Tricks and Tips to Stop Dog Whining
Do you have a dog that whines all the time and is beginning to drive you and other family members nuts? Whining is a common problem for many dogs, especially smaller breeds. When you want to be sure to stop dog whining problems, you have to know and understand the reasons that cause them.
Here are some reasons your dog might whine:
· Pain, injury or illness
· Feeling lonely, misses you
· Whines for attention, is bored
No matter how old or young your dog is, they can whine. This is just another form of communication for your dog, like barking. While you won’t be able to completely stop dog whining, you should be able to stop it at inappropriate times.
Your dog may still whine if he is hurt or injured, sick and not feeling well, very sleepy or awoke before sleep was over, scared or frightened, nervous or other natural occasions for dog whining. Once you learn about why your dog is whining, you’ll be able to take the steps needed to help fix this problem.
Understanding why dogs whine will help you put yourself in the place of your dog and know why he is whining. It’s possible he really misses you when you’re gone to school or work during the day. Your dog may feel anxious or afraid when separated from you.
This is something that you can work on. Your dog needs to understand that you’re not abandoning him while you’re away and that you will be back soon. If your dog has a lot of trouble with this, you will need to shorten the time your dog is left alone and then slowly increase it a bit at a time until your dog realizes that you will always return.
If you have to work and are not able to check in on your dog, you can have a close friend or family member or a dog sitter check in for you. You might start every hour and then bump it up to two hours alone and then to three.
When your dog does a good job of staying alone, give him lots of praise and tell him what a good job he did. You should try to make leaving your dog as simple and without drama as possible. Leaving will become a big deal for your dog if you make it into a big deal.
Some other times when your dog might whine is when he wants attention. It’s very important to spend some quality time together with your dog each day. You can help reduce whining by playing with your dog and showing regular affection.
If you do these things every day and your dog still whines for attention, you will need to teach him to stop. Be firm about this even if the whining and crying makes you want to go to your dog and give him a lot of attention. You need to be stern until your dog understands that whining is not the way to get what he wants every time.
If you want to stop dog whining once and for all and the methods you’ve tried at home aren’t working, you can try to get help with dog discipline techniques. There are programs you can do at home through books, videos, training tapes, DVDs and more that will help you learn to train your dog in the comfort and privacy of your own home.
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