minute them comes in the room with a dramatic sigh and flop down to chew or pester the Border Collie into playing.

 

Its much quieter than when he was a puppy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, and I should add that I have specifically reinforced communication that was not whining in nature. For some reason along the way he started to sit in front of me and make this cute funny silent (ish) bark thing, where he would cock his head, look at me, and open and close his mouth like he was barking but no noise came out except maybe a tiny soft growly sound. Its very cute and much less annoying that a whine, so I rewarded him for doing it and now he offers it as an attention getting noise instead of whining pretty regularly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well unfortunatly for us we had to rehome him. The park manager told us to either shut him up or git rid of him. By shutting him up, the manager ment use a shock collar on him. I said no to him and was told that I had 3 days to rehome him. To avoid being evicted we rehomed Finnigan today to a family looking for a new companion for thier family. They know about his whining, barking, and "singing" that he does threwout the day. I told them how I was working on his training and what commands he already knew. I spent over an hour there with him while he explored his new home and played with thier children. He was happy and I get to see him when I would like if I give them a call to let them know I am coming. I miss him, but the alternative was not an option to me. Today was his last day to have found a home, just glad he found his.

 

Thank you all for your suggestions, I passed them along as well.

post-13506-0-08197400-1371081569_thumb.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am sorry it didn't work out for you because of your location, but glad that at least he was rehomed to a family that wanted him even knowing they would have to work on training him out of the constant whining. Let us know how he is coming along later on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...