Gun Dog Forum

Hey guys -

I have a year and a half old GSP. Great dog - very obedient and learns fast - however he's taken on a nack of whining when he's bored. Sometimes I don't even think he realizes that he is doing it. Do you guys have any tips on getting him to stop whining? Nothing is wrong with him, and he's not trying to communicate anything as far as I know. He gets tons of exercise and is healthy as can be - just likes to sit on the couch and whine - or walk around the office making noise. It's pretty annoying.

I realize that most bird dogs are very vocal dogs (I've had several) and some like to try and "talk" as we put it - but my guy is doing more "talking" than I'd like him to be. I've thought about treating it like a dog that barks - and basically just using an e-collar to give him a little nip every time he whines. Is this the best way to go about getting him to stop? Any better way?

Thanks in advance!

I don't think a bird dog should be vocal at all... e-collar would be better than bark collar because whining won't set one off. You could also just give him a grab by the jowels and tell him to be quiet every time. Sounds like its just a habit for him

I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Use a figure 8 - see smith silent command website for how to tie one or you can buy. Make pup wear it when he whines, take it off when he stops. He'll learn pretty quick that shutting up makes the figure 8 come off. I would only use it when your around, not to be left alone.

Thanks guys - I definitely think it's a habit he's gotten into that needs to stop, however, I also read that its a pretty common trait with GSP's. Either way, I'd like to make mine break his habit.

I'll look into the figure 8 - thanks again!

Any links on how to tie the smith silent command figure 8 would be great - it's hard to find online!

At Rick's seminars , registrants have a session on using it. It is not learned quickly.

This You tube link might help:

https://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=n ... QcP9z7c15M

I had a dog that was a barker. I have guests over every Monday. I like the fact that the dog will bark at strangers outside, and will bark when the doorbell rings. But, when *I* invite the stranger inside, I wanted the barking to stop. Here is what I did.

1) isolate the behavior: This dog is clicker trained. He knows that a click means a good treat is coming. So, every time he did an inappropriate bark, he got a click and a treat. Counter-intuitive, I know, but this helps the dog isolate the behavior in question. Helps the dog answer the question: what has changed. The simple act of clicking seriously reduced the barking by 90%. Problem was, a week later I needed to do it again.

2) Start punishing: After 3-4 iterations of this, when strangers came inside, the dog got a single click and treat. After that, if an inappropriate bark occurred, then he got a "aaah" (what I use in place of 'no') followed by a spritz from the water bottle to the face.

After he got a spritz to the face, when he then faced a new stranger a minute later, and didn't bark, he got a click and a treat for a silent greeting of the stranger.

My point with this is this: I got no problem punishing a dog to fix bad behavior. Just make sure the dog knows which behavior it is that is the offending one. If your dog is whining without thinking about it, then the dog may not equate the punishment to the offense. Giving a treat for the offending behavior can help the dog isolate the behavior in question, before you start punishing it.

migratesouth wrote:I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Sounds like poor training to me. Bird dogs should not make noise.

My bark collar works on whining. It is a Dogtra Y500.

CDN_Cocker wrote:

migratesouth wrote:I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Sounds like poor training to me. Bird dogs should not make noise.

GSP's whine more than other breeds IME.

Can't say I've had any problem with whining GSP's and I have owned several. I.M.O. the best way to stop a dog being a whiner is to put a stop to it the first time you hear it.
Trouble is most folk think whining is "cute" because the dog is still a pup.

Bill T.

Thank you all very much for the help and replies - I really appreciate it.

I'll read through and let you guys know how everything works out!

I really don' think my dog knows when he is whining or not - what's the best way to teach him that he actually IS whining in order to teach a command to stop it?

At a Rick Smith seminar I attended Rick had us all use Figure 8s on our dogs as they were staked out and we sat a little bit away. After a while most of the dogs shut up and were quiet, some requiring more Figure 8 applications than others. Some guy had a couple of shorthairs that stopped barking but would. not. quit the whining. So Rick put the ecollar on them, and gave them a tap every time they whined. 15 minutes later, blessed silence!

If you do this, you have to be careful not to acknowlege the dog. Don't look at him, don't speak to him. Just go on about your business and tap the button as needed. You want the dog to think the zap came from his whining, not from you.

Well said - timing has to be exact too.

Mental instability

Water in a squirt bottle for in house, hose for outside dogs keeps them all quit. Now when anyone drops by, dogs start barking, I can just say quite down now and silence from them. I can also say kennel up and they head in single file to the kennel repetition gets it and consitant training.

CDN_Cocker wrote:

migratesouth wrote:I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Sounds like poor training to me. Bird dogs should not make noise.

Have you ever been to a field trial??? Im at one right now an every single dog here has whinned or barked. Bird dogs are very high strung dogs there going to whine, mine cry the most right before i let them outta the dog box to hunt or work them. Not to sound like a know it all but some of y'all have no idea what your talking about

Dogs, especially the pointing breeds , do whine at any time they are not actually working. This happens at bird dog training days and at field trials and as long as the dog is not "under the judges" when it whines it cannot be eliminated ....not in Britain it can't anyway. I do my best to make sure my own pointing dogs do not ever whine when on a lead outdoors and I am usually successful. I also move well away from any dog that is whining as I think, rightly or wrongly, that whining can be "infectious."

In Britain , if you attended a retriever trial with a dog that whined at any time , just about everyone present would remove their dogs from your vicinity. You would be left standing there talking to yourself as many other handlers here also think whining is infectious. This is also true at spaniel trials. I've seen handlers with dogs prone to whining move as far from the other dogs and other competitors as they can reasonably go. This also takes a potential whiner further away from where the action is up in front.

In my opinion a hard going, nutcase keen working spaniel is just as keen as any pointing dog to hunt. The handlers themselves make every effort not to let the dogs whine while waiting their turn to run. A whining dog gets eliminated if it whines while being judged and in some ways spaniels are subject to even more temptation to chase or to run in than a pointer is and so they are more likely to whine in frustration . The handlers do their best to ensure their dogs never whine.

Our HPR and our setter/pointer trials seem, from what I have read, to have handlers much like you have in America. They make little effort to prevent whines so their dogs often do whine while waiting , on lead, to be under the judges.
Prevention is better than a later attempt to cure where whining is concerned.

Bill T.

Its the "fine german whine". I have 2 gsps; male and female. The male was a big whiner until i started correcting with e collar. I associated the word quiet with the correction. Now he still whines sometime but responds to the word alone. The female pup never whines but her high pitched shrill bark can shatter glass. Working on that the same way.

Personally i do not like bark collars. I like my dog to alarm bark for me but then shut up on command.

zjohn14 wrote:

CDN_Cocker wrote:

migratesouth wrote:I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Sounds like poor training to me. Bird dogs should not make noise.

Have you ever been to a field trial??? Im at one right now an every single dog here has whinned or barked. Bird dogs are very high strung dogs there going to whine, mine cry the most right before i let them outta the dog box to hunt or work them. Not to sound like a know it all but some of y'all have no idea what your talking about

Nice post zjohn, This is the first time I have ever heard anybody say that bird dogs should not make any noise. Maybe it wasn't meant to be taken completely literally but that comment really threw me.

Charlie

zjohn14 wrote:

CDN_Cocker wrote:

migratesouth wrote:I've only been exposed to about a dozen GSPs, but I haven't met one yet that didn't whine. Could this just be a trait common to the breed?

Sounds like poor training to me. Bird dogs should not make noise.

Have you ever been to a field trial??? Im at one right now an every single dog here has whinned or barked. Bird dogs are very high strung dogs there going to whine, mine cry the most right before i let them outta the dog box to hunt or work them. Not to sound like a know it all but some of y'all have no idea what your talking about

Glad someone said it.

Whining dog's drive me nuts so I will not tolerate it. I don't see that a figure 8 would help at all. As soon as I hear the whine, I grab the dog's nose and pinch it hard saying NO!. I think electric collars and bark collars can actually make the problem worse.

There's a big difference between carrying on when the dog thinks it's going to get to work or just sitting on the couch and whining for no apperant reason as the ops dog is doing. I've had several GSP's and none have whined just to hear themselves whine so I'm not sure you can blame the breed for that. Now when it comes to working, that's a whole different story. If you think field trials are bad, you should go to a Sleddog race! 500 dogs all screaming to go makes quite a racket.

I've had 2 GSPs - neither whined.
I have a setter who used to like to whine for food often . Telling my husband to stop feeding his leftovers and a jowl shake here and there solved the problem.

I can make any dog whine !

I believe it ! LOL You make me whine sometimes and growl.

All it takes is a 'trigger' !
Bitches are more prone to it I've found

ROFLMBO You win.

Sharon wrote:ROFLMBO You win.

You asked for that Sharon and I don't think it was intended.

I thought it was just fine. LOL We were just having fun. ( Thanks for looking out for me though.)

LOL.
You may have invented a new Acronym. TFLOFM