How can I get my puppy to quit whining when I leave the room or at night?

[steve and angie]

I leave the room and my little boy starts whining and at night we put him in a portable kennel with a teddy bear and an article of my clothing and he whines and even barks. What can I do to comfort him more at night besides putting him in bed with me, and I can't leave him out to roam because he is chewing everything and anything.

[JazzyAllie]

try giving him so thing other than a piece of clothing, give hime a small pillow or something, that way he can be actually think hes laying with you, when hes not. put the kennel beside the bed that way he can be close to you.

[thorn]

You just have to let him, ignore him. Once you've left him for the night, DON'T GO BACK! If you go back, even periodically, he is rewarded for his whining by your return, and therefore will continue to do it. Don't EVER put him in your bed with you, otherwise he will continue to whine and whine and whine.

If you need to kennel him in the garage to get some sleep, go ahead and do it -but he must learn to sleep in his kennel.

[rjn529]

As hard as it sounds, just ignore the whines. If you go to him, he has "won",and will continue to cry as he knows you will come get him.

Keep the teddy bear and clothes with him, and he will soon learn that crying does not get him anything, and he will quit. It will just take a little time.

[rose]

leave him for 5 mins. , then stroke him, and go away for
another 20 mins. , then give him a treat, go away for an hour,
stroke, and treat , then your dog should not go whining!

[Dr. S]

As rjn529 said, just let them be. If you go to them when they are whining, they will have "won" and think that whining will make you come every time. The best thing to do is leave an article of clothing with your scent on it in the crate with them. Another reason they whine is because they are used to sleeping with their litter mates and mother. If you want to remedy this, you can buy a clock or a metronome (one of those rhythm/tempo devices) to turn it on at night and put a stuffed animal in the crate with the puppy. The clock/metronome simulates the heartbeat of its mother and the stuffed animal will act as one of its litter mates. This will comfort them during the night. Another thing you can do is leave a night light on and turn the music on low to make them feel like they aren't alone. Most puppies will eventually grow out of this (needing their mother, litter mate, music, etc) once they are about 3 or 4 months old. If not by then, they will by about 6 months. Always keep a chew toy in there for them so if they wake up or don't go right to sleep, they have something to occupy themselves. Good luck.