HELP!! My Parents' German Sheperd won't stop whining...

[k0tt0n_kandee]

I'm writing this for my parents they need some advice on there German Sheperd. Gabrielle is now 9 months old and all of a sudden the past 3-4 weeks she is now whining excessivly. She never did this until a few weeks ago we had our neighbors cutting down trees for about a weeks for 12 hours aday constant noise. As soon as they started that she was whining and carrying on. Before that happened the only time she tried was when she wanted outside to go potty. Well now since those ppl who came out to cut trees, she doesn't even want outside, and when she has to go potty she won't go at all she'll hold it making her cry constantly all day long because now she scared to go outside. Somedays, she acts fine and she'll go outside without whining or anything, but most of the time she's constantly crying pacing the floors, because she has to go but she don't want to go outside. How do you get her use to noises? She was fine untill those people came cutting down trees the loud noises absolutely changed her, she's pacing all the time and whining.
We've had big dogs my whole life growing up I remember some of them, my parents have had great danes, saint bernards, coon hounds, and my dad had a german shepard that lived to 16 yrs old she never did any of this. We just want to know how we can train her to stop doing this, so she can go outside and go potty on her own.

She use to never do this before. How do you get her use to loud noises or any noises for that matter? I take her outside and walk her for about 30 minutes a few times a day, so does my dad, but she won't go potty on a leash.

 

[moe]

ist off I would ignor the behaviour, by trying to calm the dog you are actually telling the dog its behaviour is acceptable, I would take her on lead out into the garden and be very at ease. act like nothing is there to be worried about, if the dog is dragging its feet just continue to walk about the garden with it on lead taking no notice of its behaviour, it will look to you for assurance if it sees you not worried it will help the dog to think there is nothing to worry about, possibly get the sound tape called crash bang wallap, this has many everyday sounds that you can play, it helps desentasise(sp) the dogs to sounds, I did this with all our pups and they are not fazed at all about load noises, take your dog on many walks where there is traffic, busy shooping streets etc, get it used to loud sudden noises remember to always act calmly never reasure your dog if it is behaving in a stressed manner, continue to walk passed the area of noise til the dog realises that it will come to no harm by the noise. this is the way I have dealt with this situation in the past and it has worked for me.

Mo

 

[Renee750il]

Any chance something happened to her out there while the trees were being cut? That's just not normal German Shepherd behaviour at all.

 

[Debi]

I think I'd have her checked by the vet. Sure, the noise may have seemed a little frightening to her...but she'd get over it quickly enough. I'd be thinking that she may be whining for some other reason...like maybe it's painful to go potty. She could possibly have a urinary tract infection or something. It's just something to consider since the noise has stopped, but she is still having a big problem.

 

[Renee750il]

Good thought, Debi.

If all that's all right, try to think if something happened out there. German Shepherds don't forget things, a trait shared by many herding and working breeds. If you think about it, it's a necessary skill for what they are bred to do. It's one of the traits that makes them such good guide dogs.

If you can figure out what might have happened, you can start to think about how to specifically desensitize her more quickly. We'll be glad to help you.

 

[avenlee]

Maybe bring your dog over to the "mean loud tree cutter people" (lol) to meet eachother. If its just the frieght of noise and the like, by the dog actually going over to meet the people, may put his mind at ease.

If not, then there could be something medically wrong and would suggest a vet visit. Has he/she been spayed/neutered? I don't know my dogs and Bird for that matter, start behaving really really odd when Spring kicks off. Could be just a short lived phase.