"Crying" rotti

[LeonPascoe]

G'day folks, I'm new to this forum. I have a 4 year old female rotti that makes a horrible whimpering kind of noise when she cannot get to me for one reason or another. I'm pretty sure it's just to get my attention, and I try to ignore it but I'm not very successful. It's such an annoying noise, I just tell her to shutup - of course it doesn't work!!

Anyone else have a rotti who does this, It seems like a very mild sign of seperation anxiety, even though I can be in the house, often on the other side of the baby gate.

She's been obedience trained and is not destructive or anything like that, it's just such a sooky kind of noise I hate it!!

cheers guys

[harleychik66]

Has she always done this, or is it something new?
How much obedience training has she had?

I would imagine that as you said she is trying to get your attention, and she is succeeding. By acknowledging her, even to say shut up you give her the attention she wants. As long as she is safe where she is, ignore her. Do not give positive reinforcement to an undesirable behavior.

I would also sign up for a refresher course in obedience. It sounds as if in some areas your girl and you might need to work on and reinforce some rules and correct some improper behaviors.

[SABELLESMOM]

It's hard, but no response would not get her what she wants, your attention. Telling her to shut up, tho a negative response is still reinforcement. It is attention.

It's easier and quicker to reward moments of silence. With Rave, I was on my way to my (clicker) agility class. Rae has never responded negatively to motorcycles before, but this guy had a mirrored face visor on his helmet. With him behind us, she barked incessantly. Nothing I did had any effect. Never, and I mean NEVER had she barked in the car.

Frustrated, I arrived at class with her, now silent, barking still ringing in my head. Abbie asked what the trouble was and I explained. She told me to reward the behavior I wanted, starting with any second, thereof. I was to click the silence the moment it evidenced itself, and give a treat.

Whether it was on the way home that night or the following week, I no longer recall. But I had occasion to have the same motorcyclist with the mirrored helmet behind me again. The reflection of light again resulted in her incessant barking.

I clicked and rewarded the silences. The silences lengthened each time. I kept clicking the silences, until eventually I was clicking the same period of silence, every 60 seconds or so. Within the 10 minutes he rode behind us, I had achieved total silence from my dog. She has never barked at a reflecting helmet again.

Granted, this is a dog used to clicker training. Obviously I cannot promise such quick results. In principle, the clicker marks the desired behavior.

Simplified, the dog hears it and says, "Hmmm. Chicken dices are good! How do I get another?" The dog gradually associates the "lucky sound" with the behvior he/she was doing at the time of the click.

I know Rae, in agility, never, never forgets anything she has learned correctly. An example: coming down the A-frame. There is a yellow painted area the dog must touch before exiting the equipment. They are not allowed to "fly off" too soon. If I use a plastic training arch, placed near the base of the A-frame...then click the second her shoulders dip to get under the arch... she will learn to exit correctly. The arch is later removed as it is not used in competition.

Click your dog for silences, and treat as quickly as you get to her. Keep it up. Pick a time when you have to be in her vacinity anyway. (Like if your crate is in the kitchen and you're wiping countertops and your appliances...something like that)

[tla0126]

My pup used to give me pity whines too when he was younger.

When I lived with my sister, his crate was in my room so he was used to sleeping by me, but when I moved out by myself, I had his kennel in the living room. I would have him sleep out there, and the first few nights were torture. He was 1 year old and whined and whined. BUT, like the previous posts have said, IGNORE!!!! It really did work. It helps you resolve the problem rather than just placating your sweet girl. Good luck!!!

[ArmaniMink]

Good Evening all,

My now 5 month old pup does this sometimes too. She usually does it while I am sitting right next to her, or more-so after we have played and I am tired out and she still wants to continue. She will sit right in front of me and whimper and whistle but I usually ignor her completly but what happens then is she will then lie down at or on my feet and still do it until she realizes it doesn't work and then she just takes a big deep breathe and streches out and the whinning stops. It's so funny thought when she does it.

[Nishasmom]

I HATE WHINING!!! Nisha sometimes starts doing it when she sees other animals outside the window. I don't mind her watching, but once she whines she gets a warning. After that, she is no longer allowed to look out the window; she is told to go lay on her bed (for like 2 minutes).

I think she gets it because after her "privileges" of window watching are taken away, she doesn't whine anymore. Even when she returns to the window she stays quiet.

[sweetlee]

Dodge is two now and he whines whenever he hears the other half's car pull up and knows he is coming into the house. He also whines whenever he sees the dog next door outside.
It probably isn't funny, but I find it endearing.
I actually should make him stop doing it, and maybe will take some of the good advice given in this thread.

Sharon

[Xena's Daddy]

My girl used to do that too, but only when she was a couple of months old, and only if she knew where I was but couldn't get to me. Like if I was sitting in my living room.....she would look at me from the gated kitchen & walk on her hind legs back & forth along the gate, whimpering the whole time. She wouldn't do it if I wasn't home - I frequently asked my tenants if they ever heard her. They said 'only when you pull up out front & she knows you're home'.

What I did to stop it was reward her silence, both with food AND freedom (Allowing her to come in the room with me, since that's what she REALLY wants......but ONLY after substantial periods of silence! Which is what I REALLY want! LOL...) 5-10 minutes usually did the trick. She quickly learned the 'secret' to her freedom. Eventually, she learned all the other 'secrets' I had and was granted total freedom in the house at all times & has been the best, most well-behaved dog I could've ever hoped for!

Keep in mind, Rottweilers are extremely 'pack' oriented & cannot fathom the thought of being away from those they love!

Good luck.........

[Ayoka]

My guy too will try to whine for attention OR to go pee...I only allow whining at the bells to go pee.

If for some reason we do ahve to confine him to kennell inside he will whine too but I learned a long time ago that giving in only made matters worse. bear whined something terrible in his crate when we got him. for him too even yelling QUIET was attention. My tactic was to make sure he had been to pee, give him something fun to chew and then let him be sometimes it mean't walking away or shutting a door - he was safe, and not completely losing it (as in sep. anxiety).

Assuming your girl doesn't have to go do her buisness and is safe I'd put here wherever with a fin toy and ignore her, only letting her out when she's quiet.

Incidentally, I also use this tactic with my very vocal cats and they are catching on (although I'm sure they're plotting to kill me!).

[Luvtails]

I have 2 dogs from the same litter. got them at different times. 1 year apart. thought it was some really strange coincidence that they both Scream! it is a high pitched almost screaming sound. more than just a whine. Is this what you are talking about? If they are in their kennels and I pull into the driveway they both start screaming. they are doing it for attention so I think. seems to be worse around feeding time. then I found out that my breeder's wife used to howl at them and make similar noises when they were still at their house. So... I laughed and told her I guess I had her to thank:) It is a truly horrible noise!
I used to yell at them to shut up and it NEVER worked. now I just ignore them. they keep it up till they get fed. I have just gotten used to it. can't say as much for the neighbor. At least he is hard of hearing!

[nancyhq]

I have a puppy who used to whine in the middle of the night to get my attention. I couldn't stand it! I was tempted to say "stop it" but after reading about this problem on this forum I opted to ignore him. After a week of not responding to this type of behavior it stopped. Of course it got horrible before it got better. We have his crate by our bed and at one point we moved into another room and left him until he stopped whining and howling. It was hard not to laugh at the little guy! It was really bad. Now he's great and we all sleep happily in the same room. Good luck.