A.M. whining

[Akita&Dal]

I've just adopted a(nother) akita -- a cute-as-a-button rescue girl that I was fostering & just can't let go to another home....

She has one annoying (!!) habit. In the morning, from about 5:30 on, she starts whining & yipping. The dogs get fed as soon as I go downstairs, so she's twigged on to the fact that when I get going, she gets FOOD!

I generally ignore her whining until I'm ready to get up, and make an effort to time my descent of the stairs during one of the brief times she is not whining; this has not helped. Now she whines when I go back up stairs to get ready for the day!

Suggestions on how to stop this? The floor plan of the house is pretty open, & I've thought about getting a water pistol to zap her with water when she's whining....

You can check Nikka out at my rescue group's website:
www.akitarescuewny.com. (If you sit thru the slide show at the beginning, you'll see me w/ my dal & my first beloved Akita Cagney). Go to the main page, click on 'ARWNY akitas available' and scroll down to the bottom. She's the black & white pinto -- charming, smart & endearing, except for the whining habit!

[ice]

I can relate to the wqhining. We have a year old rottie, and sometimes he will whine. We usually get up, cause it means I have to go potty real bad , lol. Anyway just my 2 cents...good luck:o

[Carina43]

I've found that if I give the dogs a quick romp and a trip outside for a last minute potty break right before you go to bed, they'll sleep in.
I'm usually up at 5:30 am, and the dogs are as reliable as alarm clocks...by 5:32 they start circling the bed like big hairy sharks if I don't get up. Last night we were at a party, so they got let out at about midnight...and this morning they slept in until 7:30.

If I'm not ready to get up, I find just growling "settle!" at them and diving back under the covers works. :)

[Akita&Dal]

Nikka is great when we're downstairs with her; I think if she slept w/ us it would be a different story. But the upstairs is the cats' kingdom, & the lower two levels are the dogs'.

I'm going to try the squirt gun -- something has got to give! And it should be her behavior.

[Janel]

Sorry, I don't know if this will help - Cosmo does that some mornings when I am sleeping later than usual (so annoying)- A good stern - go to bed - makes him stop. I think it is my tone of voice- I can be quite cranky in the morning. My trainer says whining is a low level form of barking and it is difficult to stop - He says to try not to pay too much attention to it, because that may actually make it worse. Janel

[mmgy]

My older dogs sleep upstairs with us.....when they start stirring it means I have to go now, so we get up. Otherwise the beagles will go into the bathroom, and go on the bathmat, amazing habit! (Not all bad!) But the brittanys are crated together in the den downstairs, and at daybreak Chalice starts to sing.....waaaah, waaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. It travels through the heat vent, and wakes the older dogs. It's not so bad in the winter, when daybreak is close to getting-up time anyway, but in the summer we have to close the curtains in the den. Generally, if it's dark, they'll sleep for 8 hours, but then time's up!

M2

[TekaRott]

I know what you mean, my Teka will wake up around 7:30 and whine in my ear if I am still sleeping. After a few minutes of whining she gets fed up and and jumps her front paws on my chest, such a gentle lady . I have no choice at this point but to get up, but I don't mind, now we can go for a walk.

[girlunderainbow]

Mine are sometimes like this in the morning, but to go potty. But not nearly this early. I take mine out as late as possible, and let them play too, this helps. Sometimes I walk mine late at night, too. Maybe try switching feeding time around sometimes and not always feed at the same time? This can keep them from every anticipating and demanding food

[Akita&Dal]

I like to feed the dogs at a fairly consistent time; somewhere I heard that inconsistent feeding times can lead to bloat. Don't know if that's fact or fiction, but since my first beloved Akita died of bloat, I don't want to take *any* chances.

I've not resorted to the squirt gun yet. Perhaps because it's been overcast the past couple of mornings, Nikka's been pretty quiet. (Touch wood!)