Excessive Whining

Excessive whining has to be ignored. You cannot reinforce the behavior.

A woman was walking a foster dog past my house, lunging at me, trying to bite. The whole time she's petting him — "It's OK, Cupid. It's OK, Cupid." I had to stop her. What you're doing is a hundred percent the wrong thing. In a deep voice, say "No." Let the dog know that's not acceptable.

The trap: the dog whines for an hour, an hour fifteen, an hour and a half — and you give in. "OK, you can sleep in the bed with me." All the dog learned: whine ninety minutes, get the bed. He will do that every night.

Don't touch, don't reward, don't go to the dog. If the whining escalates, put him in another room.

But do not reward excessive whining.