How to Stop Your Dog From Whining in the Morning

If you dog wakes you up with persistent whining or barking in the morning, here are some steps to get him to stop.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Crate or Kennel
• A lot of patience

1. Kenneling your dog at night will help him distinguish between nighttime and daytime. It also gives him his own 'bed' or personal space. Make sure you let your dog out to potty right before you put him in his kennel for the night. For younger dogs (under a year old), don't let them have any water about 2-3 hours before you are going to let them out for the last time.

2. Now, this is the most time-consuming step that takes up most of your patience. If you place the dog in the crate and it starts to whine, DO NOT give it any attention. Even shouting at the dog or telling him to stop is a reaction, which the dog will take as positive reinforcement because you are responding to his behavior. It will be rough the first few mornings having to hear the dog whining and barking and not doing anything about it, but this is the only way to break him out of his or her habit.

3. Once the dog has stopped whining for more than a minute, then it is ok to let him or her out of their crate. This shows that you are not responding to the noisy behavior, but rather responding to the silence. For some dogs, this may take 2 days up to a week or more, so it's important to stick with it, be firm, and don't waver.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear earplugs or sleep at someone else's house the first few nights so you get a good night's sleep and don't have to hear the dog whining(I would leave my apt. at 11 pm and come back at 7 pm).
• Remember, shouting or screaming at your dog will not stop the behavior. It will only make them more anxious and reactionary.

[eletendre]

on 3/2/2009 Great advice. Un-intentional reinforcement is the cause of a lot of behavior problems. You hit the nail right on the head in Step 2: "If you place the dog in the crate and it starts to whine, DO NOT give it any attention." Touching, talking and even looking at a dog are all forms of attention which can reinforce the behavior. 5 stars!

[yourmamasaidwha]

on 1/22/2009 wow! are you working on becoming a dog whisperer? great info as this could be very useful to us...we had a relative move out recently that our dog was very attached to and he's been shady again lately...oh, puppy love, lol! thanks for the great share/useful info!