Go Back   Pet forum for dogs cats and humans - Pets.ca > Discussion Groups - mainly cats and dogs > Dog training - dog behavior

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old December 9th, 2011, 10:54 AM
rjesak's Avatar
rjesak rjesak is offline
Wayward Family Cats Mommy
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: F'burg, VA, USA
Posts: 317
How to stop whining

Kasee is a nine year old dog we've had for quite a few years. Up until recently we had two dogs (Emily went to the Rainbow Bridge about a month ago ) and since then we've changed things for the better. Before, both dogs spent most of their time in the great room - Emily was a very highly stressed dog and didn't like to be around people much and they didn't like to be separated so that worked quite well. Both of them were fine in there and we'd spend whatever time we could in there with them. With just Kasee now, we've been bringing Kasee out of the great room with us for the vast majority of the day. She sleeps there at night and we put her in there when we can't watch her (otherwise she'll eat all of the cat's food and shred stuff). She is absolutely fine in there at night and when we're not in the house (or if she thinks we aren't). She just sleeps quietly.

When she knows we're here and she's in there, she whines constantly. This actually means she spends MORE time in there because I won't bring her out when she's whining because I don't want to encourage the behavior. As it is, she spends a couple of hours in there at the most during the day (and it would probably be less if I could convince her that if she's quiet we'll bring her out as soon as we can) and maybe six to seven hours at night.

I don't think this is anxiety because, as I said, she seems perfectly happy when she thinks we're not here anyway. I know that it's only that she wants to be with us but there are times when we can't be watching her.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I hate waiting until she quiets because she can keep it up for hours and it means she spends much more time trapped in there than any of us want (she's very cuddly and sweet and I'd prefer to have her with me most of the time). She's a complete couch potato - she just comes out to sleep with us for the most part so I don't think it's excess energy either. It's just that she's not getting what she wants.
__________________
Storm (beeps and has a pink nose and toes), Misty (with big blue eyes and tasseled ears),
Anya (only ever called Honey - she's that sweet), Zander (who goes by Punkin' cause he's almost that bright)
Kasee (couch potato who thinks she's a dog)
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old December 9th, 2011, 11:48 AM
Marty11's Avatar
Marty11 Marty11 is offline
Senior Contributor
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: East Gwillimbury, ON
Posts: 1,174
I'm sorry, but at 9 yrs old? Can she not have free run of the house? She is still destructive? Put the cat food up on a shelf.......
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old December 11th, 2011, 07:36 AM
rjesak's Avatar
rjesak rjesak is offline
Wayward Family Cats Mommy
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: F'burg, VA, USA
Posts: 317
She's still destructive. Although she's generally happy with her squeaky toys, she still shreds any paper or cardboard she comes across.

As for the cat food, about three years ago, one of the cats broke his hind leg. He's pretty much ok now (although he's got about 9 pins in it) but he can't jump more than a couple of feet off the ground. I've tried to get the cats on a schedule so that they will come eat when I put the food down but we have some... um, disagreements, among the cats so they will rarely all be in the same place at the same time. If Misty is around, Shadow and Spirit won't come within ten feet of the room. If Anya is around, Storm won't. If Shadow is around, Zander won't... Etcetera.

As for having free run of the house, she occasionally does but there are times when she needs to be kept contained - such as when my allergic friend comes around. I coop the cats upstairs, put Kasee in the great room, vacuum til I drop, power up my air purifier and my friend is fine but Kasee can't be anywhere near her comfortably.

Really, I just feel that, at 9 years old, she ought to be able to learn not to whine. I just don't know how to do it. She used to bark at my foster son but I managed to train her not to (that took a concerted effort - he would come in in his motorcycle helmet and she would go batty) but I knew how to do it. I don't know how to train her not to whine.
__________________
Storm (beeps and has a pink nose and toes), Misty (with big blue eyes and tasseled ears),
Anya (only ever called Honey - she's that sweet), Zander (who goes by Punkin' cause he's almost that bright)
Kasee (couch potato who thinks she's a dog)
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old December 27th, 2011, 10:11 PM
Canadianbella's Avatar
Canadianbella Canadianbella is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 53
She sounds bored, to be quite honest. We used to confine Sparky, and when he got free run he'd tear up everything. But eventually he got used to the free-run rules and now we can leave him while we leave the house, free.

Take a day, and follow her around, correcting her. It wont be long before it gets through to her that she's not allowed to do those things.
__________________
Aspiring Groomer & Dog Trainer
Obsessed with researching all things dog, especially anything he eats.
Big on 'real food' feeding, and raw feeding. I've jokingly been called a 'real food activist' for dogs.

My Sparky is 4 years old (Dec 7th 2007), pure bred Pomeranian from a bad past. Got him when he was too young -found out later-. He has a laundry list of medical problems, but we're working to get him in tip-top shape!

He truly is my fur baby.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Forum Terms of Use

  • All Bulletin Board Posts are for personal/non-commercial use only.
  • Self-promotion and/or promotion in general is prohibited.
  • Debate is healthy but profane and deliberately rude posts will be deleted.
  • Posters not following the rules will be banned at the Admins' discretion.
  • Read the Full Forum Rules

Forum Details

  • Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
    Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
    vBulletin Optimisation by vB Optimise (Reduced on this page: MySQL 0%).
  • All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:19 AM.