How do you stop whining?

[Lessica Jake]

My parents' dog is a great dog, except for one thing. He whines incessantly. I'm looking for ideas for them on how to stop it. Ignoring him doesn't work, taking him outside and playing fetch only works until he gets back inside, leaving him out by himself doesn't work, the remote training collar didn't work, telling him no doesn't work.
There's not any real specific reason that he should whine either, he just does, constantly.
Any ideas? We've run out.

[weimlover0816]

How old is the dog? Is he in any pain, perhaps? Or do you think he is just doing it for attention? If it is just for attention, I think that training him to do somehting else, like "Settle down" or "take a break" helps immensly. When he starts the whining, tell him "Take a break" and bring him over to his bed, a couch, a favorite rug he like to lay on, whatever, and put him in a sit-stay. Make him stay there for 2 or 3 mintues, then tell him "good boy" and take him out to play, give him a treat, whatever (loads of praise). The next time he starts whining, do the same thing, but make him stay longer, then praise etc. Do this every time he starts to whine. Pretty soon, when he whines you will be able to tell him "take a break" and he will go to his "spot" and wait until you are ready to play/give him what he wants. And, I think, not to long after that, he will realize he gets the attention when he is settling down, taking a break, and not when he whines for it.


Good Luck to you and to your parents

[pittiegurl]

Try teaching him how to whine on command & then tell him "QUIET!" in a stern voice...My dog-Osha-loves to bark in the house so I tell her "QUIET!" "GO PERCH!"-all in a stern voice....

Good Luck!

[Dax]

Originally Posted by pittiegurl

Try teaching him how to whine on command & then tell him "QUIET!" in a stern voice...My dog-Osha-loves to bark in the house so I tell her "QUIET!" "GO PERCH!"-all in a stern voice....

Good Luck!

This works great if you have a stress whiner- these are dogs that don't know they are doing this. They whine all the time and for nothing. Dax is a stress whiner when meeting dogs larger than herself. I taught her to "SING" and then when we hear other dogs whining - I say listen "puppy singing" now I can draw her attention to it when she does it "ARE YOU SIGNING" it has helped a lot.

[Lessica Jake]

He's like 7 I think. My mom got him from the Humane Society when he was like 2 months old or something, he was a stray.
He's done it his whole life, so I don't suspect it's a pain issue or something would have come up at some point.
He also has severe seperation issues, but only when he's left to be boarded while my parents are away. It got better after they switched vets they were taking him to, now he likes the vet & likes going there, but he still doesn't like to stay. It gets so bad that if they're gone more than a couple of days, he tries to chew through his leg.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll pass the info along to my mom.

[Dax]

For the anxiety - the vet should be advised so that can medicate him if necessary. Sounds like the poor guy may have had a rough start to his life. Is he the only dog? A playmate might help too.

[Lessica Jake]

The vet knows about it, and they watch him for it and take care of it the best they can, but they can't very well knock him out for 3 days really. We think he did have a rough time, he was found around 4th of July (Independence Day) and we think he was either fending for himself then, or someone tortured him with fireworks because he panicks when he hears them. Plus, he dropped from 19lbs to 13 right after we got him from a bad case of kennel cough that we didn't know was going around the shelter.
They had 3 dogs for Yoda's first 4-ish years of life, and none of them really liked each other. He's got cats that he likes (though he won't admit it) and they like him.

Here's a photo I took of him. Loves the trampoline.

[Dax]

He's sweet. It nice that he found your parents to give him a good life.

[Lessica Jake]

It's funny though, because when I think of Bailey, my mind considers her to be canine. But when I think of Yoda, or talk about him or whatever, for some reason I expect him to be human somehow, and I have to remind myself that he's just a dog. Maybe it's because I've known him so long, or he's so smart, or because he seems to have a fairly good grasp on the english language.... Weird though.

[Rip's Girl]

Ah, what breed(s) is he? He looks part Basenji, which might explain the whininess. All the Basenjis I have met, although they weren't BARKERS, made a whiny, yodeling noise almost constantly.