Our lab, Lilly, is 13. Lately, with age, she has become a big whiner. The issues aren't serious. She constantly wants to go out (not always to go potty) or her internal alarm for feeding time goes off, sometimes earlier. We are about to have a baby, in May. Trust me, in no way am I getting rid of my lab like I've seen others do with their dogs b/c of babies. I get so angry toward those people. I've read everywhere that you have to ignore them to try to make it stop b/c they will notice their whining isn't getting them attention. We've tried that and she will go on forever. Do any of you have any other suggestions on what may be done to tone her down, if not stop her?
Hi there and welcome to the forum from me and my two Lab teenagers, Willow and Shadow. If this is new behaviour, I'd be tempted to take her to the vet to check she has nothing physical distressing her. Alternatively, is there any chance that she's suffering from hearing loss? I've heard (although have no experience) that some dogs that lose their hearing become noisier. The other thing I've heard is that you shouldn't treat whining as a behaviour, but as an emotion. So, for example, my Willow whines from frustration sometimes when I'm training Shadow and she wants to have a go. That's a case of working on the emotion, her frustration levels - building up the time that she is able to sit and watch without getting frustrated, a little like you'd work on separation issues. I've heard it said that dogs often don't realise that they are whining, so trying to train it out as you would train out an unwanted behaviour isn't very fruitful. From this, I think you have to identify the cause of her whines each time, and address those issues.
Hi and welcome. I agree with Fiona that if the whining is a relatively new occurrence it would be best to check with the vet, particularly as you mention an increase in asking to go out and that she is asking for food before her normal mealtimes.
She's a lovely looking girl, if that's her in your avatar. Very sweet face. We'd love to see more pictures
