Adult westie whining lots in the night

[Lou G]

Help! My Westie angus is 3 and has always slept in his basket in the utility room with stair gate on. When we go out he stays in there and when we are at work. Leaving him any other part of the house means that he will bark at any noise he hears, so the utility room is the only practical place for him at night as he doesn't bark when he's in there. Over the last few weeks he has been whining over night when he's in there which is waking the household up. We go down and let him out which is OK if it's once, but it's got more and more and he really thinks it's a game and runs about the garden! We don't talk to him, just let him out. After nights of very little sleep last week, I let him out for the FOURTH time at 4am and this time shut him and his basket in the shed. We have tried this for 10 days, if he whines he gets let out and let back in the shed in the hope that he will associate whining with being put in the shed, but we don't appear to be making progress but at least can't hear him from the shed whatever he does! I feel terrible putting him out there in the cold but if we let him out and put him back in the utility room, he just continues to whine. When we get him up in the morning, he is his normal self and none the worse for his ordeal. Please help!

[nick_j007]

This is in essence very simple.

YOU ARE TO STOP GOING TO HIM AT NIGHTS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.



He is inclined to be vocal and maybe overly attached to you. You have inadvertently created a problem (for you) whereby he makes a noise and you appear. He has trained you well.

At 3 yrs of age he should be able to go through the night without a toilet break. Ensure he is unable to take on lots of water after 9pm say to be sure.

Your mission is to now break the cycle you have created. The quickest and simplest way to this is to follow my first line in caps. yes he will whine, yes he will bark. Will you return? The answer should be no, but the outcome depends on your firmness of your resolve.

Good luck.

I'm off to see 2 aggressive staffies.

[Lou G]

Thanks for your advice. I will do as instructed and keep you posted.

[nick_j007]

Good for you. It should work fine based on experience, but of course keep me posted.

Our natural response is not to let our animals get distressed and to soothe them.

I suspect your dog has a degree of separation anxiety, and this will stem back into the way you interact during the day. be sure to have calm greetings and departures at other times during the day and to be able to have some physical space between you at times. Dogs can in fact be 'over loved' and this removes the sense of independence when not allowed to settle alone. This in turn weakens the dog and creates over dependence on you.

I may or may not be onto something there in your case.

Best.

Nick

[Lou G]

I'm pleased to say that Angus has stopped his night time whining. We did as instructed and did our best to ignore him, although some nights he ended up back in the shed because we could stand no more, but once out there we could not hear him and he was left out there with his basket until we got up. He apears to have got the message that whining = shed or nothing. He evens goes to bed at night without a problem, because we had trouble with whining and banging on his stair gate as soon as he got to bed. Now he sits happily in his basket as we leave. Many thanks for your help.

[nick_j007]

That's terrific well done there!

A firm resolve knowing that the dog is comfortable is often the way forward.

Now you need to maintain your stance

Best.

Nick

[annecsmith09]

my dog whines too especially when i get out of house but only for several minutes. he is too attached to me.