Why Does My Dog Follow Me Everywhere

Dogs have been the best companions of men from prehistoric times. Canines are known to be man’s first friends. The first domesticated animals in the history of mankind were dogs. The pre-historic men started domesticating dogs for hunting purposes.

They were then used to protect the crops from invaders when the pre-historic men settled down and started practicing agriculture. We don’t really domesticate dogs for the same purpose anymore. Aren’t we now domesticating dogs purely out of love for them?

We love companionship with dogs. Most of us love how our dogs follow us everywhere. A major part of these follow-ups is purely out of love or companionship. Some dogs follow their host for treats. There exist some breeds that share a common trait of clinging on to their owners. A few breeds stay close to their owners as they are scared and anxious about being alone.

How dogs follow the owner shows how good their companionship is. Even though most of us like our pets cuddling around us, this can be a serious nuisance in certain instances. Hence, we should know how and when to stop our dogs from following us. We will deal with the topic towards the end of this article. First of all, let us deeply understand the reasons for our dog following us everywhere.

7 Reasons Your Dog Follows You Everywhere

The dogs that follow you everywhere is commonly called as Velcro dogs. These dogs always want to share space with their owners. Velcro dogs belong to the breeds like the German shepherd, Golden retriever, Pug, Italian greyhound, and Labrador retriever.

Have you ever thought about why your dogs are following you everywhere you go? Have a glance at some of the common reasons and find out which one is making your dog cling on to you.

Relationship And Bond Between You And Your Dog

The relationship between you and your dog should be very good and sound for it to follow you around. Dogs are usually very caring and loving. They would love you and follow you for no reason. They resonate with a lot of love for the little love you have given at some point in their life. And this can be a strong reason for the, to follow you everywhere.

You have lots of friends but you might be the whole world for your dog. Therefore, no wonder if your dog follows you everywhere.

Gene In Particular Breeds

Particular breeds tend to follow their hosts everywhere. The Golden retriever and German shepherds are breeds with the traits in their genes to follow you everywhere.

These breeds might be traditionally used by pre-historic men to protect their flocks of sheep. Therefore, they have a natural tendency to follow you everywhere. Such breeds have got the traits for following up through the process of natural selection. The only difference is that they are now following their host instead of flocks of sheep.

Separation Anxiety

Some dogs might be scared of getting separated from their owner. Why cant that be a reason for the dog to follow you everywhere? They might be feared of losing you. They might be scared of being alone.

Overattachment of dogs to their owners is an indication of separation anxiety.

Crowd Fear

Some dogs are very scared of crowds and that can be a reason for clinging on to your shadows. They might feel insecure in the presence of strangers. That is the sole reason why your dog follows you from room to room when someone strange to him is in the house.

Imprinting

Imprinting is a strong reason for your dog to follow you everywhere. The chances for imprinting is very high if you have bought your doggie at an early puppy stage. Dogs generally bond more closely when they are looked after from a very young stage. Th

Dogs easily get attached to their owners during the imprinting period. Once they get attached to you so closely, they will most probably follow you everywhere.

Some dogs quickly adapt to human companionship mostly due to the imprinting that might have occurred at their younger stages of life. These dogs would be more friendly and interactive with humans. They will easily form a very good bond with their owners and will probably crave for the presence of a human friend to follow up everywhere.

Boredom

The dogs domesticated by prehistoric men were very active with lots of responsibilities in their heads. The prehistoric men domesticated dogs mainly for hunting purposes. Later when they started practicing agriculture, they used dogs to get rid of invaders that would destroy their crops. However, these dogs seemed very active.

The furballs of today’s generation literally have no activities and are really bored. Why cant this be a reason for digs to follow you everywhere? They really have no other jobs. Our dogs are actually spoon-fed and have to get into exercises to prevent obesity that would make their life worse.

For Food Or Treats

Your dog might also follow you for foods or treats such as toys. It solely depends upon how you behaved previously. Your dog might follow you everywhere if you are someone who gives a treat in between without a regular timing.

How To Train Your Dog To Stop Following You Everywhere?

A dog following you up everywhere can be a problem at least in some instances. Therefore, it is better to have a  check on these follow-ups before it becomes super-annoying. First of all, check what makes your dog follow you everywhere.

Is your dog feeling super lonely and bored? Or is it in your dog’s genes? Or did the way you brought it up went wrong?

Here are some tips to make your doggie stop following you everywhere:

• You can buy a companion for your doggie to grow up with. Buy another dog of the same age. This would keep both the dogs engaged. Having a companion would help dogs to overcome their boredom and loneliness. Two dogs in a house will reduce the overattachment of dogs with the owner.
• Burning some energy through exercises will make your dog drain some excess energy. Dogs will stop following you up to an extent if they do not have some excess energy to spend.
• Don’t allow your dogs to sleep next to you or to lay on your feet. This would increase their attachment over you and make them follow you almost everywhere.
• Use baby gates to reduce the movement of dogs. Restrict their movement across your entire house.
• Command them to sit or lay at the same pace for at least an hour. Give mild punishments if they are not acting according to your commands.
• Give treats and food at regular time intervals in a regular place.

Conclusion

Now you may know why your dog is clinging on to you. You also have gone through some tips to reduce the excessive clinginess of your dog. Start following the tips and prevent your dog from being annoying.

The younger they are the faster they get adapted to your commands. So, start to train them at the very earliest stage for achieving better results.