# Whining is getting out of hand



## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

Is this an anxiety issue or is it his normal way of communicating? If anxiety, do you have any clue what triggers it? You might want to teach the command "whine", so you can teach the off switch command "quiet". Sorry about your foot. These pups can do some serious damage without meaning to, says she who had to have a kneecap put back into place after an incident with Cody.


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## CarolinaCasey (Jun 1, 2007)

No words of wisdom here, but hoping you're feeling better soon. I LOL'd at your sentence about the limping. I thought you were talking about C at first, not you!!  Get some rest!


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

Is this a new behavior that just recently started? Is it possible that he could be in some sort of pain? It sounds like something could be bothering him, either pain or something else.


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

Finn's Fan said:


> These pups can do some serious damage without meaning to, says she who had to have a kneecap put back into place after an incident with Cody.


Ahh, that must have been extremely painful. I'll take a swollen foot anyday.


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

C will whine if he is anxious but also when he wants something. So we can go from a whine when I stop to speak to a person or if he sees another dog that he wants to meet.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

I'm sorry you hurt your foot! I stopped putting Tess in a tub, I needed 6 hands to keep her in place and wash her. I now give her a shower, she actually likes that!


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

inge said:


> I'm sorry you hurt your foot! I stopped putting Tess in a tub, I needed 6 hands to keep her in place and wash her. I now give her a shower, she actually likes that!


I hear that. She must be awfully cute in the shower. Does she run away from the water stream or try to catch it?

I wish I had a walk in shower but only a tub with shower higher up on the wall. Thankfully, I do have an attachment for the shower so that I can rinse him off properly. I won't try to bathe him on my own again that's for sure. Won't my guests be surprised when they come over for a visit and I ask them to hold my dog down while I bathe him. LOL

I read on another site that I should squirt water in C's mouth if he is whining for no reason. Have any of you tried this? Won't I get arrested if I did that while on our walks?


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

C's Mom said:


> I hear that. She must be awfully cute in the shower. Does she run away from the water stream or try to catch it?
> 
> I wish I had a walk in shower but only a tub with shower higher up on the wall. Thankfully, I do have an attachment for the shower so that I can rinse him off properly. I won't try to bathe him on my own again that's for sure. Won't my guests be surprised when they come over for a visit and I ask them to hold my dog down while I bathe him. LOL
> 
> I read on another site that I should squirt water in C's mouth if he is whining for no reason. Have any of you tried this? Won't I get arrested if I did that while on our walks?


I was at a seminar once where they suggested breath spray, because it wasn't going to hurt the dog, tasted bad (to a dog) and was small enough to hold in your hand and pocket. You had to do some counter training with treats so the dog wasn't hand/mouth shy too. Eventually the SHH sound as a command would cue the dog to stop barking. 

Not sure if that would work for whining though. You may have to just ignore him and teach him a 'quiet' command so he starts to learn what you do want. Start when he's not whining and show him a treat, ask him to be quiet and then give him the treat (like attention work but for quiet). Then when he is whining, pull out the treat and work on quiet and eventually he'll figure out the whining doesn't get him rewarded but the quiet does...

And wear steel toed army boots from now on for grooming! :

Lana


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Punishment can increase anxiety and frustration. And it's really tempting to use it for attention seeking barking/whinning... but if things backfire you can be in a lot more trouble.

If the behavior is continueing or increasing.... it is being reinforced. If you are serious about wanting it to stop, -every- time he whines, get up and leave the room. Don't look at him or talk to him. You just remembered to check the laundry! Go close yourself in a room for 10-15 seconds and then return. If the whinning starts... repeat.

Talking to him, even as a reprimand... you may be giving him the attention he wants. And if you are sometimes complying with his requests....the infrequent reinforcement could be making him try just a litttttttle harder to seek attention.

Pick a behavior you like (eye contact, sit, or down). Ask for it before anything C likes.. throwing toys, opening hte back door, putting down his food toys, etc.. He will soon figure out that he can do X behavior to get attention. Set this up so for the next few days you are literally getting 100 repetitions in per day. 

In summary:
1) Teach him a good way to get attention
2) Absolutely never ever ever reinforce him for the attention seeking behavior.


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## zephyr (Sep 29, 2009)

I don't know much about stopping the whining, but regarding the bath... Oscar is pretty good about going up/onto/into wherever I point, so frequently I'll say "go on the couch!" or "go in your crate!" during the day... for a treat, of course ... and one of these is also "go in the tub!" LOL! Even if it's not bathtime!  This makes it a lot easier when it actually IS bath time, so I don't have to pick him up and stick him in the tub. This really only works well now that his legs are long enough to actually climb over the side, however! 

And regarding staying IN the bath... I also have a removable shower head, and like 99.9% of the time, Oscar stays SO still so I can wash him all by myself. However, drying off with the hairdryer is a whoooole 'nother story... unless I actually blow dry him while he is still IN the tub (which is not so easy LOL), he is hopping all around the bathroom, just a crazy little man running around! So if Paul is not around to ask him for some tricks and distract him while I blow dry him, I have tried putting peanut butter on the side of the tub and blow drying him while he licks it off, based on some similar advice I got on GRF. It actually works!! His face does get kind of peanut buttery BUT he is not hopping around the bathroom like a lunatic.  I probably give Oscar a bath about every week... one of his nicknames is Mr Mud Man, obviously!... and this system works out pretty well.

So... if you don't mind a peanut butter face dog... you could try putting peanut butter on the side of the tub?


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

Ok, I'm going to redouble my efforts to get him to stop whining. C isn't very motivated by treats and isn't all that great a looking at me especially if we are outside but will listen to the sit command so thats what I'm going to go with and the ignoring bit.

I am learning a lot with this beautiful boy. My previous dogs were not timid/scared in the least. If anything, my big dog was too assertive so this submissive/timid/scared stuff is all new to me. I hope I do right by him.


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## Susan6953 (Jun 9, 2008)

You are a great mum and Cocasse is lucky to have you.

Jamie does that whiny thing too; I appreciate all the good suggestions.


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