How do I stop my dog whining at half 5 every morning?

[EnoughOfTheFootball]

We got a second retired greyhound a month ago and she's lovely, except for the whining. We never had this with our first dog and have no idea how to make her stop. The whining starts about half 5. I go downstairs to let them out but if I try and go back to bed the whining carries on so I tend to stay downstairs so everyone else and can try and get a bit more sleep. She doesn't whine at any other time in the day. How can I break this cycle? Any tips gratefully received.

Can you take her upstairs with you?

She's whining for attention. Whines > you go to her > she gets attention > the cycle continues.

I would deal with this in two ways.

1. Ignore completely until she learns that whining won't achieve anything

2. Allow her upstairs, but not in your bedroom. That way she can see you - eliminating the anxiety - but there is still a boundary.

Would be interested to see if anyone has solutions for this. My mums dog (13 years old) does this every morning and barks until she comes downstairs. Can't take her upstairs as she can't get up the stairs anymore

Thank you Lady we'll give it a try.

We had the same problem with our retired greyhound when we first got her. She would wake at around 5 and whine/howl/cry until someone came downstairs. She never seemed desperate to go out or particularly hungry so we suspected she just wanted company. We went on holiday after she had been with us about 3 months and she slept in our bedroom. She stayed asleep/settled without a murmur until after 7 when we started waking up. This confirmed our suspicions that all she really wanted was attention so when we got home we did as lady suggests and just ignored her. She now rarely wakes before 6.30 and only then gives a short 'hoot' to let us know she is awake and then waits for us to come down. We leave a folded blanket at the bottom of the stairs and she lies on that.

So basically a long-winded way of saying ignore her and it will get better.

As Lady says the way of breaking this cycle is to ignore it - which probably means a couple of difficult mornings until she learns that whining doesn't work.

Any response to the whining is a potential reinforcer so you have to completely ignore it - no shouting or calling to her and no going downstairs.

Enough, you say that you only adopted her a month ago.
She's probably still settling into her new home.
Lucky lady has the love of a kind family now, maybe for the first time, and she may just want to be near you for security.
Our rescue dog sleeps in his dog bed next to DH's side of the bed( devoted master!).

Thanks all, we'll persevere with the ignoring.