Why is she whining?

[lilclerk]

I'm dog-sitting for a friend. I do this quite a bit, on a semi-professional basis, but I've never had this problem before.
The dog is a 6 year old Bichon Frise who is possibly the sweetest dog I have ever met. She is a cute little snugglebug. But over the last few days, she has started persistently staring at me, whining and it eventually turns into a whining bark when I ignore her. She doesn't appear to be in any pain, she eats her food okay, has plenty of water, has been on 3 walks already today (it's almost 6pm here) and has had plenty of snuggles and playtime. But she's standing in front of me, staring at me and whiny-barking. I have no clue what she wants. I'm thinking she is missing her family, but I don't know how to comfort her. She has also become VERY attached to me, she follows me everywhere I go to the point of standing outside the bathroom door crying. My boyfriend says she doesn't cry when I leave the house, and she sleeps through the night without any noise. I just don't know what she wants from me right now. It's not as if I ignore her when she's quiet, she's free to sit on my lap all day if she wants.
I'm trying very hard not to reinforce the whining, but it does get tiring. She goes home on Sunday evening. Anyone have any ideas?

I should edit to say, "walks" aren't "potty time." She potties out in the back yard and has done that quite a bit already. Walks are just for exercise.

[loza123]

Because its come on suddenly. I would say from what you have written that she wants you to pay her some attention. Or if you have paid her some , she wants more, some she is becoming more demanding.

[lilclerk]

It does seem like "gimme attention" whining/staring, but she will be sitting in my lap getting stroked, then get up, stand in front of me and whine. It's just so odd. After doing some research, it seems like it might be a Bichon thing. I just want to make sure I'm not actually depriving her of something, but it doesn't seem like it. I've only got her for a few more days, so there's no point in really trying to teach her something. Especially since her owners won't keep up with it.

[Nettle]

Although she knows you and is clearly being very well looked after, her world has just been turned upside down. She's telling you about it.

What I would do - sounds bizarre but often works - is have her next to you and explain in exhaustive detail as you would to another adult (so no cutesie doggie tones - normal speech) that her owners have had to go away, that the place they went to wasn't safe for her to go with them, so you are looking after her until they get back which will be in X days and nights. Then you will go home and they will be there, and everything will be back to normal.

Additionally do some research on Bach flower remedies and see what fits her situation.