This Annoying Doggy Behavior May Actually Be A Call For Help

• Signs your dog is whining due to pain or discomfort. The when and where of your dog’s whining is important in narrowing down its cause. For example, if she’s normally happy in her crate at night but suddenly starts whining in the wee hours, and especially if she also starts soiling or throwing up in her crate, she very likely has a digestive or urinary tract problem that needs attention.

If your older dog whines instead of jumping up onto the couch or into the car as she always has, she may be dealing with arthritis or another condition that is limiting her mobility and causing her discomfort. A good rule of thumb is that if your dog begins whining in normal, everyday situations and/or at unexpected times of the day or night, a visit to your veterinarian is in order to investigate whether a painful or uncomfortable underlying medical condition is in play.

• Signs that stress and anxiety are causing your dog to whine. As Miller points out, “Anything that causes [your dog] to be fearful can contribute to … whining, and some breeds even seem to have a genetic predisposition to whining.”

If your furry companion whines as you’re preparing to leave the house, he may have separation anxiety, which is an increasingly common problem in dogs today. To understand more about this condition and how to help a pet who can’t tolerate being left alone, take a look at my article “4 Sneaky Signs That Your Dog Suffers from Separation Anxiety.” Miller offers the following suggestions for dealing with anxiety-related whining:

“To help him be less anxious so he will whine less, make a list of things that cause your dog fear or stress, and pick two or three to start counter-conditioning, that is, changing how he feels about those things, so they no longer cause him stress or fear.

When you can tick one stressor off your list, pick another to begin working on, until you have addressed enough of them that whining is no longer a problem. Additionally, anxiety-induced and the other types of whining may improve with the application of the ever-growing list of various tools and protocols we have to help our dogs be calm.” (More about those shortly.)

• Signs your dog is whining out of frustration. Miller also calls this “demand whining” because in most cases, dogs become frustrated when their demands aren’t being met. The best way to curb frustration whining is to observe when it occurs, and then head it off at the pass by either giving her what she’s waiting for before she has a chance to whine for it, or by offering a distraction such as a food-dispensing toy before she starts whining.

Now, we’re assuming here that what your dog is demanding is legit, such as her morning walk, her afternoon ball-chasing session or some other fun activity she counts on each day. If she’s whining for your ice cream cone or a sip of your beer, it’s a whole different monster you’ve created.

In this case, your dog is frustration-whining because she wants something she shouldn’t have. Since she’s been conditioned to want it, instead of giving it to her, you’ll need to work to extinguish her expectation that she’ll get it.

• Signs your dog is whining because he’s excited. As Miller observes, “… some dogs whine just because they are so happy they can barely contain themselves.” I have a friend whose suburban-dwelling Golden Retriever goes absolutely bonkers for outdoor adventures in nature, especially when he gets to visit relatives about three hours away whose home is off the grid and sits among the pine trees of central Arizona.

As soon as my friend’s SUV rolls off the highway and onto the 2-mile dirt road that leads to the relative’s house, the Golden starts whining and panting in anticipation. By the time they make the turn into the driveway, the dog’s whining has escalated to an almost primal (and ear-splitting) howl!

In this situation, there’s really no safe or effective way to curb the whining. They’re in a moving vehicle bouncing down a dirt road, and nothing my friend could offer her dog would be anywhere near as exciting as what he knows is coming. In my opinion, as dog whining goes, the excited variety is probably something we should accept and even be grateful for!

• Appeasement whining. This somewhat uncommon type of whining, according to Miller, generally occurs in social interactions between dogs. “In this case,” she writes, “it is a healthy communication, and not one you want to interfere with.”