Whiny dog

Caol Ila

Caol Ila

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First of all, one caveat: this isn't my dog; it's my flatmate's dog. So while I have to put up with the problem, all suggestions here can only be passed onto the owner and there isn't a lot I can actually do other than give him ideas.

The dog is a seven year old German Shepherd-Husky cross. For the past two or so months, he's gotten into the habit of crying piteously at unconstitutional hours of the morning, like 4 or 5am. At first owner was thinking he had to pee at these stupid hours and would get up and let him into the garden, but he just has a wander around and doesn't pee. Owner and my boyfriend, who has lived with the dog for three or four years, tell me that this is fairly new behaviour.

Owner insists that ignoring him won't work; he'll just whine and whine. If owner wakes up, he will go out of his room and deal, whereas myself and partner will ignore the dog if we can, or partner will get fed up and shut him in the living room if he can't tune it out (I refuse to get out of bed for the animal; I think I have patience born out of years of horse ownership and also, not my dog).

Owner took the dog to the vet, who gave him something called Calmex, which worked for about a week. Vet suggested dog might have early onset dementia, but (according to owner) didn't offer anything more helpful than that. I wondered how you diagnose that in dogs. You can't ask it who the Prime Minister is! During the day, the dog is its normal self.

It's bloody annoying; I feel a bit bad for the dog, which must be distressed by something at 4 or 5am, and even worse for myself, as I'm a light sleeper so it inevitably wakes me up. He clearly wants attention, as he's happy and tail waggy when someone gets up, even if all they do is shout at him. He wakes up on his own in the living room at daft'o'clock and wants people with him, and all the people are shut in their rooms. Does anyone have any ideas for how to deal with the behaviour?
 
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Is he getting lots of exercise through the day ? I would up whatever he is doing and take him for a walk last thing at night as well, maybe he's just not doing enough ?
 
Yeah, that's a thing. He isn't doing enough, and there isn't a lot anyone can do to increase it. The dog's back legs are b*ggered, as he's got that awful slopey GSD back end and the angles of his hindlegs are all wrong. He's had surgery on one of his ACLs, and the vet has told the owner that he can't have more than one hour of walking per day.
 
Is it possible that the dog could be in pain if his back legs are that bad?

If pain is not the cause then I would try leaving a radio over night and/or a lamp. My elderly terrier went through a stage of barking all night and leaving the light on really helped him.
 
The owner says he lets it into his room (on his bed -- because it's learned that it's entitled to beds, but moving on). Dog cries anywayeven if he's with his owner. When he did it last night, I paid more attention. He ran down to the door and whined. The dog wants to go outside, but then when owner capitulated and let him out, he just sat in the garden.
 
Does the dog settle again after it's been outside at that early hour?

If it were mine, I'd return to the vet for a good check over. Perhaps their are signs of arthritis in its joints, it could be that lying in the same position/place makes it ache and perhaps a low dose of anti inflammatories and pain killers overnight may help and worth a try?

Perhaps giving it a short walk late at night, before bedtime may help too with a cosy bed in the owners room (or on the bed?).
 
Caol Ila said:
The owner says he lets it into his room (on his bed -- because it's learned that it's entitled to beds, but moving on). Dog cries anywayeven if he's with his owner. When he did it last night, I paid more attention. He ran down to the door and whined. The dog wants to go outside, but then when owner capitulated and let him out, he just sat in the garden.
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Could it be some animal/bird in the garden that's setting him off?

Don't know your set up, but could owner get a dog flap type thing? Otherwise, I'd second leaving a talk radio on.

ETA Ooh, just thought as it's gone a bit cold recently - have you only just put the heating on? Could dog be finding it a bit warm in the house and want to go outside to cool down?
 
I believe the owner is going to make a date with the vet soon. He was talking about seeing a behaviourist, but they want the animal to have a physical examination first, before they see it. He has a supply of painkillers; I might suggest giving the dog a dose before bed and seeing what that does. It could well be developing arthritis, given it has had surgery and has the worst hind end conformation in the world. Being horsey, I did suggest changes in the dog's behaviour might be due to pain.

The dog can't be outside without supervision, as he likes to bark at passing people, dogs, seagulls, etc., and we don't want to annoy the neighbors. We keep the heating off at night, so the flat is fairly chilly.

The owner doesn't exactly want it on his bed, but training it to go into a dog bed at this point would be difficult because owner and owner's ex-girlfriend allowed it in the bed from a young age. Whoops. Not a job I would want to take on! Dog snuck into my room a couple months ago. We keep the door shut and dog out, but a moment of inattention, and he rushed in and planted himself on the bed; would not accept any bribe or command to get off the bed. I don't think a juicy steak would have even got him moving. OH had to wrestle him off -- not an easy job with 40kgs of dog! But that's a digression, and not my problem, really (so long as we maintain our strict door shutting policy).
 
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He sounds bored to me, I hear what you are saying about his back legs but I would still try more exercise especially late at night.
 
If the dog cries and then gets attention, i.e. going down to him, then he will keep doing it. If he is in pain, get pain meds from the vet. Otherwise just ignore him at all costs and he will learn that whining doesn't equal human interaction. Even if he is in pain, there really isn't much you can do. It may sound harsh to some but night time= sleep time, or non human interaction time. This is a reality for most dogs. As long as all his needs are met- he has water and a bed, ignore him and I am sure it will stop, although it may take a while now he has learnt this behaviour. Is there any way you can persuade the owner to agree to ignore him and be consistant.
 
hbuk2015 said:
If the dog cries and then gets attention, i.e. going down to him, then he will keep doing it. If he is in pain, get pain meds from the vet. Otherwise just ignore him at all costs and he will learn that whining doesn't equal human interaction. Even if he is in pain, there really isn't much you can do. It may sound harsh to some but night time= sleep time, or non human interaction time. This is a reality for most dogs. As long as all his needs are met- he has water and a bed, ignore him and I am sure it will stop, although it may take a while now he has learnt this behaviour. Is there any way you can persuade the owner to agree to ignore him and be consistant.
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All that might be true if we were talking about a puppy but this is a 7 year old dog. He must be doing it for a reason ? Ignoring him is hardly fair on either the dog or the humans involved
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
Perhaps owner can make a space for the dog to have its bed in his room?
He can then attend to the whining immediately, or perhaps the dog might be quieter as has company (even if its just a human snoring!)
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^^^ This. My dogs have access to the entire house and sleep where they wish - and I know that doesn't suit everyone - but in these circumstances I would say it is worth a try, as it isn't fair that the rest of the household are being woken by a dog that belongs to someone else.

If the dog is struggling with exercise I would suggest his owner take it for physio and hydrotherapy is excellent for dogs under a reduced exercise regime. Also, brain training may help tire the dog if physical exercise is a problem.
 
Owner took the dog on a short walk before bed last night, and he left the door to his room open when he went to sleep so the dog could go in there if he wished (owner has to deal with cuddling the dog in his bed, but hey ho). No whining! Win. Hopefully owner will keep this up.

You guys who thought the poor thing was bored were probably spot on. He's spending 22 hours per day in the flat without a lot going on. OH says owner took him out a lot more before he went lame, but then he pretty much limited his exercise to the bare minimum in the interest of saving the back legs. I guess it's no surprise that it is developing obnoxious behaviours.
 
Caol Ila said:
He's spending 22 hours per day in the flat without a lot going on. OH says owner took him out a lot more before he went lame, but then he pretty much limited his exercise to the bare minimum in the interest of saving the back legs.
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Maybe you could suggest the owner do some other training with him, that doesn't involve lots of exercise? Keeping his mind a bit more occupied with something, at least.
Glad the whining has stopped, enjoy your sleep!
 
bonny said:
All that might be true if we were talking about a puppy but this is a 7 year old dog. He must be doing it for a reason ? Ignoring him is hardly fair on either the dog or the humans involved
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Similar happened with my mother in laws 10yr old dog. If I recall correctly, there was a deer nearby that came at same time every morning but it a while before they figured out why the dog was barking every morning.
 
Sounds like the problem is boredom in this case, poor dog. For what it's worth barking/whining through the night was the first sign of dementia in my dog. Then he started trying to fit through gaps that were clearly too small, so loss of special awareness, and finally unprovoked aggression. Doesn't seem to be the case here but it's worth being aware of the signs in general.
 
Vet suggested dementia but at this time, I can't see any other signs that the dog doesn't know what's going on around him. Though it's harder to say, since he has fear aggression anyway, and doesn't like children, cyclists, joggers, police, or South Asians, so you have to watch out for anyone who is in any of those categories. Owner says he can hold dog back, as he is a large Glaswegian guy. He's generally okay if on one of those leads that's like a mini-horse halter, but even so, I refuse to walk him just because I don't want to be a ** sed with all that and I'm not a large Glaswegian man who can restrain 40kgs of dog (hey, I train my horse so she is not a pain for other people to handle and if a friend has to bring her in or whatever, it's an easy, stress free job!). So I am not a helpful flatmate.


Since I started this thread, the owner has been taking him out at night as per some of the suggestions, sometimes. On days he goes out with his dog walker and then his owner extricates himself from the TV and walks him 10-20 minutes before bed, he doesn't whine. On non-dog walker days, and his owner being lazy, he whines at 4am. It's fairly clear what the issue is.
 
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