Whining

[Nanda & Nelson]

Nelson is almost 2 now and recently he got started to whine quite often. He has always been a talker, he makes noises when we play, when a ball is stuck under the couch or on top of cable (he hates cables). When he doesn't get what he wants, he lays down on his bed with a big sigh. He is a kid, really. Sometimes when he whines I respond, for example, when he really can not get to his ball or something like that but often when he whines for no reason I ignore it in the hope that he doesn't think it will always work.

 

He is a city dog who gets about 45 minutes in the morning (walking, retrieving, training) then we often go to the forest / dog beach in the afternoon for an hour where he plays, retrieves and swims. Then he gets a neighbourhood walk at night. He has lots of toys, treat puzzles etc. I also spend lots of time with him, not necessarily interacting with him, but he comes to work with me and so on. Though I still do lots of tricks with him etc.

 

He usually whines at night, for attention - I am pretty sure it's for attention cause he will even do it when we just have been outside.

 

My partner is out of town for the month and I wonder if it has anything to do with him being gone and that now he is pushing my boundaries or something like that.

 

Do you guys think he is bored? Do I need to interact with him even more? Or should I ignore it?

[waffles]

I would ignore it. Sounds like he has full, fun filled days and is maybe just asking for more. My boy occasionally does this at night too. If I ignore him for more than 3 or so minutes he will walk away and go lay down somewhere. I usually just laugh at how long he can stare at me and burn a hole in my skin. You could try walking out of the room and ignore him. If he has a certain time he might start then maybe give him a stuffed frozen kong before he gets a chance to start whining. Even after a full action packs day my dog could keep going and going if I indulged him.

[GentleLake]

Some dogs are just talkers, and the whining is part of their talking.

 

My Bodhi is a whiner. He whines when he wants something, when he's excited (like when we're in the car and we've made the turn that tells him where we're going!), when he's anticipating something, and sometimes for no reason I can discern.

 

There was a period of time a couple years ago when he was whining so much in the afternoon that I took him to the vet to see if something was wrong. It was a period when I'd been sick for several weeks and would often lie down in the afternoon and watch TV. I have very limited TV channels, and I won't watch soap operas or daytime talk shows (or the stupid courtroom shows), so the only other thing on was Bonanza. One day I finally figured it out when I realized that he was whining on the hour, every hour. It was the theme music to Bonanza that set him off! I've heard of dogs howling to the theme music from Law & Order (there are lots of YouTube vids of it!). Bodhi doesn't sing to Law & Order, but Bonanza apparently makes him cry!

[Cody & Duchess]

My Cody is a whiner....totally set off by excitement. He was the best behaved dog when we did agility, but when we would arrive I tied him while I helped set up equipment. As people/ dogs arrived he would squeal with excitement. It was to the point of embarrassment. He would stop if I told him to, then he would be quiet until he could hold it no more and let out a huge squeal. He always settled down, but I treat his whine/ squeal as part of his personality.

[Gideon's girl]

Micah has just started letting my husband know that he is late for taking the dogs for a walk. He(Hubby) always takes them after the news is over, so at 7:10 Micah starts. 10 minutes is plenty of time to get ready, for crying out loud!!!

[Tommy Coyote]

Tommy is a talker, too. She talks about everything.

[Nanda & Nelson]

I guess its nothing to worry about then . I should just ignore it so he won't always things mommy comes to the rescue when a ball is stuck haha