# "whines and fusses constantly"



## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

_posted by *Vicki Dickey* (moved to here):_



I havent signed on here in a couple of months being busy showing, raising a new pup and all the other stuff life throws your way but I am so glad to have found this post. 

I have a new pup-a female-and she is now 4 months old. She is housebroken, walks on a lead well, and I taught her the basics of sit and down. Any training I have done with her is done thru play and no corrections because she is a puppy after all. 

Here is my problem: I take her to places just to walk and socialize and have since she received her second vaccination. She whines and fusses constantly. Lately she is a bit better but it is far from gone. I first thought she might be in a fear stage, then I thought she is just verbal but now at this point I plain dont know. I have tried to tap her muzzle and say quiet and if she is give her a treat but this had no effect one way or another. I tried ignoring it and just kept on trucking and had periods of whining and quiet. I think she might be insecure and verbalizes it. So I try to take her everyday to see new things and I will sit with her for hours at a park just to let her watch things. She will bark at new objects like a big wheel or baby stroller but stops once she gets a look at it. I had hopes she will be my next obedience dog but now I wonder if she will just be a great pet which is okay too. 

Has anyone had a pup like this or have any suggestions or am I doing the right thing by just taking her places and not making a big issue of it?


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## leslie cassian (Jun 3, 2007)

What does your gut tell you about why she's whiney and fussy? That's where I would start. Then some questions that come to mind for me, because I can't see what's going on... 

Does she looked stressed and is wanting reassurance?

Is she just bored and wants your attention? 

Does this only happen when you are on your socialization walks, or is she always like this?

Is she better or worse if you bring one or both of the boys along?

Is 'hours at the park' just too much for her? Is she bored, stressed, tired, overloaded, hungry, or anything else uncomfortable?

Are you just sitting somewhere or moving from place to place?

Is she on leash the whole time or is she off leash wandering around and still fussing?


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

Vicki ...
re " I will sit with her for hours at a park just to let her watch things."
think about what you are actually doing here .....

and you will realize THAT is your problem 

instead, DO STUFF with her to make her NON reactive and engaged with YOU, not the opposite, which is what you are describing above

socialize with the intent on IGNORING whatever is around her rather than making her DEAL with it .... especially NOT with any correction
... and NOT thru OB which is what she has already probably had too much of  
OB doesn't fix this type of behavior ... it conflicts with it 

she doesn't need to "see the world" ... she needs to get focused on having fun with you so she will FORGET and IGNORE the world around her ... THAT is the key to socializing imnsho 
... start in a relatively quiet "world" and move up to the real one...if you are not interesting enuff, bring along a friend who is, or maybe two, cause right now you sound like a boring comp OB pup trainer 

of course i can't see your dog ... but i have seen this similar type problem a few times 

good luck


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## Annamarie Somich (Jan 7, 2009)

I have a whiner. Abby is one year old so I have had enough time to figure her out.

First of all, her mother Charlie is a talker. She is hilarious. I have rehomed her with a woman who has had retired SchH GSDs. This is her first malinois. All of her talking is very entertaining for the family. charlie has continued her cute habit of sitting on the toilet while they put on makeup or shave and have a "conversation" with them while they are getting ready for the day.

So daughter is very vocal too, but with a damn irritating whine.

She whines:
1. when she wants something
2. when she is bored and wants engagement, ie play with her
3. when another dog has something she wants
4. when another dog steals something from her
5. when she is uncomfortable, unsure of something - has reduced drastically due to normal puppy exposure and socialization
6. when she is hungry
7. when she is tired and wants to go to bed or go home
8. when she is excited - putting on collar/leash for ____, getting in the car, in the car on the way, etc
9. when she is excited before bitework
10. when she is waiting her turn for _____
11. if I don't deliver the reward fast enough
12. if she makes a mistake and doesn't get the reward
13. if she wants me to do something to her like groom, bathe
14. if she doesn't want to be in her crate
15. to go out to use the bathroom

It took me some time to figure out it wasn't nerves, Abby whines for EVERYTHING. I have had to work on gaining patience. Corrections and ignoring make her just stop that instance of whining - it doesn't make her not whine for the next incident. I wish she would just talk like her mother. When she was younger she sounded like a baby goat - "blat" "blat" "blat" as she ran around playing, along with the whining.


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## Annamarie Somich (Jan 7, 2009)

Abby's whining has reduced in frequency, but is being replaced with barking. I would like to see how she matures and leans to deal with frustration. So maybe there is hope. But she is very vocal - which makes her easy to read.


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## brad robert (Nov 26, 2008)

rick smith said:


> Vicki ...
> re " I will sit with her for hours at a park just to let her watch things."
> think about what you are actually doing here .....
> 
> ...


I like that.sounds like the right angle to take.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2008)

Annamarie Somich said:


> I have a whiner. Abby is one year old so I have had enough time to figure her out.
> 
> First of all, her mother Charlie is a talker. She is hilarious. I have rehomed her with a woman who has had retired SchH GSDs. This is her first malinois. All of her talking is very entertaining for the family. charlie has continued her cute habit of sitting on the toilet while they put on makeup or shave and have a "conversation" with them while they are getting ready for the day.
> 
> ...


How did you come to the conclusion it wasn't/isn't nerves?


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## vicki dickey (Jul 5, 2011)

I have raised a lot of puppies and have never had one quite like this one. Annamarie knows what I am talking about because she describes her to a tee. 
I have walked her separately, with diferent dogs, different people, different places and she always is whining. She does not show fear and will even trot out at the end of the leash busily going along a trail stopping to whine only to look at something that takes her fancy. It reminds me of a busy little hen clucking along. I engage her in all types of activites plus letting her sit and observe. I move all over the park from the children's playground to the tennis courts to watching baseball and let her see everything and she is not fearful. I do not think she is stressed at all because she will lay in the grass and watch but the whining starts again sooner or later. So I think she is bored and get up and move and she happily whines her way to a new spot. I will play fetch with her, jog with her, sang songs to her etc. trust me I have tried everything and tried to come up with a reason or a solution on my own before I posted here.
And its not just the park its anywhere and everywhere. Sometimes she has a period of quiet but it wont be long and she turns on again. 

I might show OB but I dont start training it so young. I do teach them manners that involve a sit as I put on their collar and leash, or a down while I clip their nails and how to walk on a leash without pulling and I do teach them to come to their name. And she whined WAY before I ever asked her to sit.

I know her mom and she isnt a talker or whiner and her dad isnt either but some relative must have been I am thinking. I even thought its because she is a girl-I should have taken that boy I had my eye on.LOL

Well looks like there is no solution to this one except maybe time. It should be interesting to see how she develops out.


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## Karen Havins (Apr 22, 2012)

Tauren ONLY whines when we go somewhere. It makes it hard to have a conversation he's so loud. Well, he does this loud yawn whine thing when hubby comes home and hugs me...it's embarassing. 

Tauren's whining while we are out is his desire to work. He eventually starts vibrating, which, at 115 pounds is amusing...once he gets some bites, he's fine. 

I was also told it's boredom. 

Either way, it's annoying and cute....lol but i'm weird like that.


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## Robin Van Hecke (Sep 7, 2009)

Sounds like she's confused and thinks she's a kid.
I would try therapy of some sort..


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## Craig Snyder (May 7, 2012)

I have a whiner at home too. 

I know this is obvious but a tired dog usually doesn't whine. I saw lots of references to walks and socialization etc... but how much actual running does she get? Hard physical activity? Any swimming?

I think whining is a natrual thing and not necessarily some thing to correct. I.e. I don't think in most cases you'll extinguish the whine. Only prevent what leads to it. I think, just like people, as dogs get older they do get more patience and tolerate more things so the whining naturally does decrease. But it is the animals way of communicating that they are unhappy.

For a pup I think I would try to amp up the energy level expended at each activity session. Similar to what was mentioned above by Rick about keeping the pup actively engaged. Short sessions of course since she is a pup but higher intensity levels and more of them. 

Maybe things like retreives up/down a steep (very steep!) hill insted of on the flat.
A meetup 2/3 times a week, if not every day, with another dog with high energy levels for 30 minutes or so. It can be very hard for humans themselves to be active enough to really wear out some of the high energy breeds like the border colliies, mal's and other working breeds without 4-legged assistance or creative sessions.

My whiner is use to a 2-3 mile off-leash walk in the woods every morning with her "sister" and usually anywhere from 1-3 other dogs. I'm sure she does a lot more miles than the human(s) doing the 2-3 miles. Most days she is also free in the yard, again with her "sister". Evenings after dinner a 20-30 minute play session with balls/tugs etc... Plus 2-3 SAR trainings a week. If we miss any of these activities and don't provide a replacement activity there is hell to pay and she'll whine the evening away.

I think you just might have a very high energy pup and maybe you should think about starting flyball or agility work with her. You might find the obedience will be helped by that too.

Craig


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## Annamarie Somich (Jan 7, 2009)

I have seen my Abby in enough situations to realize she is just a "whiny talker". 

I have stepped up my ob training with her to a more formal level the last 2 weeks. I have transitioned from food to toy as reward. I am seeing that she does not whine when I use a tug or ball as a reward, but is now barking like a normal mal. So that is good. When you watch her do protection work, you would never know that she is a whiney ass at home. 

Abby is my pick female out of 2 litters. She is a very nice dog, so nice I have been willing to put up with the whining.

I sometimes wonder if I somehow accidently rewarded the whining sound when she was very young and she uses it instead of normal "talking" like her mother. Maybe she learned that she gets a faster reaction from me when she wants something. I do remember when she was a baby, I jumped like a mother with an injured kid when she whined. And now, she probably doesn't care if her whining irritates me and makes me grumpy, as long as she gets what she wants.


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## Laura Briggs (Jan 11, 2011)

"I think, just like people, as dogs get older they do get more patience and tolerate more things so the whining naturally does decrease. But it is the animals way of communicating that they are unhappy."

This has been my experience too. My male GSD whined non-stop until he was about seven months old - it was like he was making a running commentary about everything ALL day (even while running, swimming, eating, etc.). It drove my husband insane in the beginning and then Martin just learned to tune it out. Bosco is 10 months old now and he only whines when something is extremely exciting (like pulling into the dock diving club) or if my husband is outside working our female. I've seen Bosco's sire whine exactly the same way when he's excited about working so I know where Bosco gets it from.


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## vicki dickey (Jul 5, 2011)

Dani the whiner gets tons of exercise. She has 4 other dogs that she runs with, plays tug with, wrestles with and since she is so small I wonder how she manages to keep up. She has a yard also to run and play in plus our walks everyday plus she loves to retrieve a dumbbell. Found that one out when I was practicing one of the dogs for open and before I could release him to retreive it she ran and got it and brought it back to me. She is not crated at all during the day so exercise is not a problem for her.

I think I just have a verbal girl and hopefiully time will help.


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