Expert: Alan J Turner, SATS LL1 - 11/28/2006

Question
My dog is a 13 year old male bichon frise who has been on prescription Science Diet U/D for a few weeks due to a history of bladder stones.  He loves the food!  But, he now keeps getting me up at 3am, 4am, 5am everyday because he wants to eat.  I don't want to feed him and reinforce the behavior, but he will not let me sleep.  He whines and whines until I give in.  Help!

Answer
Hi Jody,
Thanks for the question. When he whines and whines at 3am, 4am or 5am AND you give him food at 3am, 4am or 5am, why wouldn't he continue to get you up at 3am, 4am, 5am and whine?  

Teach him that whining doesn't work to get food and he will stop using that strategy. Stop 'giving in' and he will stop whining. In all probability it will take a few nights, but he will stop whining if it doesn't work for him. Unlike people, dogs don't keep trying the exact same techniques over and over if the techniques are not working.

Is your pup demanding or pushy during the day? IF so, you might start a sort of benign doggie boot camp program. Perform a search on "NILIF AND dogs". You'll find lots of useful information for kindly molding him into a cooperative house mate.

Happy Training!
AT