Tell your dog off. This will only make things worse. Your dog will become
● MORE anxious, not less.
The Best Thing You Can Do
Completely, utterly ignore your dog's whining. Pretend you can't hear it. You're not going to ignore your dog - after all, she’s trying to tell you something - but you are going to ignore the whining.
What you need to do is to redirect your dog’s attention, and make her forget whatever it was that she’s crying about.
You can do this easily: simply ask her to do something for you. Get her to
“sit-stay,” and, when she obeys, THEN you can reward her with attention and affection (it’s appropriate now, because she’s earned it). If she knows more obedience commands, run through those too.
A fantastic alternative is to involve her in a favorite game - the more active, the better. Just like with humans, physical exercise releases endorphins (the “feel-good” chemicals) in dogs, which elevate mood. Combine this with the attention from you and the sheer exuberant fun of a game, and she’ll be feeling better in no time - and with her improved mood comes an end to the whining!
Case Study: Whining
This is the case of Billy, the whining Weimaraner. From when he was a juvenile of five months (which is when he was adopted from the Weimaraner Rescue shelter), he’d always been pretty highly strung, and would react anxiously to new sights and sounds. His owner, Maisie wasn’t really fazed by this, because she knew that Weimaraners are typically pretty sensitive dogs. She figured that,
given ongoing stability of home life, lots of exercise, and a calm and authoritative owner, he’d gradually calm down and begin to explore life in a more confident manner.
As it turned out, she was half right: Billy didn’t get any worse, but neither did he get any better. By the time he was a year and a half old, he was still a very keyed-up dog. Maisie’s main problem with Billy was his ongoing habit of excessive whining.
According to Maisie, Billy would whine if he wasn’t given enough attention, if he was hungry, if he was tired, if he wanted to go out, if he wanted to come in, if another dog approached, if a human approached, and if he saw anything new.
This was beginning to get pretty wearing - after all, hearing a dog in distress is upsetting!
Because Maisie was a competent owner, we made sure our questions covered all aspects of Billy and Maisie’s life together. We asked Maisie a few questions about her home life, work habits, and the people that Billy socialized with on a regular basis.
As it turned out, Billy spent working hours (9-6, Monday to Friday) with Maisie’s elderly father. This sounded like a pretty suitable arrangement for everyone - Billy got constant companionship, Maisie’s dad loved spending time with Billy, and Maisie could go to work with a clear conscience and no worries about Billy’s state of mind during the day - until we spoke to Maisie’s Dad, Ed, about how he dealt with Billy’s crying and incessant whining.
Ed said he couldn’t bear to see or hear Billy so upset. Whenever Billy began to get agitated, Ed would feed him biscuits to cheer him up, or sit down with him and give him a big cuddle. He was perplexed because Billy’s crying was such an ongoing problem, but felt that he was probably doing the right thing - although Billy’s whining had never diminished in any way, he would always seem to calm down in the short term when he got a cuddle or a cookie.
This was clearly the root of the problems. It was explained to Ed that this was actually damaging to Billy, and that dogs need you to lead by example, and not to comfort them as if they were a child.
Ed had a hard time accepting this at first - he protested to Maisie that it seemed cruel to “just let the poor creature sob.” But Maisie asked Ed to try it our way for a week or so.
We heard back from Ed and Maisie after two weeks. He said that it was pretty heart wrenching to just ignore Billy’s crying, but that he felt that distraction techniques (game playing, obedience work, a walk) were both a kinder and
more constructive option for both of them. Billy’s mind was taken off his problems straight away, and Ed got to feel like he was still doing something constructive to help Billy.
We suggested that Ed try to ignore Billy’s whining fifty percent of the time, and distract him with games or walks the other half of the time. This was so that Billy wouldn’t feel as though he could “get something” from whining - he still needed to learn not to whine, period, rather than expect a game or walk every time he got upset.
Billy is still a very highly-strung dog, but he’s learned that whining isn’t necessarily going to improve his life at all.
P. Thieving
When we refer to “thieving” in dogs, this technically isn’t an accurate representation of your dog’s behavior. No dog is a thief, because no dog has the mental capacity to apply morals to her day to day behavior. So, although your dog might be taking food that’s not rightfully hers, it’s still not
“thieving” in the true sense of the word, because she doesn’t know she’s doing anything “wrong.”
When we talk about thieving, we’re using a phrase that’s been coined for a dog that eats something that we humans count among our own possessions.
Because dogs don’t have a sense of “right” and “wrong” like humans do, we can’t expect them to adhere to a code of moral conduct, or to refrain from
“stealing” any tempting food that’s been left out by us.
It’s true that an extremely well-trained dog is able to resist temptation, and can refrain from eating that roast chicken that has been left out so temptingly (and foolishly) on an accessible countertop - but again, this isn’t due to a well-developed sense of ethics on the dog’s behalf. On the contrary, good behavior in the face of temptation is all down to training, pure and simple, which is something that you’re responsible for, not your dog!
The purpose of explaining all this is to make it clear to you that if and when your dog manages to gulp something down that’s not rightfully hers, you can’t actually punish her for it unless you catch her IN THE ACT.
This is because, to her, she hasn’t done anything wrong, so you need to make
the connection between her eating that chicken and you being angry absolutely crystal clear (which you can do by reprimanding her as she’s actually eating the food). This is the only way that you can let her know that what she’s doing isn’t allowed.
If you come across the aftermath of a bout of thievery, it will do absolutely no good to yell, reprimand, or really to react in any way. The damage has already been done, so there’s no helpful lesson to be learned - the only thing your dog can learn from your negative reaction is to be more careful in future, so that she can enjoy the food without the consequences!
The best way to deal with thievery in your dog is to prevent it. Assume that she will view anything tasty you leave within her reach as fair game, and don’t ever rely on her “better instincts.” That’s not fair to her, and will almost certainly result in a spoiled meal and an angry you.
Probably the most productive thing you can do when dealing with your dog’s natural propensity for purloining food is to “dog proof” your house, much as new parents childproof their houses.
Think of it this way: if you had a toddler in the house, you wouldn’t leave anything valuable, delicate, or dangerous within reach of those destructive little hands, would you? You wouldn’t rely on that toddler’s ability to remember your requests that she please leave your things alone - you’d just make sure there was no opportunity for her to cause trouble in the first place.
Your dog’s thievery should be dealt with in the exact same way. It’s much easier, more effective, and certainly kinder to prevent your dog from gobbling your food than it is to spend time and effort in planning ways to booby-trap it, and generally to set her up for failure.
HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR PREVENTING THE FORMATION OF FOOD-STEALING HABITS IN YOUR DOG:
Your dog must not ever learn to expect - or even hope for - food in
● between her set mealtimes. Don’t ever feed her food scraps, and ask that other people refrain from doing so too. If your dog learns that food is available throughout the day, she’ll start actively hunting for it.
Spend a little time in your kitchen, looking at things from your dog’s
● point of view. Consider her physical agility, and think about her natural drive to steal food - how resourceful has she been in the past? Look at the small modifications you can make to your own kitchen habits which will prevent the opportunity for mischief from even arising: add childproof latches and snaps to drawers, cupboards, fridge doors, and
your pantry. Invest in a couple of large, secure bread bins (or other user-friendly containers) for you to put food in if you need to leave the kitchen when preparing a meal.
If you need to leave food out of the fridge or freezer, don’t put it in
● full view. Leave it somewhere out of reach (a high cupboard, the cold stove, a pantry with a catch on the door).
It’s always better to remove temptation, rather than relying on your
● dog’s training to overcome instinct. If she never learns how delicious human food is, she won’t start to think about ways to get some. For example, poking around in the trash can is a definite no-no - it teaches your dog how yummy human food is, and encourages scavenging for scraps. Use a trash can which either has a foot-pedal to operate the lid (as 99 out of 100 dogs will never figure this out), or one that has a secure, latched lid. For really smelly garbage, keep it in an outside bin that’s secure: a kitchen that smells of food scraps is too tempting for your dog and will encourage bad behavior.
Our Thoughts On Booby-Traps
These can be effective, especially with dogs that like to leap up on counters or tables to steal a quick tidbit. Our opinion is divided on the use of booby traps though - it seems like a lot of work and effort on your behalf, just to set your dog up for what is essentially a scary failure. When it comes to food-thievery, we believe that prevention is both a lot more effective AND a lot kinder to your dog than scaring the life out of her with a booby-trap!
Of course, this is up to you, and for chronic thieves a booby-trap can make a difference. If you do choose to set booby-traps for your dog, please make sure that they inflict fright, NOT pain. You want to startle and deter your dog, never hurt her.
One comparatively harmless idea is to tie one end of a string to a solid, tempting morsel of food that’s not likely to fall apart quickly (say a hotdog) and the other end to a can with a handful of pebbles inside it. When your dog grabs the food, she will cause the can to fall over - emitting a loud, startling rattle at the same time. This teaches her that retribution for thievery is caused directly by her own actions, which has the added advantage of teaching her never to take food, whether you’re there to notice or not!