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Thread: Barking/Whining

  1. #1
    House Broken jenfarm's Avatar
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    Barking/Whining

    Chutes is named after a beer brewery, but maybe we should have named him after a winery because he's a whiner! LOL.

    He has serious FOMO. And is a little attention hungry. Whenever we put him in his kennel and he's not ready to just go to sleep, he will sit in there and bark and whine forever. Especially if he hears us in the other room doing something he thinks might be fun. Also, when we have him on "place" and we aren't paying attention to him (watching a movie, doing something else) and he wants to play or be on us, he will whine and bark at us. This is the only time he is bothersome with barking or whining. Otherwise, he's great.

    We have tried ignoring him, hoping he'll lose steam and figure it out. (THIS IS SO HARD FOR ME BECAUSE IT DRIVES ME NUTS! Lol.)
    We have tried ignoring him until we hear a break in his barking, and then going into the room (if he's in his kennel) to free him for loves or give him a treat, or free him from place to give loves or give him a treat.
    We have tried a yelling a simple "NO" and ignoring him if he continues.

    It's not that he needs to go potty. We always time taking him outside for potty breaks accordingly when expecting him to be quiet in his kennel or on place.

    Is what we are doing right? Is it a puppy phase? Do y'all have any other ideas or what has worked for you?

    He has been doing so well with everything else and right now this is really my only complaint with him. DH is getting ready to start his new job on August 1st so Chutes is going to be, unfortunately, spending more time in his kennel during the day... unless he can learn to keep quiet then I'll hopefully be able to bring him to work with me on occasion to break up being stuck in his kennel all day while we are working. I absolutely can not bring him to work with me if he can't be quiet though. Help?
    Josh & Jenna. Texas.
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  2. #2
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    Is the timer on your page right- he's less than 4 months old? If so, he's doing GREAT! Labs really, really, want to be with you- playing with you- all the time, so it takes a while for them to learn to be quiet. I think #2 is the best course of action because it rewards the behavior you want and ignores the behavior you don't (usually a good approach with labbies). Assuming that he's getting plenty of exercise (mental and physical) when he's not in his crate/place, then I think it's more just doing what you're doing. He'll get there, he's just a baby.

    (FWIW, it took Kimber until about the age of 7 months to be quiet in her crate. What worked? DH going back to work! I think when she could no longer hear us moving about, she learned to finally accept the crate.)
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  4. #3
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    I think you're asking too much of him. He's a baby. When you crate him and he's not ready, do you provide him with something to do? A frozen Kong, perhaps? Imagine putting a toddler in their room when they are not tired and have nothing to do. Obviously, if the kid is outside of their crib their going to destroy something (similar to a puppy), but put them in their crib and what do they do? Cry. If they are tired and you know they are, you would wait and know that they are going to go to sleep at some point. It's kind of the same situation. If you need to do something crate the puppy with you or baby gate him in a room with you or tether him near you or to you. This phase goes by quickly and eventually he won't be so dependent.

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  6. #4
    House Broken jenfarm's Avatar
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    Thanks! I know he's just a baby and I'm being patient. I keep having to remind DH of this as his expectations were way too high in the beginning. "He's just a baby still! He's doing awesome for how young he is, calm down." Haha! I just wanted to make sure we were doing what was best with working on it and moving forward. I won't lie, I hope he gets it sooner than later, but I do realize it takes time. I just needed some reassurance! LOL.

    When we are home and we aren't totally consumed with doing something, he is out of his crate and with us. Only when we have to leave the house or are doing something where we can't keep an eye on him is he put away in his crate. Even then, if I'm just walking around dealing with laundry or something, he's usually good about staying on "place" and I'll just check on him every couple minutes when I happen to walk by (our house has a very open floor plan which is helpful.) Unless it's bed time, there is always toys in the crate with him. We will throw a Kong or something similar in there with him if we have to run out on some errands or have to put him in there while we are home and doing something else to keep him busy. It does help a bit.

    We do definitely try to make time for exercise and mental stimulation. (This is actually something I have enjoyed as I am naturally pretty lazy but DH and I have both noticed he makes both of us want to move and be more active with him. Win for us too! LOL!) He usually gets at least one walk/jog a day and/or backyard play time/training sessions. We try to mix up the play with training mixed in sometimes. Most of the time dinner is served to him via an interactive toy which is helpful for tiring him out for bed time.
    Josh & Jenna. Texas.
    Parents of: Farmer's Deschutes Cinder Cone Red "Chutes" the Labrador. (And the cat, Stewie. Hidden Content )

    Instagram: @jenfarm_ & @farmer_bram

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  7. #5
    Senior Dog dxboon's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jenfarm View Post
    Thanks! I know he's just a baby and I'm being patient. I keep having to remind DH of this as his expectations were way too high in the beginning. "He's just a baby still! He's doing awesome for how young he is, calm down." Haha! I just wanted to make sure we were doing what was best with working on it and moving forward. I won't lie, I hope he gets it sooner than later, but I do realize it takes time. I just needed some reassurance! LOL.

    When we are home and we aren't totally consumed with doing something, he is out of his crate and with us. Only when we have to leave the house or are doing something where we can't keep an eye on him is he put away in his crate. Even then, if I'm just walking around dealing with laundry or something, he's usually good about staying on "place" and I'll just check on him every couple minutes when I happen to walk by (our house has a very open floor plan which is helpful.) Unless it's bed time, there is always toys in the crate with him. We will throw a Kong or something similar in there with him if we have to run out on some errands or have to put him in there while we are home and doing something else to keep him busy. It does help a bit.

    We do definitely try to make time for exercise and mental stimulation. (This is actually something I have enjoyed as I am naturally pretty lazy but DH and I have both noticed he makes both of us want to move and be more active with him. Win for us too! LOL!) He usually gets at least one walk/jog a day and/or backyard play time/training sessions. We try to mix up the play with training mixed in sometimes. Most of the time dinner is served to him via an interactive toy which is helpful for tiring him out for bed time.
    He's way too young for jogging. Try to remember he's a baby and to do age appropriate exercise with him. Early repetitive forced exercise is orthopedic issues just waiting to happen.

    The whining/barking will get better if you don't reward him with attention. Even negative attention can be a reward. Also, if he went away for board/train, sometimes puppies learn to bark for fun/entertainment in that kind of kenneled situation. At home, you'll have to break him of that, but it takes patience to ignore their whining.

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  9. #6
    House Broken jenfarm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by dxboon View Post
    He's way too young for jogging. Try to remember he's a baby and to do age appropriate exercise with him. Early repetitive forced exercise is orthopedic issues just waiting to happen.

    The whining/barking will get better if you don't reward him with attention. Even negative attention can be a reward. Also, if he went away for board/train, sometimes puppies learn to bark for fun/entertainment in that kind of kenneled situation. At home, you'll have to break him of that, but it takes patience to ignore their whining.
    Thanks for the heads up on the jogging. I'll pass it along to DH. The walks are mainly just walks, but he will speed up to a jog on the last little stretch (once we come around the corner back to our street). Maybe 350ft. What about playing fetch? Is running him for a bit of fetch ok?

    His board/train environment was just like home, just with more dogs for play. He wasn't kenneled in that sense, he was crated at night just like he is at home. The board/train business we use is just two trainers who live together in a home and run their business from their home. They mentioned having the same problems with him, but yeah, he's a puppy. I appreciate the reassurance that it will get better and he'll grow out of it eventually. LOL. It's been a long time since I've had a puppy and it's been really fun. We adore the heck outta this little guy. Just like anything else, there definitely are those frustrating moments.
    Josh & Jenna. Texas.
    Parents of: Farmer's Deschutes Cinder Cone Red "Chutes" the Labrador. (And the cat, Stewie. Hidden Content )

    Instagram: @jenfarm_ & @farmer_bram

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  10. #7
    Senior Dog voodoo's Avatar
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    chili learns alot of bad/new behaviors when I send him to dog sitters...his last new no no is barking at birds in backyard at 6am he never has barked at anything in backyard...front yard all the time...
    Amateur pet owner
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    Chili born 7/21/2013

 



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