Dog Community

Whining Dog-PROBLEM SOLVED!

Posted : 10/13/2006 11:51:11 AM

My dog LOVES attention and deveoped the habit of moving from person to person in the room looking for pets all evening long. When we have had enough and stop petting, he then lies at our feet and whines. I have tried ignorning him as I understand the +R technique, but he won't give up and although I am willing to wait him out, the rest of the family gets most irritated! My DH will eventually scold him and send him off to another room, only to have the whining continue from afar.
So I'd been pondering how I could change this behaviour. So a few nights ago, Kobi was sitting at my feet whining away, looking up at me with those pleading eyes. I got up and got his brush and instead of petting, he got brushed! He sat there for about 3 minutes, got up, walked to the kitchen and laid down. Now I keep the brush handy and when he starts to whine for attention I simply grab the brush, he takes a few strokes and that's it. WHINING=BRUSHING. Problem solved!
Unfortunately, Kobi has not read all the books on +R, so he doesn't always respond to the techniques the way he is suppose to! LOL! That's when I have to get creative.

spiritdogs

Posted : 10/13/2006 12:59:32 PM

Uh, OK, so why do you want your dog to hate being brushed?
LOL, it just brings up the point that I paint cream cheese on my fridge so that my puppies lap it off while they learn that brushing equals cool stuff. I guess being a groomer, too, had an impact on my not wanting to have dogs that don't like to be brushed. But, as long as your dog doesn't substitute another unwanted behavior for the whining (like biting the brush), who am I to argue? At least it shows that you recognize that if other family members give the dog reinforcement for whining (he's whining, so let's yell at him and give him the attention he seeks) you probably won't be able to cure it by ignoring him. Very creative.

denise_m

Posted : 10/13/2006 2:06:40 PM

My dog does like being brushed, not for long periods however. When he really needs a major brush (being an Aussie owner, you can relate) I give him a nice rec bone to chew on while I groom away. Without a reward I can count on about 5min at which time he gives a big stretch and moves on.

mudpuppy

Posted : 10/13/2006 2:23:05 PM

have you considered that your dog might need more exercise in his life? one of the ways to test for a satisified dog is if you sit down for some quiet time, does the dog happily go to sleep? dogs who go around begging for more might indeed be in need of more stimulation. Or they might just be "milking the system" as you were assuming.

Deb

Posted : 10/13/2006 3:02:01 PM

As the owner of a vizsla I feel confident when I say that whining does not always have a connection to exercise. My pup sounded like he swallowed an accordion the very instant even the slightest bit of frustrating stimulus occured for awhile.

We handled it by leaving the room whenever he whined. As a good velcro dog should, he figured out quickly that he was never going to be able to be stuck to us and whine at the same time.

Whining ceased, for the most part, unless there's a particularly difficult kong or food ball problem that needs solving...

denise_m

Posted : 10/13/2006 3:06:44 PM

mudpuppy you make a good point. There are days that due to weather or other commitments my dog gets short changed on exercise and/or attention and he whines then too. 20 minutes of catch makes all the difference. The whining is different on those days however. It is usually accompanied by what I call antsy pants. Changing positions. Walking and whining. Things like that. If he is simply looking for me to sit and pet him, he is still, head on floor, whining with almost a moan.
This sort of whining I believe is his way of communicating his desire. Like a short bark at the back door communicates he wants to go outside. Now Kobi is very clever and a great problem solver. So, although at the moment he has learned that whining is not communicating to me that he wants to be petted, but rather he wants to be brushed, I will not be surprised if he comes up with some other way of asking for his pets.