bratty whiny behaviors.....(can dogs be brats and whine anyways?)

[mebully21]

I got sadie in july 2011 from some woman who couldnt handle her with 2 toddlers.. she has been really good behavior wise since i got her,with the exception of the past 2 months.....

sadie will be 2 on 3/28.. the past few months she has started to act weird, whining when rufus is near me or roommate, if we are petting him she gets all whiny and acts "needy" (and i am only using human terms to describe the behavior i know dogs dont have human behaviors )and starts barking/whining and just acts like insecure in a way.... like room mates son is here for the weekend, he had rufus on his lap, and sadie started whining like crazy getting all "nervous/needy/insecure" behaviors and kept jumping on the couch to get closer to collin while rufus was sitting with him. i kept taking her off the couch and saying "no couch" and she listens for that moment, but then when collin started talking to rufus she started all over again, jumping on the couch to squeeze between rufus and couch to sit with collin... she does this with the roommate too, if we are sitting on the couch and rufus comes over to him and he starts petting him sadie gets all whiny nervous needy insecure (best way to describe her behavior its like she gets jumpy and excited in a way) and will push her way to him to have him pet her too (to which he knows to ignore her behavior as i have told him not to pet her when she does this)

if rufus is sniffing a bag on the table she does the same thing,, gets all whiny and acts all weird. she also has been putting her hackles up at certain dogs she sees in the neighborhood- these dogs have done nothing to her except glance her way , as i am always watching the other dogs and their owners as some owners cant control their dogs... i know hackles up is either excitement or fear, and when she sees these other dogs she immediately starts barking at them and growling and her hackles go straight up, no matter how much i correct her she doesnt stop and will get the last bark/growl in ...

she is also extremely attached to my roommate, if he leaves the apt she goes nuts running to the window to look for him and gets all whiny/anxious.. he does no training with her at all just takes her out places (obviously he is more fun then me as i just train her and play with her but i reprimand her when she does something wrong and wont let her act like a brat but he does) he does no reprimanding or training at all basically just acts like a playmate to her)

prior to the past 2 months of this behavior she didnt do this at all, no whiny "needy" behavior, no barking/growling/hackles up at these certain 3 dogs...

the only thing that changed was its been so cold the past 2 months that walking the long walks at night i havent done, the walks have been shorter due to the cold . and if i increase her walks she gets even more amped up sometimes

i dont know if its due to the no long walks anymore, or if she is closer to maturing at 2, or if she is going thru a fear/weird stage for the past 2 months..

she is also starting to react to noises outside by barking and growling, which i am reprimanding as well as sometimes there is nothing out there or its someone walkng their dog outside

i think i am going to up her training and put NILIF on her, as she has been getting away with stuff that i dont allow but my roommate does..

any other ideas that i am missing here??? please post away as i know i am misisng something and maybe if someone posts something it might be what i am missing...

[MaggieRoseLee]

Exercise (or lack of) makes a huge difference in my dogs. It's also the one on one and mental stimulation, not merely the physical activity.

When I start seeing issues arise, I need to look at what pro-active things I can do to step in before an annoying behavior becomes a bad habit.

So are you in GROUP classes with an instructor? Or just coming down hard on her with the NILIF on your own. Because I know that I sometimes forget to have a good balance of play/fund/engagement TRAINING along with the sometimes stricter rules around the house. Without balance, stuff also gets really really really bad.

The reason I like the group classes is the instructor will right away be able to keep the balance in training and give hints/suggestions that I wouldn't have thought of. I always THINK I know what I'm doing............... but need to STOP and remember to look at my dog.

Because if MY DOG isn't behaving properly, chances are it's not their fault but mine. Something I am doing or NOT doing. Something I thought I knew but did NOT know. Something I could try but wouldn't have thought of.

DOG CLASSES !!! Both the mental and physical 'exercise' usually makes a huge difference with the help of a great instructor.

Other thing I need to be careful of is making my pups out to be 'hairy humans' with human behaviors. Because both 'bratty' and 'whiny' are things humans do and can be taught to not do. But since dogs do NOT have these human characteristics if we try to fix it with that mindset we are going to be banging our head against the wall.

Think you should stop with the stricter stricter stricter and put a whole lot more balance and fun back in your pups life.

If you need a new place to train you may try http://www.morrisk9campus.com/

[mebully21]

thanks! i was using the terms bratty whiny just to describe her actions, as i know dogs dont have human behaviors..
we were in group classes last year but not anymore. the roommate does no training just play play play. i do a balance of play train exercise. she listens to me more then the roommate

i cant do group training right now funds are super tight

i will incorporate more playtime and less strict manners then see how it goes...
keep the ideas coming please!

[MaggieRoseLee]

Have you seen any of Michael Ellis's stuff with engagement training? Really eye opening about how you can 'play' an amazing amount with our dogs and use tons of treats, to get our dogs to LOVE training, listening, and learning from us. They will be so engaged they hang on our every word wanting to do what we are asking or at least try to figure it out.

It's really a different way to look at training and is amazing once we wrap our minds around it and we start to make the change.

Engagement - Key to Training <--click that

[mebully21]

ooh thank you!! i have just heard of him, and was going to check out his videos!!

[Mac's Mom]

You mentioned you've noticed this behavior "the past few" months. Our Mac is a lot more "whiny" and "bratty" in the winter. Because we don't spend as much time outside, he gets bored & restless. And much like a child, he mopes and even instigates. This isn't as sophisticated as the other suggestions, but we play games inside the house when its too cold to stay outside for long periods of time.

[mebully21]

its been for 2 months now.the weather here is colder, there have been some weeks where its been so cold the dogs didnt even want to walk for a long walk at night.. otherwise, we walk 3 miles but i break it up into 3 1 mile walks. i dont know if its because she will be 2 in march, or what.. she did it again before, rufus went to say hi to my roommate, and sadie immediately started whining/barking and trying to get in between rufus and my roommate. she does the same thing if rufus is cuddling with roommates son, she will try to force her way close to be petted as well, to which rufus corrects her .. this happened once him correcting her, i wasnt prepared for it so didnt know it was coming, ever since then i make sure it doesnt escalate to that point (which was why i have her on leash tied to me) she acts this way she gets taken out of the room for a bit.

[mebully21]

im going to throw something out here. my house consists of rufus, 9 1/2 yr old neutered pitmx, Sadie almost 2 yr old spayed female gsd (born 3/28/10) and cheyenne, a 16 year old dalmation that has been living with me since april 2011, she has been declining the past 2 months health wise, and is basically getting to the end (roommates dog)... is it possible that since the dynamics are changing because cheyenne is dying causing part of sadies issues? plus sadie turning 2 in a month, and maybe this is all part of what she is doing? sunday she was fine until rufus went to my roommate's son to hang with, he loves to cuddle with the boy , and when he went to him sadie started whining and tried to squeeze into them to get petted.... she did the same with roommate, he was on the floor , rufus walked over, he started petting rufus and sadie immediately started whining and ran right over to roommate and rufus and pretty much became very pushy for roommate to pet her too... is it possible her hitting 2 and cheyenne dying is contributing to her behavior?


i had to put my last gsd first when i had 3 dogs, she kept upsetting the balance and causing fights with my rottie , it was sonny, jesse then rufus hiararchy , but every time i had sonny the rottie in front per say the gsd caused numerous tiffs .. once i put her first, the tiffs stopped completely.. she didnt instigate any tiffs with the rott or rufus at all.. yes it sounds weird, but i just shifted the dynamics and put the gsd first, then the rott, then rufus when it came to food,training etc and everything was calmer (this too was when gsd was hitting 2 years old)

so its a shot in the dark, but could all the above be a factor? i mean rufus could care less who is in front of him pack wise, he does his own thing and doesnt care who gets fed first, walked first, pet first etc...

[mebully21]

oh and the whining is dog whining, when they make that noise that sounds like a whine.... that is the noise she does,so yes dogs do whine...(not as in human complaining about a coworker but a dog whine the sound dogs make when they whine like a dog)

like tonight,rufus went to move from the recliner to the couch toward my roommate.. as soon as sadie saw him move toward my roommate she started whining and tryng to get near my roommate before rufus could, almost like a resource guarding issue in a sense.