My wife came home in tears with dog tonight.

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

Turns out someone yelled at her to stop hitting our dog! We would NEVER lay a hand on our dog. The very thought of it makes me sick. Our dog just cries a lot.

We have a 2 year old smooth collie lab mix that whines constantly when we walk her. Terrible whining...as if she was hit by a car. It's embarassing!

Roxie whines when other dogs are around, when she thinks other dogs are around, or when we walk by a place she know other dogs are around. We just don't know what to do.

She whines and cries the whole time we're walking Tail wagging the whole way! We ask her to be quiet, we say no, we reset and continue. A walk that may take 5 min witha normal dog take us a half hour.

Does anyone know what causes this? and maybe something we can do to remedy it?

She whines and cries the whole time we're walking Tail wagging the whole way! We ask her to be quiet, we say no, we reset and continue. A walk that may take 5 min with a normal dog take us a half hour.

 

[MyIrishWolfie]

Wonder why someone yelled at her for hitting the dog if she didnt?

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

Wonder why someone yelled at her for hitting the dog if she didnt?

First off, I'm insulted by your post. I'm looking for constructive help here.


The person yelled from their back yard yelling at my wife through the trees and bushes.....

The dog makes noises that sound like she's being harmed when in fact she's just sitting.

I assure you...my wife never touched the dog.

 

[tessa_s212]

Is she excited? Excitement from seeing all the things outdoors?

 

[moondog]

One time at the park my small dog ran under my foot as I was walking and got "kicked" and then a few minutes later someone lectured me on how bad it is to punish dogs physically "or say... kick your dog" (that's how she said it). At first I thought it was weird that she was talking on and on to me about this randomly but then remembered the little accident that had just happened and realized that maybe she mis-saw something. But I didn't cry about it, I know that I never abuse my dogs.

 

[Giny]

My Boomer will scream like a banshee when he sees a dog while on our walk. He does it out of excitement and wants to great them. I'm sure people must think I hit him also, though like your dog he's never been hit. It can be quite embarrassing at times. Sometimes asking him to sit well help, but not always. I'm not sure what I'd do if he did that the entire time. I'm sure someone here will be able to help you. It may help my situation too.

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

Roxie suffers from incredible excitement.

Remember the first time you went to DisneyLand??? That's what a walk for Roxie is like. Head shifting, panting, whining attention on everything around her.

She cries and cries as we walk. I guess from excitement. It;s not aggression.

I think what bothers me the most is that my wife is really upset from this experience. She's upset at the woman, as well as the situation. All we wanted was a dog we could enjoy walking.

Walking with Roxie is hardly a "walk in the park" We've had basic training (passed at the top of her class) and we drop her off at Doggie Day Care once a week. She's social..I just don't understand why she's so vocal?

 

[elegy]

to be honest, i'd ignore the whining and ignore the dumb remarks from people. take food along on your walks and feed her for being quiet.

does she have any kind of cue to put her attention on you? teaching her that may help. although of course it is quite possible to look at you and whine

my dog screams like a demon when she sees other dogs and it's gotten lots of embarrassing attention and remarks, but whatever. i know i'm not beating my dog. i know she's just being her freakishly abnormal self. i don't get myself upset about it anymore because it's just her.

 

[tessa_s212]

I would look into this book:

The bark stops here – Terry Ryan

I have not read it, but I have been told it is a good book.

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

Thanks everyone.

I appreciate the constructive posts.

We have had her trained to pay attention to us while we walk. It worked during school. Once she was familiar with the surroundings and the other dogs, she would calm right down and act like a perfect lady.

If we're outdoors and she's not familiar with what the deal is...she goes bananas. When another dog comes around, hold on tight! she barks cries and whines. All the time her tail is wagging.

It's embarassing.

Tomorrow night I will IGNORE her noise and begin rewarding when quiet.

Gawd, this dog is stressful. :s

 

[Doberluv]

When she's whining and you're talking to her, no matter what you say.....or if you're looking at her or any reaction, she is being reinforced for that behavior. You have been inadvertantly rewarding her and so any behavior will tend to be repeated when having been reinforced. So, what you can do, is ignore that, and when there is a lull, even if it's just for a couple of seconds, pop a tasty treat quickly into her mouth. If she continues whining again, ignore. The other thing you can try is to teach her to "watch" at other times....at home in your living room. Teach her to give you her attention on command so that before she starts whining, see if you can get her mind onto something else....watching you and from there you can give her another command, like heel plus watch.

As she gives you, first one second of quiet, reward...then wait only for 2 seconds. If successful, go onto 4 seconds or so. Don't go too fast. If she has been quiet for 2 or 3 seconds and now when you try 7, she whines, go back to 3 seconds and inch up. She'll catch on, but it will take practice...lots of reinforcements before she knows what it is she's actually getting rewarded for. For the first week or more, she'll keep trying what has been working so far....the whining. Then when she starts getting a reward, she'll be guessing what it is she's doing that is getting her the treat. So, you gotta keep it up consistantly and in about 2-3 weeks, you should see that whining phase right out.

If you use a clicker (you'd have to read up on that) it will mark the behavior even more precisely...as to what she is getting rewarded for.

Take her out and practice in your yard or where there aren't too many distractions at first or where the area is where she's least likely to whine so much. Work with her when she's hungry so those treats really have meaning and use good treats; cheese, liver treats, hotdogs...tiny pieces.

Let us know how things go. That has to be embarrassing. LOL.

Wow! Fast responses. I was still typing away when some were posted. LOL.

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

I'm going to call my trainer today to see if he wouldn't mind coming on a walk with us to see how she is first hand. And in the process maybe give my wife and I some more tools to use while walking her to rid her of this horrible habbit she has developed.


Thanks again! We'll be sure to update.

 

[OutlineACDs]

You may want to try having her show some self control. Does the whining start as soon as the leash snaps on? If it does practice with her snapping on the leash and letting her drag it around the house. After a while this will be no big deal to her. Leashes are no longer as exciting. Then try opening your front door with her on the leash. If she is lunging to get out/whining have her stay in a down position in the door way. Do this as many days as you have to until she shows some self control and stops the whining. After that you can progress to walking out onto the front porch. If there is whining she gets another down stay. Do this as long and as many times until she can exhibit self control. At this point you may want to add distractions. Have a neighbor walk by, 20, 30, 50 feet away. As far as it takes for her to be successful and not whine. Slowly you can progress to walking out of the door and down the driveway to the street to take your walk. If she ever does not exhibit self control the walk is over and she must down stay until the whining stops.
The walk is the reward for her, for her to get the walk, she must do what you want and not whine.

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

^^^Excellent Idea about leashing her in the house first. I will try that this evening.

She has several issues here. She is so concerned with what is around her she doesn't pay any attention to me. I even cracked out the high-fat roll over treats last night to get her to focus. We started walking in a parking lot at a school next to my home. Around and around over and over again. I adjusted when I rewarded her. I used to only reward her when she checked in with me. Last night I tried rewarding her whenever she was quiet. This seemed to work after about a half an our or so. I finally get her walking like an absolute angel, quiet, at ease and right by my knee and out of the corner of her eye, she spots another dog about 50 yards away and flies off the handle. Crying yelping whining. It is actually a sound that makes me unconfortable.

I noticed that once I get her calm, walking is a brezze (soooo enjoyable) It's when there is another dog within ear/eye shot that makes her crazy.

My wife and I have also started working VERY tightly with her in the house again. Doing a sit stay when placing her food down, making sure we go trough doors first etc....I think we may have been letting her get away with too much stuff and therefore she stopped listening to us.

My trainer is going to come over next week to go for a walk with us and see if there is anything more he can teach us to help us with this problem...and ,more importantly, NOT HAVE THE NEIGHBOURS THINK WE'RE BEATING OUR DOG!!!!!

I'm begining to wonder if this dog has ever been on a leash before. We have no history on her. (s.p.c.a.)

We're determined parents....I think all we want is to be able to walk and truely enjoy the experience of being dog owners.

In time, I KNOW we will.

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

First off, I'm insulted by your post. I'm looking for constructive help here.


The person yelled from their back yard yelling at my wife through the trees and bushes.....

The dog makes noises that sound like she's being harmed when in fact she's just sitting.

I assure you...my wife never touched the dog.

No offence, but I think you are over-reacting a little. This person just asked a simple question, she/he never implied that you did beat your dog. I am glad that you have the training figured out anyway.
Best of luck!

~Tucker

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

We've had our trainer over to help us one-on-one with this issue. He's taught us to pull up on her with the gentle leader to force eyecontact while using the word quiet. And not to let her down until she stops whining. Reward her when she stops.

It's still not working really. Some days are better than ohers. She really whines when we get to an area she knows has other dogs around. It's tough.

I may take her to an area near the leash free zone outside the fences and work with her slowly. Maybe this will help?

I'm really getting frustrated. I think we may need real psychological help.

 

[pitbulliest]

Roxie suffers from incredible excitement.

Remember the first time you went to DisneyLand??? That's what a walk for Roxie is like. Head shifting, panting, whining attention on everything around her.

She cries and cries as we walk. I guess from excitement. It;s not aggression.

I think what bothers me the most is that my wife is really upset from this experience. She's upset at the woman, as well as the situation. All we wanted was a dog we could enjoy walking.

Walking with Roxie is hardly a "walk in the park" We've had basic training (passed at the top of her class) and we drop her off at Doggie Day Care once a week. She's social..I just don't understand why she's so vocal?

This probably isn't the problem with your dog, but could it have anything to do with joints? My dog has joint problems, and although he doesn't cry when he walks, I know others that do have dogs like that - they need to give pain killers, have surgery, or take glucosamine to reduce the arthritis....I'm probably way off, but its a suggestion?

 

[ROXIE'S FOLKS]

This probably isn't the problem with your dog, but could it have anything to do with joints? My dog has joint problems, and although he doesn't cry when he walks, I know others that do have dogs like that - they need to give pain killers, have surgery, or take glucosamine to reduce the arthritis....I'm probably way off, but its a suggestion?

Great suggestion,

but this is more "whining" tail wagging and such. It's as if she's just SO EXCITED she can't control herself.

It's not a pain thing....I'm sure of that, we run and jump and such everyday.

Thanks for the reply thoguh.

 

[pitbulliest]

now that I think of it, there is a lady with a miniature pinscher on my street that does that. This dog screams bloody murder when its going for a walk, and it gets taken out often!

Good luck, I hope you resolve the problem.

 

[cowgurl6254]

Have you had her checked out by a vet to make sure she's not in some sort of pain? My aunt's dog did this and it turned out she had major back problems that made walking very painful. Good luck!