Our 21 week old lab has got into a habit of whining in the morning. We use a puppy crate and at first he did this when we put him to bed but now it seems to be the other way round and he whines every morning sometimes for an hour.

I have tried all different things, leaving him, letting him out to see if he needs the toilet and then putting him back to bed again with a treat but he still sits there and whines.

The other problem is if i let him out of the crate and go and get ready for work, he stops whining (result) but sits at the bottom of the stairs and barks. I have tried leaving him and ignoring him but his bark is very loud and i do not want to upset the neighbours!!!.

Is there anything else i could try?

Hi, I cannot help but wonder how much excercise you dog has? Sounds to me as though he is awake up ready and waiting to go for a walk or is hungry, I suggest you get up a bit earlier and get out with him before you do anything. You say he is whining and barking when you are getting ready for work, does that mean that he has not had a good walk and run before you leave for work? How long is he left, he could be bored stiff if left all night and then you get up get ready for work and he is left again. Think of his life style? A dog, this one is young 21 months active and needs excercise and stimulation and of course company is he getting adequate amounts of all three? Think about his life first and ask your self if you are catering for all his needs?
Pat

Sorry Pat, I think you have read it wrong. The puppy is 21 weeks not months so to much exercise is a bad idea.

Sounds like what's is happening is that the puppy is getting insecure. he is calling you. You need to stand back just a little and give him a change to build up his self reliance.

Best wishes, John

what happens to him while you are at work

Pat, John and Mattie I cannot seem to logon at the moment so but i hope you get this message.

I just wanted to answer your questions as by the sounds of it my last message comes across that I am a bad dog owner!!!!.

He goes for a walk for about 20-25 minutes in the morning at around 6:30pm which seems to be enough for him. His whining seems to be first thing in the morning when he wakes up and as I mentioned I have gone to him to see if he needs to go to the toilet but he never does!!! (some people have said to leave him when he is whining otherwise he will always do this as he knows he will get our attention).

Mattie, with regards to leaving him, yes my wife and i do work and he is left from about 7:45 in the morning till 12 when i go home for lunch, and as i only work 5 mins from home, i let him run about in the garden for 15mins and play with him and then let him settle for a while before giving him his dinner and then go back to work until 4:30pm. We then go out around the farm to some fields where he is let off to explore and play and i leave it up to him to tell me when he has had enough.

I know there has always been a debate about should people have dogs if they work but i have given alot of thought (a year or more) about if we should get a dog or not and i feel that getting him now, is the right time. I know some people are against this, but I do not see a better time in life to get a dog!.

We go to puppy training every week and he is so good. The teachers said that he whines because he is a puppy and i am doing everything right and that he will grow out of it?.

Please be careful of the amount of exercise 30mins seems quite alot for a puppy of that
age.You may risk damaging his hips and certainly no free running yet.

Regards Briony :-)

Briony, thanks for your message. I am totally confused by how often I should walk him and for how long as i have had so much advice from different people. Firstly i was taking him for a 10 min walk (or sniff) in the morning and at night from the age of 12 weeks but I was told this was not long enough. So I increased it to 20 mins but when speaking with a trainer at puppy classes, this was still too short and that I should let the puppy tell me when he has had enough.

Listening to other people talk about walking the puppies at the puppy class they were all saying that they let them off the lead and allow them to come back when they are ready so i thought i would give this a go.

At the moment, I take him for approx 20-25 min walk in the morning, run around the garden if desired at lunch, and to the field when i get home for work where he can wonder around for aslong as he wants, usually 30-35 mins?

What would you recommend?

I'm just replying to the whining part :)

I would suggest totally ignoring the pup (by that I mean eye contact, voice, even talking about him!!!) when he is whining, and wait for a "lull" in the whines. When he stops for a few seconds, say "Good boy, Quiet", and then give calm attention, or let him out.

He probably wants to say "hallo" and you have to balance up his puppy happiness at seeing you, totally understandable, with teaching him to have good manners and getting the whole relationship right.

You will have to use your own judgement on this, but basically the idea is to never let the pup think that if hewhines he gets your attention, or you will be basically teaching him that this is what he must do to get what he wants. It is better to teach him that being Quiet will get him what he wants.

You could also practise teaching him the word "Quiet" - for example if he barks, (anywhere) and then stops, wait for a few seconds and then say "Quiet, what a good boy, Quiet" and praise or treat. It is a good idea to vary the reward when he is quiet so he never knows what to expect.

It is important to be consistent, so all familu members must do the same. YOu sound very fair, checking to see if he needs toilet etc, so I am sure you will be able to follow your own instincts as well :)

In time your neighbours may thank you for this early training ;) but I appreciate it may be difficult to implement because of them. Would it be possible to have a word with them, if they are understanding, and explain you are training the pup?If not, I would suggest "managing" the situation somehow - for example, if you decide it is easiest for all concerned to have him upstairs, could you have the crate upstairs? (I did this with my pup for a while).

Or let him up,but only after he has been quiet in the crate, make him Sit at the stairs, and insist on general good manners so he has to "work" a llittle to get what he wants. If he comes up it must be because you have allowed him, not because he has "bullied" you into it!

Finally have you tried giving him a stuffed KOng? Being a Lab I expect he loves his food, you may find this actually does the trick and you can keep him quiet for a while. But only give it to him if he is Quiet for a couple of seconds and gradually make this period longer until he will be Quiet for his Kong.

Good luck
LIndsay

Hi ,I know it can be confusing but in my opinion only.I would personally
think he was getting enough exercise in your garden and house with perhaps
15 min pavement walkthis plus once aweek training classes should be enough
As he approaches 10-months onwards start to gradually increase the amount
of road work.Free running from 12 months onwards would be in my opinion
a safer bet.
Some people think it makes their lives easier by tiring the puppy out.
This does'nt mean you can't keep up all the socialising,but care taken at this stage
could lead to better hips,also don't let him climb stairs til after 9 months.

Stress again this is just my suggestion,what do others think??
Briony

My lab bitch (5month) has started whining & barking in the mornings from about 5:30am!!! My akita bitch used to do the same at about the same age and then grew out of it. Most of the time with mine is because she is playing with something in her run or wants my akita to play, the lab is a noisey one always talking to herself and others! sometimes she appears to whine just to get my attention. I tend to ignore her until she is quiet and then get up and let her out as I do not want to wake the neighbours.

I immediately take them both for a walk and then feed them as they are usually starving by morning. I am going to try feeding them a larger feed in the evening incase it is hunger pangs that is starting it.

I too am confused about the amount of exercise you should give a pup, mine gets 15 mins in the morning, 15 mins being a nutter at lunch time and then anything from 30 mins to an hour in the evenings, some of which is off the lead, she is regularly checked at the vet as they are only at the bottom of my road, and no signs of any problems. I would have thought that if you were draggin your dog out for a walk then you have done too much, if the dog wants some exercise then it is most probably ok?

Timb, thanks for your message. Your lab seems to be the same age as my dog so it is good that we can relate. We seem to give them the same amount of exercise which I consider to be about right aswell. The thing is so many people have different opinions it is hard to know if we are either being cruel by restricting the walking time or not.

With regards to feeding, it sounds like you are feeding 3 times a day. Are you looking to change this to twice a day when she is 6 months?.

Darren

I am feeding 3 times a day at the moment, which my 11 month old akita bitch loves! as she gets fed at the same time as difficult to feed one without the other as the lab wont eat until my akita says she can. I am definitely looking to move to 2 meals a day when she is 6 months old as I do not want a fat lab on my hands.

As to the walking mine seems very healthy on it, she has a great set of shoulders on her which is useful in playing with a 7 1/2 stone akita! Jinx, my lab, goes mad when I get the leads out so I know she wants to walk but I try not to get her doing too much walking on pavements, although as soon as she gets on grass she goes mad as she usually wants to run right with her big "sister"!