Gundog Training Forum

She's only 14 weeks...don't worry about it yet. One of My springer whines....until he's working! She's a baby!

That kind of whining got very little to do with the whining from stress when working in my world. Heavenly screamed and barked her lungs out when coming home here, not sure why since she's raised in a kennel. She can still wake up early in the morning whining because she is hungry. But out training she's very patient, entirely quiet even for long stretches of waiting, watching others working. She just sits down or even lies down most of the time if nothing happens to her.

My cocker also whined when overtired as a pup or in a whiney way if she had to wait too long - to me a slight beginning to a learned whine so i was extra careful with her. I waited a long time before i trained other dogs with her present, making her wait and watch, i also paused very often rather early, just standing doing nothing but not long times, just a few seconds here and there. What i wanted was for her to feel ok waiting, not just make her because she's obedient. A kind of adjusting her attitude so she'll feel relaxed and ok, it's a natural thing to wait, we do this all the time as part of the training/hunt. I feel i have succeeded with her, she very rarely says anything and is very good at waiting watching others work and hunt. Not sure my training did any difference, maybe she would have been quiet even without my extra attention to it, growing out of puppy hood?

Anyhow, persist with the rest, give her something to chew on when you crate her, don't put her in there when she's rested and frisky but when she's been active for a while. Pay extra attention to when she seems to get overtired and obnoxious and extra whiny, then you kept her out doing things for a wee bit too long. Still you should see that she learns to rest when she's tired so persist, something nice to chew on will calm before she falls asleep.

Telling her off only gives her feedback, any kind of attention is better than no attention, remember that!

Helene

ps. Congrats to the pup and welcome to the forum and yes, puppy pictures are VERY welcome!

My cocker went through a phase around that time. He's 10 months now and doesn't make a peep. She'll grow out of it, just tell her to be quiet lol

Shes only a pup so it could be a nervous/scared thing? When she is older, say 4 months old you have to teach them patients so that when they are sat at the peg or between drives etc. You start this by running around with the dog on the lead, stopping and telling the dog to sit. You then think of a number between 1 and 15seconds (to begin with) before you carry on running around, over time you can pick higher number between 10-40secs etc then the dog soon realizes that things are on your terms and she/he has to be patients until you say something.

Chris