Constant whinning

[Jo123]

Please could someone help. I have taken on a 2 year old staffie from a rescue centre and she has alot of training needing to be done, but the main thing is that she whines all the time. As much as myself and my partner try to ignore the behaviour after a few hours it gets too much. If we go out and leave her in the crate then she is fine but its when we are home and she is not centre of attention she wines. We have tried to put her in her crate when we are home but that just makes her worse. She starts at about 5am every day until we let her out of her crate that she sleeps in. I know that then means she is winning but when we tried to ignore her we ended up getting a visit from the neighbours.

[KOPcaroline]

Hi Jo,

What happens if you give a stern "no" command to her whining? Or have you tried putting her in a room by herself, but with a toy or something to occupy her enough to calm down?

If you train her up on commands, and give those (sit, down, roll over, whatever) when she whines, it will give her something else to focus on, and hopefully divert attention away from her whining. Try giving her a sit and stay command, then walk away. If she starts whining, say "no" with a commanding voice. If she sits quietly for a few moments, praise her heaps! Keep doing this, but leaving her for more and more time (start with a few seconds and work up to minutes kind of thing). By pleasing you and listening to her commands, she ends up happy too.

Try having interactive toys at home, like Kongs or rattles, so that she can amuse herself. Does she have a yard you can put her into when she gets whiney so she can romp a bit?

Hope these suggestions help a bit, good luck!