My Puppy Won't Stop Whining!

[luckydog]

I have two 6 month old english toy pups and the male (Bandit) won't stop whining when we put him in his crate. He has not stopped doing this for 5 months and my whole family is almost to the point of finding a new home for him if we don't fix this. We have tried putting toys in his crate with him at night, but he still whines the for the WHOLE night. We've tried telling him "no" everytime he whines, but he just won't stop. Is there anything that we can do to stop this problem?

[ChiChi]

Brody did that too... but he jsut stopped, have you tried covering the crate??maybe putting the tv on at night will help, or the radio, that wrked for brody! but i am not sure if it will have the same effect

[luckydog]

Oh yes, we have tried putting a beach towel over the crate, but this determined little pup just keeps on whining. We haven't tried a radio on or anything, I'll give that a shot, but I'm not sure if it will work for little Bandit. Thanks for your post though, and I will try a radio on for him.

[IceyBlueSibes]

Are you letting him out at night when he whines? Do you say anything to him while he's in the crate whining... such as "Quiet" "No" etc? If you answered yes to either one, or both, you're just making the problem worse.

Giving him any type of attention while in the crate whining is reward to him. And especially if you let him out of his crate, he's training you. He's learning that if he whines enough, you'll let him out. You have to ignore him completely. Don't make any type of communication to him, and don't let him out. Also, try not to feel apprehensive about putting him in there. He can sense this and he'll feel that his crate is a bad place.

You can try putting a ticking clock in his crate too. The ticking much resembles a heart beat and will sometimes calm a pup down.

I remember reading this from Carrie, is that if your pup POSSIBLY has to go outside to go potty, make a strange noise so the pup gets quiet, once he is, tell him "good boy!" and take him out, ONLY while he's quiet. Take him straight outside and let him do his business. Then back into the crate.

Where are the crates placed in the house? You could possibly try putting the crates in someone's room where they can see you. Some dogs just like to be closer to their family.

One suggestion I do have if all else fails, is to maybe section off a space in the kitchen, or the bathroom, for him to sleep in. If he doesn't like being confined, allow him some open space, but not enough where he can roam and get into things. If he still isn't too good on his potty training, and you can't trust him with that much space, you could try leaving a spot with newspapers or pee pads incase you don't get to him soon enough.

That's just my .02 Someone else may have something else to suggest! Good luck!

[luckydog]

Well, we kept him in my brother's room for some time, but the whining didn't stop and my brother wasn't able to get any sleep so we moved them down the hall to the laundry room. They only stay in there at night and when we aren't home or can't watch them though.

Giving him any type of attention while in the crate whining is reward to him. And especially if you let him out of his crate, he's training you. He's learning that if he whines enough, you'll let him out. You have to ignore him completely. Don't make any type of communication to him, and don't let him out.

My father is ESPECIALLY bad about this. Almost everytime Bandit starts whining he lets them out. I will have to talk to him about this. Maybe this is the source of all our problems.

As for leaving them a little space to run around, they would go to the bathroom all over the place. They are not the brightest little things in the world and house training is going to be a hard thing for them to master.

Thank you for your post and I will talk to my family about what you said and maybe our puppy whining problem will get better with time. Thank you!

[D.Schäferhund]

Hi
If you work on the ignoring him, don't you think it would help to give him something to do in his crate????
Toys aren't usually the most interesting thing in the crate, but how about a good chewtoy, like a kong or something. that might help him stay busy for a while.
And i would put him in the crate during the daytime too, not long but for shorter times with a nice treat or a chewtoy, so it is generally a nice place to be, if you can get him in there without closing the door and have him stay there a little that would be great, or if he chooses to be in there on it's own, than it should be really nice.
Try to make him think a crate is a nice place to be.
and i hope the ignoringpart works out too... without interference from others, sometimes it is harder to train the family then the dog..... good luck...
LG Kat

[IceyBlueSibes]

Good post D.!

Originally Posted by luckydog

My father is ESPECIALLY bad about this. Almost everytime Bandit starts whining he lets them out. I will have to talk to him about this. Maybe this is the source of all our problems.

I can almost GUARANTEE YOU, that this is the main source of your problem. The more you do this, the harder it will be to break him of it. You have to really make your dad understand that he's creating his own little monster, and that the puppy has him well trained LOL

[MazieDog]

This is some very good advice. I have a 6 week old puppy who is 3/4 black lab and 1/4 Shar Pei... I'm starting to crate train her and all she does is whine, so I tried ignoring her for about 10 minutes and she finally calmed down. She seems to sleep all day and whine all night too, so I hardly get any sleep. Is there any way that this can be resolved? I try to play with her when I can and let her rest when she needs to, but she seems to always wake me up at 5:30am to play with her... I put her outside to see if she has to potty, and sometimes she does, which is a good thing Mazie is sleeping at my feet now... I wonder if it's safe to go lie down for awhile.... Thanks for any advice you can give.

[rmci]

You can try putting a ticking clock in his crate too. The ticking much resembles a heart beat and will sometimes calm a pup down.

My cat when he was a wee kitten had to be near me constantly and wouldn't sleep in his pen. We put a windup watch under my cat's blanket and he fell asleep.

Now he's 9yrs old and sleeps with me.

[Tallis]

I feel your pain! My lab is 8 weeks and I am up at 5:30am due to the whining/howling... After 1 week it's driving me crazy. I think one problem is that the puppy is still so young - 6 weeks. Maybe try playing with him lots and lots before bedtime...

good luck!

[BackyardZoo]

Instant solution when I brought Charlie home for the first time he whined so the next day we stayed up all night and told he shhh when he whines and he hasn't whines all night anymore now he only barks or whiens when he wants to go out to bathroom or is in pain from stitches.

What the dog was thinking......

Man if I stop whining maybe this idiot will stop rambling. It worked it worked now I can go to bed without interruption. LOL

[Barrett]

First, buy some ear plugs for the whole family. Next set an alarm clock for 4 hours from the time you go to bed. Then insert the ear plugs, go to sleep and have wonderful quiet dreams. When the alarm clock goes off get up and take your pup out to potty and put him right back in the crate when he is done. Re-insert the ear plugs and go back to bed. In the morning take him right outside to potty again and play with him to your hearts content. In two weeks set the alarm clock for 5 hours, then 6 hours and so on until he can sleep through the night. Don't let him out every time he cries, this will only prolong his stress and yours.

Try putting a radio on for him and if he isn't a bad chewer you can put a stuffed animal in there for him to sleep with. You can also buy a puppy heating disk that goes in the microwave to heat up. You should wrap it up or place it under his blankets so he can't chew it up, it doesn't have cords so it is safer but you still don't want him to chew it open either. You can buy them at PetsMart or Petco.

Kong toys stuffed with canned food or peanutbutter and yogurt can be put in the freezer. They will keep him busy for a while. Every puppy owner has to go through this. Ignoring him will make the process go much quicker and will put less stress on him in the long run. As a last resort you could try putting the other pup in the crate with him to snuggle up with.

[shandoggy1]

Originally Posted by luckydog

Well, we kept him in my brother's room for some time, but the whining didn't stop and my brother wasn't able to get any sleep so we moved them down the hall to the laundry room. They only stay in there at night and when we aren't home or can't watch them though.

My father is ESPECIALLY bad about this. Almost everytime Bandit starts whining he lets them out. I will have to talk to him about this. Maybe this is the source of all our problems.

As for leaving them a little space to run around, they would go to the bathroom all over the place. They are not the brightest little things in the world and house training is going to be a hard thing for them to master.

Thank you for your post and I will talk to my family about what you said and maybe our puppy whining problem will get better with time. Thank you!

I read in my Australian Cattle Dog book that you are never suppose to make an overly big deal when you put him in his crate and when you let him out. Meaning for example: It said to never hug,kiss, or make a big deal when you leave the room or house when the dog is in his crate no "emotional
goodbyes" or "hello's" it is less stress on the dog. I have a 12 week old pup and I had him crate trained in one night. I put his crate next to my bed and when he cried or whinned I knocked on the crate and gave him a firm "no" I'll tell ya I had to do it over a dozen times but he finally got the message. I would also put him in the crate for a little at a time while I was home and go about my daily routine. When I let my pup out of the crate I never say anything to him until he is out and away from the crate. Once he is out he will get all the hugs and kisses I can give him for being a good boy and of course get spoken to like a little baby!!

[Carrie]

When I read the title of this thread, "My puppy won't stop whining," I said to myself, right out loud, (LOL) "Yes he will if you stop giving him a payoff." (smart alec, I know) The only reason any behavior is repeated over and over and over again is because there is some kind of payoff for it. When you wait for a long time and then finally give him what he wants, attention, getting out....he learns that all he has to do is whine and whine and whine and never stop and he'll get his payoff.

You and everyone in the family must ignore him absolutely....not one word of any type, not a look, don't go near the crate, don't open the door...do absolutely nothing... and stick with that program consistantly and I guarantee you, the whining will stop. Make sure he's gone to the bathroom, had his food, has water, is comfortable, has a Kong and then leave him alone explicitly. It will take a while because he's learned that if he keeps it up, he'll get his way. So you'll have to do this for probably at least 2 weeks. Do like Barrett said and get earplugs for now.

[MazieDog]

I've pretty much given up on trying to crate train Mazie...she's getting to big for it anyway and she pretty much sleeps soundly throughout the night with a couple minutes of whining when I put her to bed... She'll be 11 weeks on Thursday.. My, how the times flies.. She's getting big too...weighs about 20 - 25 pounds already.. Gets her second set of shots on Saturday.

-J