shitzpoo warbling

Question
my shitzpoo is 6 months old, very energetic, clingy dog. I play with her at least 2 a day and walk her every day. In the past few weeks she's taken to "warbling" when I'm not paying attention to her. It's not a bark or a whine, she sounds like a bird!It's very annoying and doesn't stop until I get down and play with her. She does have separation anxiety also and I have to be gone for a week due to medical issues. I'm worried about how she'll cope with this. Any suggestions?

Answer
I think what your dog is doing is manipulating you with her warbling; she has learned that when she does it she gets what she wants (more of your attention).  What you should start doing is just walking out of the room; go close yourself up in your bedroom, bathroom, until she stops, then come back out.  If she starts again, go back into the room.  Pretty soon she will realize her warbling doesn't have the desired result and it should start to diminish.

I also think you may need to follow some suggestions in order to rebalance the relationship between you and your dog, so that she knows her place in your little "pack."

These documents should help with that:

http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/PEP.pdf
http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/NILIF.pdf

As far as the separation anxiety, I'm also including some information on that, but a week may not be enough time to see a big difference, and it will certainly not be long enough to solve the problem.  But the information should hopefully give you some ideas.  You don't say what kind of care arrangements you've made for her while you're gone; the best scenario would be to have someone stay at your home and implement and follow the information here the same as you would.

http://www.marinhumanesociety.com/Behavior/Handouts/SeparationAnxietyShortRx.pdf
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/sep-anxiety.pdf