Question about dog whining and barking.

 oi... this is not a one size fits all kinda situation... in my past experience some pups bark more than others.. Sparta was low-key. put him in a pen, give him some yummies, and he was good to go. Tori..... leave the room for half a second and she goes ballistic until you come back. and SHE has that kind of puppy bark that makes your ear drum twitch even if she's in the other room. i'm home all day with my kids so i have to find a way to keep her from thinking i'm ALWAYS going to be home.... i dont need a dog that will destroy the house just because i went shopping .. or heaven forbid ever got a job outside the home!

anyway basically there are things you can do to help ease the puppy into the idea that they have to be alone sometimes.. and the same method may not work twice. i recommend crate training. i recommend getting the puppy on a weekend and spending as much time with it as you can, and the crate training method that worked for me and my last four puppies(spaced out over ten + years) was putting the puppy in the crate, closing the door, and then opening it right away, letting him out, praising, rewarding.. then putting him back in and gradually increasing the time he stays in. apparently this teaches him you're not abandoning him. that you WILL come back to open the door.and well, it WORKED for and those dogs. Tori however isnt convinced lol i am very glad that i dont have to worry about a landlord or neighbours though.... 

ETA - i didnt see how old the puppy is, but potty training is obviously going to be important. you dont want to let the pup think its ok to "go" in the crate.... depending on the age he might have to be let out very often... or you're going to find a soggy smelly puppy when you come home..... i'm no expert though. i know i probably made mistakes in my dogs training, nothing catastrophic in regards to crates.. but i did learn trial and error on a lot of things...

 We are thinking about the crate thing.  We never did that with max he was actually just really good. My mom came home on and off throughout the day to let him out and he had very few accidents. He never whined and only barked when someone came to the door... We got lucky.  He was a very agressive dog but not very vocal at all unless provoked. 

This puppy is only 9 weeks old.  We know its going to take A LOT of time for potty training but right now the biggest issue is the whining.  I know plenty of dogs that never whine.  We want to try the crate thing though so I will tell mom but my biggest worry was having him whine because he hates the crate because in that case it may be better just get a little gate and put him in one room or something.  We are getting him saturday morning and I am going to be home all day and night saturday and sunday and mom will be in and out.  I planned that accordingly.  

I am super mad about the landlord thing.  It wasn't an issue before when he knew we had max.. I think he is just afraid a puppy is going to be a huge whiner when we leave... so I'm crossing my fingers.  the neighbor works all day so its not a HUGE thing during the day so I have no idea what to expect.. it's just obvious that you can't "know" what the dog is going to be like.... They say they are bred with excellent tempermant so I hope that means well behaved haha.  When we met his mom she ran right up the stairs and licked us she was so nice and didn't bark once so maybe he will be like that haha. :)

thanks for the advice! lets cross our fingers.  Once he is older it wont be as big of a problem.

 It depends where you get him from.  If the breeder is a decent one, they will probably have acclimated the pup to the various things he is likely to encounter in his new home as part of his early socialisation.  This would include things like household appliances and spending short periods of time alone.  So, speak to the pups breeder.  Give them some bedding to put in with the pups and their dam.  When you fetch the pup, bring the bedding home and put it in the pups bed or crate. 

IME the best way to avoid whining/barking at night is to crate the pup near your bed, at eye level.  Your presence, the sleepy feel of the room, the reassurance of their "blankie"... is usually enough to help them settle quietly for the night.

If you confine the dog (xpen or crate) at any time (which keeps hims safe and stops him wrecking your house or peeing all over the place) always aim to let the dog out BEFORE he gets restless and noisy.  If he starts whining or barking, you have a lose lose situation: you can wait for him to be quiet (during this time he is building a negative association with his crate and annoying the heck out of your neighbours) or you can let him out (which rewards him for making a noise and ensures he'll do it again next time he is confined or left alone).

Aim to not leave the pup alone at first, that way you can build up the time he is left gradually.  You can start with having him seperated from you where he can still see you, but ignored.  This way he learns that he can't have constant access to you or attention from you even when you are home - this makes it less of a wrench when he is left behind.  Then you can actually "practise" leaving the house and coming back in 5 or 10 minutes.  Build up the time gradually.  Leave him with a chew or interactive toy or a couple of yummy chewy treats before you go.... this teaches him two things: being alone is no big deal and can even be quite enjoyable, and also you will always come back

Chewing is a great stress reliever for dogs, so any time he is left, make sure he has some stuff which is appealing and safe to chew on.  A stuffed kong is good, if it's slightly frozen it's even harder for the pup to empty and will feel good to his gums when he is teething.

Leaving a radio on quietly any time he is left alone will help.... classical music or a talk station are best

Always make sure he has been exercised or played with sometime before being left.  A tired dog is a good dog.  You want him to learn to switch off and REST when you go out.  Clicker training is mentally tiring for dogs and can be used on dogs of all ages, including pups that are too young to be taken for long, tiring walks. 

Make sure you always ignore him completely for the 10mins or so before you leave the house, and again when you get back for 10 mins or until he is fully calm.  This teaches him your comings and goings are no big deal.  He is not left in a highly emotional state, and he is not anxiously/excitedly anticipating your return.  It also rewards him for being calm, which is always useful.

 Thank you for all the amazing ideas. I'll let my mom read them.  Also, at night we aren't going to have him in the crate he is probably goin to sleep with my mom its' just when we're gone so we're not too worried about the overnight thing. Just when we are gone!

Patty is over 5 years old and *every once in a while* she still whines/barks/cries/has a fit in her crate when we leave (even with the TV/radio on, or a blanket over her crate, etc), or even when she's crated and we're sitting right next to her.

I just wanted to wish you the best of luck, that you get a quite puppy.

 those were great details by Chuffy and basically how i trained my others. chewy toys, interactive, all good. Amber, when she was little, got to a point where she liked her crate more than being out of it. she would stash all her goodies in there and guard them. i had to actually lock her out of it because was being such a punk. when the other dogs walked past it she would race over to the crate and growl at the others... and sure enough she had hid the treat i had given to all the dogs earlier...

It will depend on the temperament of the dog.  There are things you can do to redirect the vocalizations - keep the dog dead tired so he's sleeping, keep something in his mouth for chewing, etc. - but if you have a vocal dog, you have a vocal dog.  I have one vocal dogs and two "quiet" dogs (only bark a few times when there's someone at the door, shut up on command, do not know speak on command).  Nikon was a vocal dog from the day I got him and is still that way.  It's just a part of his temperament.  I guess I could change it but not at the expense of something else.  I let him bark outdoors, "speak" on command was his first trick he learned at 8 weeks, I am always working on the whining by not letting him outside or out of his crate until he is lying down and quiet.  He also does anxious teeth chattering and stuff like that.  The combination of being a vocal dog + having a more edge, anxious temperament and needing a LOT of physical exercise makes him more likely to vocalize *everything*.

I've forgotten, which breed of dog did you end up going with?  Was it a Lab?

 When Tootsie was a 10 wk. old pup, she was baby gated in the kitchen, when I couldn't supervise. She would bark or whine for a minute, then go explore the kitchen, where she had plenty of chew toys or I put the older dog in with her, so it never was a problem.

My pups have ALWAYS been whiny. Maybe it's just the ones I get.... if there are non-whiny puppies out there, I'd like to trade!

Crate training will be your BEST friend, if you're getting a lab. they are the BIGGEST chewers EVER.

bunni

Wait, I do have Panama who does the "silent scream". That's a very quiet but very high pitched sound that you don't realize you're hearing until it drives you mad.