Why is my dog crying?

If your dog is crying out of pain or discomfort, see a vet immediately.

If your dog is crying for attention, it is likely habit based. In other words dogs learn behaviors based on reinforcement. If your dog cries or whines and then you give him/attention, he/she will likely learn over time to whine and cry for attention.

You need to stop reinforcing the crying in order to lessen the behavior. You can stop giving any kind of attention at all (no talking, no touching and no eye contact) when your dog cries without legitimate reason. You can also couple that with the reinforcement of other behaviors like following basic commands, learning a command for "wait" and/or "quiet" so your dog learns to be more patient and to be quieter vs crying for attention.

When your dog barks, cries or whines it is usually a cry for attention,