Please Help! Barking/whining.

[Hipcheck2012]

I know GSDs are vocal, but my recent addition is on my last nerve.

He is 8-9 months old.. and basically everything was new to him. Most things I can handle. He is socializing well(500% better than when I got him a few weeks ago).. Learning SOME manners, slowly but surely..

The issue that is about to push me over the edge-- his barking/whining in the crate at 5am.. 7am.. It's not a consistent time, but it's become a near nightly habit. If he were a pup, it'd be easier to ignore, but he's a 75 lb boy. He is LOUD and he paws and jumps at his crate door.

He lived in a kennel outside before I got him, so the crate training is new.

There is also some definite separation anxiety.. He'll do the same thing if I shut the door of the truck and just look in.. Or if he gets "shut" outside. He even got banned from my work(I'm a vet tech) because of this, and there are barking dogs there all of the time!

I feel like he is getting worse, not better.. With this aspect. Luckily I don't work this AM.. But I felt myself being very impatient with him when I let him out.. And I'm ready to buy a bark collar.

Posting this as a last ditch plea for ideas. I thank you in advance!

Oh, and I can't completely ignore him, although I'd love to... Because I have a housemate, paper thin walls, you can hear him from down the street, etc.


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[VanBuren shepherds]

My eight month old male GSD is up at 5:00 every morning. That's when he's ready to wake up, go outside, and play. Once they've rested they want to be out of the crate. Sometimes you just have to adjust your schedule a little bit.
Try giving him something to chew on when he starts like a kong with frozen peanut butter inside or a bully stick. If he's just bored that should help!


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[jae]

Dogs are certainly creatures of habit and if you are breaking a routine, they will let you know. I just moved one time zone away, one hour behind, and my boy insists on starting the day at 5am. On the plus side, it's a great alarm clock, I will never be late to work! I would say to really establish a routine and stick with it, and it's tough cookies for the dog if it strays a little bit here and there. My boy also had some pretty decent separation anxiety, I had to work him hard in the morning to tire him out, plus a frozen kong before I left. Now if I don't do that (surprise) he'll still shout when I leave.

[msvette2u]

We used a bark collar with our last GSD, who tolerated it fine.
Be aware some dogs don't tolerate it - our other GSD freaked out and yelped, which triggered another shock, which caused him to yelp and this went on until we were able to get the collar off of him (he was falling over, struggling, etc.) it was a nightmare.
He was not a good candidate for one so we never used it again.

The other dog yelped and screamed and shrieked when we'd travel, so we ended up using the collar on him when we'd travel and he was much quieter which made us happier.
I mean...people would stare as we were leashing him up, thinking we were beating him. It was that bad, so the collar was a blessed relief from that!

[Niko831]

My 9 mo was doing the same thing. But instead of early mornings, he was doing it at 1:00 AM. Doing the single "I'm scared" bark. After checking on him and saying it was all right, he would continue, night after night.

Finally I just started using a real stern voice. Basically letting him know who is the boss and he is 95% better.

[Gunthers_mom]

Gunther did this for a little while, he seems to be more calm with his kennel covered so he can't see us, and I will say "enough", when he whines. It has gotten much better. I would say he stops about 85-90% of the time.


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[BlackthornGSD]

One thing you can try is a DAP collar--apparently, for some dogs it works really well.

I'd also look into "Crate Games" -- if you google it, you can find a ton of youtube videos and the original DVD -- this "game" is heavy on conditioning your dog to like the crate and to understand that it's not just a matter of being shut in and locked away.

One other thing you might try -- is your boy crated in another area of the house? It might be worth trying to crate him in your bedroom (or for you to move to sleep in the area near him). He's going through a whole lot of turmoil right now and part of that is him learning that he wants to be near you, which entails some anxiety when you are not near. Sometimes if they are crated near you, you can wake up, say a few words and then everyone goes back to sleep without much dramatics.

Finally, he very well may have established his own schedule where he gets up and pees around 5 am in his yard. He may actually have to go to the bathroom at that time due to long habit.