| Re: Correcting whining
Seems like doing that would lead to a challenge making sure that I'm not rewarding the whining behavior.
I agree that distracting him (and keeping him distracted) is the most likely way to keep him from refocusing and whining again but is there any way to address the actual anxiety that causes it? I don't want to have to limit his exposure to neighbor dogs, plus me distracting him with a treat doesn't help if I'm not right there when he does it (ie, he'd still end up getting whiney if I'm in the bathroom or, ultimately, when he graduates to not being crated when I'm gone).
What's funny (and frustrating) is that I mentioned how he's not the one that barks when he sees dogs from the porch, and then as soon as I posted this last night I took them both out to the back deck and it was him who initiated the barking at this loud howling little beagle that walked by. It was 10:30pm so I'm sure the neighbors loved that little chorus. (I was there to calm my dogs but that beagle howled up a storm for a good five minutes.) So I guess I'll ammend that to that he will occasionally bark. Mostly he just gets antsy and whines while Cooper barks his head off though.  |