It's been QUITE a while since I've last posted, and Koda & I have been through quite a bit on a day-to-day basis. I've since made a few changes in our routine: I no longer walk around my apartment complex 3-4x, I read about a game of "Monster" (similar to tag lol) from a member on the forum & he loves it, his crate is now covered and outside of my room near the door, and I've stopped using his check chain during walking. I've had successes with these changes & a few setbacks, but I'm going to try sticking with them to see if they'll work. The worst of the reactions to these changes is Koda's incessant whining, ESPECIALLY if the A/C unit turns on in our room (his crate is a few feet away from it). If he hears any human associated noises, he whines. If he smells anything human associated, he whines. If a room full of people are present and he isn't in the mix (get togethers etc.), he whines. I normally attempt to ignore it, so that he doesn't believe every time he whines I'll be coming to the rescue. Long as any of the aforementioned things doesn't occur, he won't whine while in his crate. I put a peanut-butter kong (frozen) with treats and kibble inside, a deer shank with treats shoved inside, and his fav dental ridged nylabone to ease his "pain". When he does whine, I'll get up and say "Quiet!" and tap the crate, then leave. Sometimes this works, but if the A/C unit is on, it's hopeless. He tends to do this in the wee morning hours, and we have early a.m classes so that definitely cannot fly. What methods have you all used to stop your dogs' whining?

For the Husky, I gave up. It will never end. Sometimes throwing a shoe at him will buy me a few quiet minutes, but that's as good as it gets.

Ear plugs. lol.

Ummm go look at my video of riding with jack in the car and tell me if that's what your dealing with!

Over 2.5yrs since we have had him and nothing stopes it, its a husky thing.... sorry

Koda wrote:

Ear plugs. lol.

I'm seriously going invest in some good ear plugs! I'm not even kidding!

Kody is a MAJOR WHINNY BABY!! Starts at 6am(ish) and course then wakes Mya up. I take them out and feed them. When I attempt to go to back to bed (on the weekends) he's non stop barking/crying/whinning. Mind you HE'S NOT in his crate...hes loose in our bedroom.

Nothing works. Frozen Kong works for about 30min and a raw marrow bone for about 45min, but then he starts playing with it and throwing it all over the room. A marrow bone smashing into walls is LOUD..lol!!!

So...yep...IT'S A HUSKY THING AND BUY EAR PLUGS..LOL!!!

I also deal with a whiny husky in the morning. Out of the 2 of them 1 is more whiny than the other. The only thing that stops it is actually letting them out of the crate in the mornings and any other time they whine. If I intended to let them out in the first place, I'll wait for moment of quiet then let them out. So like Eurith said, they won't think every time they whine I will let them out. Otherwise I just deal with the whining until its time for them to go out or I leave for work/school etc.

Ear plugs might be a really good idea now that it's been mentioned because seriously a whining Husky in the wee hours of the morning is not the most comforting of sounds lol

I deal with this every time Faolan is in his kennel and we are still in the apartment. We don't even have to be making noise, if he doesn't hear the door open and then shut as we leave for work or whatever he knows we are still there. But he doesn't just whine, he screams and cries and howls. And at bed time he goes into his kennel to sleep. As soon as we put him in there he screams and cries and howls. Luckily he has gotten to the point that he stops about 10 minutes after lights out because he knows we wont let him out if we are just going to bed. If we aren't in bed yet, though, say we are brushing our teeth and put him in his kennel to keep him out from under foot, he is screaming and crying. And he will usually wake us up around 2am to go potty, and again around 4-5am, always by randomly starting the screaming and howling. Not a pleasant sound to wake up to.

I got very lucky with Durbin!! He will wake me up no matter what around 7am to go potty and feed him, but once I bring him back in my room he will lay down again in his bed and sleep as long as I want longest time was tell 11am! He does whine but only if he wants to play or if we are playing with him he loves making all sorts of crazy sounds. When I leave and someone is home I will hear him screaming for a couple mins but he stops im hoping he grows out of that because there wont be someone there all the time like there is now.

Wow o.o well I intend to do something about that. I can't have him doing that-it just cannot be. I don't think huskies are incapable of learning what another dog can, just not as quickly or easily as they can. I know it will take persistence, but I can't let him have that ONE vice that kills me lol. Everything else is improving or getting tolerable, but that isn't one of those things I'll just let slide. Wish me luck though, I of course will only be using humane and safe methods to curb this issue. It's bad enough I get up at 6am for the daily rituals (I'm perfectly fine with it), but whining accompanying that if I'm not moving on HIS time? Lol this little 7 month old's quite confused, but I'll help him clarify ^^

The unfortunate part of it is that there's not much you can do except ignore it or shut it down before it begins (ie- prevent it). Huskies are like children... aside from physically beating them which we all refuse to do for obvious reasons... they know if they scream, there's very little we can do about it

I must have a strange one, Drogo never ever whines or cries when confined. Actually, he cried for literally 2 minutes the first night in his crate. Haven't heard a peep since. XD

I hate to be a bother, but i you research the breed before you got a puppy? Anything I have a read warns about whining and how vocal they are. These dogs are pack animals, they want to be with their pack...you really can't just train it out of them.

I'm feeling very fortunate! Mine are really pretty quiet dogs. If they wake up before my alarm, they just lay there until I get up. On the weekends, if I sleep past our usual wake up time, Dakota will stand next to the bed and stare at me until it wakes me. It's kinda freaky...

mheath0429 wrote:

I hate to be a bother, but i you research the breed before you got a puppy? Anything I have a read warns about whining and how vocal they are. These dogs are pack animals, they want to be with their pack...you really can't just train it out of them.

Agreed. Some things (like vocalization) are instilled in them, It's apart of their genetics, it not something you can just switch off... It would be like *trying* to teach a hound not to track, or a herding dog not to herd. Sry it's not what you want to hear, but it is probably something that you may have to live with.

mheath0429 wrote:

I hate to be a bother, but i you research the breed before you got a puppy? Anything I have a read warns about whining and how vocal they are. These dogs are pack animals, they want to be with their pack...you really can't just train it out of them.

I've followed the breed for over 20 years and I don't think I have ever read a warning that they whine. Whining is not being vocal the way vocalization is described in books and articles.

I would guess that if he hears you, or even thinks he hears you, he will want to be will you. That is the "pack" mentality. We always say, "They love their people."

Perhaps you could run a noisy fan that would block out all "human" noise. Of course he would probably have to get used to that as well.

I'm with Lisa on this one... it's not the whining that they are known for or even being vocal. In fact, I think I have read more often that "they don't bark" than I have "they are vocal."

The key is that this breed is very prone to separation anxiety. They are a very pack-oriented breed and do NOT like being separated from their pack. The whining is a result of this anxiety.

Lisa made some good suggestions. The best you can try is to attempt to deal with the whining by treating the separation anxiety. Desensitize and use positive reinforcement for good behavior.

I've been researching Sibes since I was 13 (7 years ago), so I feel quite confident in my knowledge in relation to providing for his needs based on breed traits. Koda rarely barks-most times it's when he sees a large man he doesn't know, a dog/item/shadow/etc he's not familiar with, but that's it. He's yet to begin the typical husky "vocalization", so I don't know exactly what to expect with that. I'm just glad he's not incessant with it.

By "stopping it", I indeed meant addressing his separation anxiety. Some behaviors only surface due to a lack of an outlet in terms of energy (physical state of the word & emotional). Vocalization is indeed a part of the breed's traits, but the circumstances that vocalization could occur under aren't set in stone. Some say their huskies don't whine, don't bark, don't howl, whereas others would say theirs may do any combination of the three. At the end of the day though, huskies are still dogs. Dogs are capable of learning routines and behaviors for certain situations, although it may take huskies just a bit longer to learn. Even if I have to get up once and tap his cage with a "Quiet!", and he remains relatively quiet-that's fine. It's progress-for a husky. Making the crate a safe haven for him can only go so far in his mind at times, and training to remind him it is so is possible. I came home and napped, and he stayed in his crate after being verbally corrected for whining until I woke up after 2 hours-by my roommate, not him. There is no difference between then & those two hours he could be awake before 6am or so.

I guess I feel like knowing the breed's habits and accepting some things as "traits" could be seen as open speculation, and in some ways, unfair to them as a whole. Some may indeed be as some of you say, but others are living proof of something different. I'm just saying I will explore other options with him together instead of write him off as a "typical, vocalizing husky with a complex" lol. At the end of the day, as long as he is well fed, loved, exercised and doesn't fear me while improving on those issues-he'll be just peachy.

mheath0429 wrote:

I hate to be a bother, but i you research the breed before you got a puppy? Anything I have a read warns about whining and how vocal they are. These dogs are pack animals, they want to be with their pack...you really can't just train it out of them.

I don't think I've ever really seen something that says "siberians whine," though obviously it is mentioned they are known to talk as that's a characteristic that makes them unique. As for not being able to train it out of them or "just being what a siberian husky is," I don't agree with that. Neither of my dogs have this issue, they are fine being alone and talking only really happens during food and treats and Koda likes to talk at dog parks sometimes.

That's one thing I hate about this breed when speaking of it- it's put to such a stereotype. Just like any other dogs, they can have bad and/or annoying habits, but it's not guaranteed and it's absolutely possible to adapt that behavior into something more desirable(for example, something I'd have the worst trouble with would be prey drive with cats and the such, but Kristina has had luck with training to call them off). Everything stated about the breed is a 'possible warning,' not set in stone.

Well-said, Heather!



We have a breeder near us who proudly advertises on his web site that one of his pups has become a professional search and rescue dog! We all know how hard that must have been to accomplish, but evidentally it can be done!



Patience and consistency. And, you are right, all dogs are different (Heather has angels ). Our first husky never whined nor awoowooed nor barked. Sabaka won't shut up! We are trying to teach him the command "Quiet" with a hand signal to go with it.



Eurith, I think you are correct to assume that his real issue is separation. He is vocalizing his distress because he's not with his peeps (or any peeps, for that matter). I would add that you should be careful that your tapping on his crate is not becoming a positive reinforcement in his mind. "I whine, she at least comes close enough to fuss at me." These dogs will accept negative attention if they know they cannot have the positive attention that they crave at that time.



Good luck!

Thanks for the backup Heatherlee! That was exactly my point! I honestly can say that with having classes and unpredictable schedules, it makes it a bit harder to train him for extended periods of time outside of his playtime, breakfast & dinner, and potty breaks. When I am able to breathe once these classes let up (this whole week has been filled with tests and quizzes in EVERY class), I can properly try to address that SA he may be developing properly.

SabakaMom, very insightful! I may have to alter my technique lol. I had read that earlier on a site with some very interesting articles someone posted the other day.

UPDATE: I now have a husky that does almost NO whining (most certainly not the disturbing, "world is ending" crying). My persistence paid off. The A/C no longer makes him whine, and he responds to verbal commands like "Quiet!" very well now. He can spend extended amounts of time in the crate without whining now, even if I'm home. I no longer have to tip toe around the apartment in hopes he won't hear me lol. It takes a while, but we don't have to settle for less with our huskies & place more blame on the breed. His SA is improving as well, so I'm overjoyed!