Dogs are wonderful pets, and owning one can be a great deal of fun. Being a pet owner does require work, however, and in addition to providing for your dog's food and veterinarian needs, you will be responsible for training your dog on basic commands and basic behavioral expectations. This can be a real challenge as there is a wide communication gap between you and your animal. A common behavior that many owners want to correct in their dogs is whimpering and crying.
Things You'll Need
- Veterinarian
- Clicker
- Treats
Instructions
How to Stop a Dog From Whimpering and Crying
Take your dog to the vet and rule out any medical causes for his whimpering and crying behavior. Since dogs cannot verbally tell us what is wrong with them, they will find alternative ways to communicate. Sometimes they will change their behavior, and at other times they may vocalize their discomfort by crying out. The last thing you want to do is try to prevent your dog from crying when he is crying in pain. Have the vet give you the go-ahead before you attempt to address the behavior.
Try to identify a pattern in your dog's whimpering and crying behavior. You may be surprised to find a trend to your dog's actions. For instance, maybe he cries to tell you that he is hungry or that he needs to go to the bathroom. Use a pad and pen and write down what is happening before and after your dog starts crying and whimpering. Continue jotting down this information for about a week so you have enough information to analyze.
Look over the notes you took to see if you can find a pattern in your dog's behavior. For instance, note what your typical reaction is to his crying. If you shower him with attention, play fetch, feed him or take him for a walk each time he cries, he is likely whimpering and crying in order to gain your attention and you are reinforcing that behavior. If he whimpers and cries each time you go to give him a bath or give him medicine, and you stop because his whimpering upsets you, you are teaching him to use this behavior as an escape. Do your best to try to find a relationship between his whimpering and the resulting consequence.
Teach your dog replacement behavior if he whimpers for your attention. If he cries so that you will play with him, ignore his crying. Wait until he is calm. Reinforce his remaining calm with a treat and then play with him. You may even want to use a clicker to help teach calm behavior. Instruct him to be calm or quiet, click the clicker when he complies and then reinforce him. He should learn that being quiet is reinforcing rather quickly.
Ignore his whimpering and crying behavior if he is using it to escape an activity. Follow through on what you need to do, and reinforce him with treats when he is quiet.