Can a dog be posessive of a person?

Question

My dog is posessive of my husband. She will lay pressed up against him when we are sitting on the couch and if I go to pet her she'll give me "the look" and move away like she doesn't want me petting her. I can pet her at any other time - but not while she's laying on my husband's lap or next to him. Anyone else have a dog with this issue? If so, what do you do?

Answer 1

Wow. If you want your dog to become aggressive - go ahead and follow some of the advice above. It just kills me how people see "The Dog Whisperer" and think that they are behavior experts. Cesar Millan has zero education and zero credentials. The methods that he uses are the same ones that have been proven to make dogs miserable and aggressive. Egads. No one with any clue about behavioral science buys into that garbage.

What you can do is begin to counter-condition the behavior. Hand feed her a portion of her dinner while she is on your husband's lap. Throw in a few special treats like cheese (tiny, tiny bites) or hot dog (slice a hot dog into 4 long pieces then chop them into about 20 tiny slices.)Tell her she's the best dog in the world for showing good behavior. If she gives you "the look" just ignore her. Turn away and wait 30 seconds and try again. Only attend to good behavior. Ignore what you don't want her doing anymore. If you have yummy food, it's likely that she will try to get your attention. Your dog needs to learn that she will be rewarded for doing the right thing - ignored for anything else.

Again - those other methods may seem to be effective in the short term. People will say that positive training is just letting your dog walk all over you. Positive Reward Training is based on behavioral science and learning theory - not some machismo need to control something smaller than you. I train shelter dogs and I can always tell if someone has tried to "Alpha Roll" or "Muzzle Correct" a dog. They become anxious and fearful...which leads to aggression if left untreated.

Here are a few books that are a good read if you're interested.

The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell
Parenting Your Dog by Trish King
The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

oh yeah. My girlfriend's father has a chihua (you know what I'm trying to spell) anyway that dog is with him constantly and snarls growls and occasionally even attacks people that get too close to my gf's dad. He will be playing cards and sure enough the dog is in his arms. You act like you are going to hit the master and the dog goes on the defensive. I have never seen such devotion even for a dog. I can feed it by hand as long as its master is not sitting. If daddy is in his chair the dog is in his lap as (I dont know what else to call it) protection. and this is one of those dogs you dont have to walk-ya just stick 'em out a window and squeeze but I am very cautious around that dog: he's jumpy, high strung and not afraid of anything that I can tell. I'll take my chances with a german shepherd any day, at least you can reason with them.
so what do you do? What CAN you do? I avoid the little hound from hell whenever possible. and I am an animal lover by the way.

Answer 3

Yes, my dog is super possessive of me, my roommates describes it as "neurotic". He doesn't like ANYONE to sit near me on the couch, he'll stop eating to come sit between us and there have been times someone has been sitting near me and leaned over to give me a hug or kiss and he will lunge at them at snap at their face. I think he is totally mortified of abandonment or that I'll pick a different favorite and needs reassurance, which only further worsens his behavior, I know. If I speak firmly or give him disapproving looks and he looks like he's gonna burst into tears. I've had him for 6 years and it's always been this way. Other than that he's never bitten and has no behavior problems. I do not allow him around other dogs or small children due to his jealousy.

In your case it seems as though the dog is getting annoyed at your intrusion on her time with your husband or she sees you as dominant and feels that she is overstepping your boundaries and gets antsy. I would ignore her negative behavior and act like you don't see the body language. If it's not getting results, she'll probably ease up.

Answer 4

Absolutely. Many dogs become possesive of one person as opposed to all others in the house. To change her behavior you will need the cooperation of your husband. He should make it a point to touch you when you are in a situation such as this and not show approval to the dog. She should be taught that he will not tolerate her behavior and that if she wants to be near him, she will have to acknowledge and accept your presence. He should hold your hand and ignore her entreaties to push you away. After a few weeks of this, she should come around.

Answer 5

Your dog is currently above you in its pack chain.

Your husband needs to discipline her when you catch possesiveness happening and you need to regain your leader status in the family pack.

An easy way (albeit not something pretty) is to spit in her food before you give it to her. Alpha dogs eat prior to the beta, gamma, etc dogs. Smelling your saliva in the food reminds her that she is not 'top dog' in your pack.

Also, be sure to not repeat your commands to her. If she does not listen the first time, make her obey without repeating yourself. Every time you give in to her, you are saying "you're right, I'm not a leader, you take over as leader." Not exactly the message you are hoping to portray.

If you find yourself having a hard time, get her a pinch collar. They are very easy to manage, safe and are extremely effective as they duplicate the alpha's nip at the neck.

Good luck.

-addendum-

After you have your hand bitten (hopefully just your hand) for the seventh time listening to the 'ignore it and it will go away' advice you are receiving, just think how well parents who ignore a child's bad behavior works out for them. They get a child who begins having worse and worse behavior, as no bad ever comes from it.

"People will say that positive training is just letting your dog walk all over you."

People do say that, and for a reason. Ignoring a problem has never and will never make something go away.

"Positive Reward Training is based on behavioral science and learning theory"

Theory from the same people who bring you "eggs are bad for you.. no wait, good for you.. no, bad, def bad for you.. or maybe.." 'proven science'. Maybe the eggs suddenly became good for you when the scientists ignored them!

I could be wrong, as it may be the science that has 'proven' fat people are fat because of a genetic defect, as opposed to the quadruple fat-burger they are shoving into their mouth.

Maybe the next wonder diet is simply "Ignore fat people and they will get skinny!".. Then again, that one probably would work..as well as ignoring the sun makes it colder.

Answer 6

Yeah our German Shepard is my husbands baby. She will let me pet her but Tyler comes first everytime. I can call her for 20 minutes and as long as he is touching her she will not move! But she also gets like that with me sometimes and wont go to any one else (except Tyler) if I am petting her. She is a goofball. If she is acting agressive when you try to pet her you need to establish dominance. She thinks she is the alpha female over you and she needs to be told otherwise. If she is acting agressive you need to immediately flip her over onto her back and get over her and with your hand lightly over her muzzle (so she cant snap at you or turn her head) you need to stare into her eyes and say no. You keep staring until she looks away. If you look away first she wins and will consider herself dominant over you. If she is not acting agressive then I wouldnt worry about it. Dakota is never agressive with me because she knows I am the alpha over her in the pack but she does tend to get away with things with Tyler and knows (in her mind) that he is the head over everyone and sticks with him. Hope this helps. Good luck. email me if you have any questions.

Answer 7

LOL. My chihuahua is exactly the same with me. If she's laying on my lap and my husband comes within 5 feet of us, she starts to growl. It's hilarious... he can pet or hold her any other time, just not when she's with me.

Answer 8

Absolutely. I had a dog growing up who wanted NO ONE but me. He would allow my Mother to sit on the opposite side of me from him - but no one else ever.

Much like your situation, if I wasn't home or wasn't around, he'd let others in the family pet him, etc. But as soon as I was in the vacinity, he would stay be me and didn't want others near. He would even be kind of vicious about it if people pushed the issue!

What do you do? Accept it. But work at really focusing on the dog and loving on her a whole bunch when he's not around and when he's in the house but not in the same area as you and she and then after a while he enters the room when she's busy being petted by you, and see if she'll gradually come around that way.

Good luck!

Answer 9

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Answer 10

I would encourage your husband to talk calmly to the dog when you approach so the dog understands that there is no need to protect and no need for jealousy
My sis's dog used to do this when she had her first child.... if my sis wasn't in the room the dog would guard the baby.....