My dog cries a lot! What can I do?

Question
I have a mixed breed dog that weighs about 70#.  He is heavily coated - maybe part Chow or Malamute - and perhaps 10 years old.  

I found him in the middle of nowhere on a dark rainy night 3 years ago.  Judging from his behavior and appearance, he had been an outside dog all his life who probably did not get a lot of attention.  Now he is an indoor-outdoor dog that is welcome to be in the house whenever he chooses.  After 3 years of living in the house with me and the other dogs, he is still very outdoor oriented and sometimes sleeps outside.  It seems like he still feels more comfortable being outside than inside at times.

He has some hip dysplasia and bad arthritis in all of his joints.  He takes anti-inflammatories every day and is also on a high dose of a pain killer.  I believe this medication helps him a lot, but he has always walked w/ an obvious limp and has a stiff gait.  He also has substantial hearing loss.  I work from home and interact with him frequently on and off throughout the day.  We religiously go for leash walks twice a day around the neighborhood and he also spends a lot of time out in the yard during the day.  

I have two other dogs - one of which he tolerates and the other of which he gets along with much better.  

He is a very vocal dog.  He vocalizes constantly to let you know what he wants and vocalizes when he is happy. (When I say vocalize I don't just mean bark.  He grunts, cries, whimpers, barks, sighs, howls, pants, you name it.)

The problem is that he sometimes gets into moods where he   will just there and cry, cry, cry, pant, pant, pant.  This often happens at night and early in the morning, but also happens intermittently during the day.  Sometimes he's trying to get me to let him outside, other times I'm just not sure what he wants.  When I ignore him, especially at night, he will often continue crying and/or pacing the entire night.  If I succumb and put him outside, he will usually settle down and go to sleep.

It's certainly possible he's in some physical discomfort due to his infirmities, but often I think he's just trying to get me to pay attention to him or get me to let him outside or whatever.  His whining is exasperating and irritating and it can continue for hours and hours and hours.  Often, I put earplugs in and try  to ignore him for as long as possible.  Sometimes this works and he will eventually get up and go lie down and be quiet and go to sleep.

Is ignoring him the best thing I can do?  Sometimes I wonder if I coddle him too much because I feel sorry for him and think maybe I should take a stricter line w/ him - less physical affection for no reason, ask him for more obedience to reinforce me as the leader, etc.  Any thoughts?  I'm at my wits end!  

Answer
Kendra,
That is a challenging situation. He is very lucky to have you. You obviously care about him a lot and are doing everything to make him more comfortable.

My guess is that you nailed the reasons, a combination of physical discomfort and demand behaviors. I also think his hearing loss is either confusing to him, or he can't hear himself like he used to be able to and is more vocal because of it. Just a theory.

Assuming you are doing everything you can to keep him comfortable (full vet checkup, etc.) I would do what is called shape the absence of the behavior.

The behavior that you are trying to lessen is the vocalization. So, you should reserve good things when he is quiet, and ignore the vocalization. If there is a situation where he normally whines, a training session might look like this:

Pet him for a brief time and then walk away.
Come back 5 seconds later and pet and/or treat.
Come back 10 seconds later and pet and/or treat.
20 seconds.
40 seconds, etc.

If he whines during any point during your departure, wait until he is quiet before you come back. The reason for doubling the time each repetition is to teach him to be patient for a longer  period of time.

At any point, you can also reward him by letting him go outside as well. You might reserve that as a jackpot after an extended period of silence.

If he whines after a period of time, (Let's say 40 seconds) the next time remove yourself for a shorter period of time. You are trying to teach him what works by rewarding the quiet and then building up the time to teach him that being quiet "works".

Good luck!

Jeff