# How to stop whining from standing still



## Lin

Tessa will whine when bored when we are out. She never does this around the house. But in waiting rooms, or sometimes waiting in line at the store she will whine softly from boredom, its her way of saying "ok lets go already!" I'm not sure how to stop this? I usually say "shush" to her or her name softly but firmly and she will stop, but starts again later. So I want a permanent solution but am not sure how to go about it. Should I teach her to whine on command and then teach a "no whine" command or something? All suggestions appreciated!


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## Jax08

I teach "quiet". I have the best results with a clicker and treats. Jax whines constantly, especially is someone else has her leash and I'm standing near. Today my back was to her and I wasn't paying attention so she started to bark at me.


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## Lin

How did you teach quiet?


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## gmcenroe

Juli knows quiet. She would whine in the car in her crate sometimes and when she stopped I would say quiet to mark that behavior and give her a treat and lots of praise. She soon learned that if she was quiet she would be rewarded. I also used this method to get her to stop barking at passing cars when she went through that phase. She had too much freedom in the car so I went back to crating her at all times in the car for her and my safety. Her favorite place used to be back feet on the backseat, front feet on the console! A good way to block my view to the right.


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## Lin

bump? Thanks for the advice so far, but wanting some more opinions. I'm afraid in teaching quiet that it might start a bad cycle. For example, dog whines and I say quiet and dog stops so I treat. Dog learns to whine so it can be told quiet and get treat. And just clicking and treating for quiet during the day I'm not sure how the dog will connect being quiet is the behaviour you're treating for? 

The other day at borders she was whining a lot while I was sitting reading a book. She would start and I would say quiet with a poke or light pull on the leash to distract her and she would stop. But when people walked by sometimes it would cause her to watch them walking by and start whining again. Her love of people and dogs is our biggest challenge with being the service dog, especially with those fly by petters!


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## Jax08

When she whines I tell her NO and and quiet. When she quiets I give her a treat. I do not give her treats all the times so she never knows if she is going to get one or not. I had great success with this and then stopped so she's backsliding. I also have a prong collar and the correction from the prong makes her whine and carry on more.

Fly by petters are just awesome! When they walk by I tell her NO Leave It.

If she starts whining when ppl walk by try catching her attention and work on Watch Me.

I'm in the learning process with Jax but all this seems to be working and she is the WHINING QUEEN!!


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## Lin

When she's whining from people walking by, its because she's in a down on the floor and I'm sitting reading, so I don't see the people walking by until after I notice her whine and tell her quiet.


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## Brightelf

I think she has a great, social personality! She sounds like such a super dog! I am sure you firmly discourage those fly-by petters, too, even though it's tough to do.

I have a whiner, also. I also use food and positive-based training to teach all tasks. Whining, however, is something I correct for. Just like pawing, jumping up, mouthing etc. it translates to a bossy (no matter how sweet the dog is) "I want, I WANT!!" No snacks, NO EYE CONTACT, just a correction, and a firm "No." Zero eye contact after that for quite a few minutes.


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## Lin

Thanks Patti. I'm also positive based with Tessa, I can't be correction based or she gets intimidated and shuts down mentally. She's handler soft. And I think with treats this is the exact type situation where the dog will learn to purposefully do the behaviour to get a treat! I'll keep up with the distractions (poke, leash tug) with "quiet" or maybe switch to "no" when it happens. We're going to the library in a bit so I'm sure I will have the opportunity to work on it again!

I really hate the fly by petters, I didn't realize before it was going to be as bad as it is! One time a little girl ran up and started petting and as soon as I had finished blocking her and explaining to her mother Tessa's a service dog, her sister starts petting!!


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## BJDimock

Fidelco teaches a "Chill out " command, where we have the dog sit quietly under our feet or chair. I have had much success in transferring the command to other situations. When I start, I place the dog under my legs and give the command. I reward frequently at first, and less as the dog gets better.
Chill out for my dogs means just another state of mind. It becomes another command that they learn means their still working and paying attention to me and only me.
This is a great thing when you get fly by petters!


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## Chicagocanine

I had that "problem" with my terrier mix. Being an active terrier it was natural for him to be very excited and get bored easily. Unfortunately for him standing still for more than a few seconds (long enough to do a sit before crossing the street for example) on walks was too much!
If we were in class or a waiting room or something I usually would take the time to practice some obedience to keep him occupied and not bored, such as 'puppy push-ups' (sit-down-sit-down-sit etc) or practice some tricks. If I happened to have a clicker/treats with me I would do some capturing sometimes to give him something to focus on.

I also did reward him for being quiet without being told. If he was waiting for a short time and was actually quiet he'd get a click/reward for that. Sometimes I could catch him being quiet before he started whining and reward it.
He did know a "quiet" command but it didn't work for whining because he would just whine more quietly and personally I found the whining-under-your-breath MORE annoying than full out whines! Actually I taught him to bark on cue first and then taught quiet. However since he was a terrier the vocalizing was ingrained and self-rewarding so not easy to stop. If you can put the whining on cue it might also help reduce it.


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