Why does our boxer sit on everyone's lap but me? (toy, paws)
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We have recliner chair and whenever my husband sits on it or when my family comes over and sits on it the dog will jump up and sit on their lap but when I sit on it he comes over and wants to get up but he won't. Like he puts his paws up and comes over to kiss me and when I tell him to come up he hesitates and acts scared like he will hurt me. Why me and everyone else he just jumps right up?
How is your relationship with him otherwise? Do you feed him? Are you the main disciplinarian? Hard to take even a guess without some additional information.
I feed him 50% of the time. He is closer to my husband but he does love me. Very loving towards me. It's just weird how he wants to jump up and be on my lap but seems like he is afraid. Not with anyone else though. Also in bed he will lay on top of my husband to give him kisses but with me he will only stand over me. He will lay across my legs and next to me but never on top of me like he does with others. Not that it's a good thing he gets all up on top of people but not sure why its different with me.
Dr Phil moment here. This is a little convoluted, but follow me through the thought process. Dogs tend to identify one person in charge, and that may or may not be their "favorite" person, but they are in charge. The "in charge" person/dog gets respect that is only accorded to them.
So...
If your husband defers to you, and the dog has picked up on his deference, you may be the person "in charge" even though your husband (per your post) is the dogs favorite. As the "in charge" person, the dog must wait for an invitation to come into your space.
Or...
In the past the dog jumped in you, laid on you etc, and you reacted in a way that either started or scared the dog, or made the dog think he hurt you and he has developed a pattern of avoiding you to avoid the reaction - and you may not remember anything about it, because it was traumatic to the dog, not you.
The same thing happens at our house. Our youngest dog loves to climb in everyone's laps and lick them, and he doesn't do it to me. I'm the "pack leader" in our house. My husband likes to joke that I'm the strict parent and he's the fun one
Its because, the first time he tried, I told him off. Don't get me wrong, I love him, but our other dog doesn't lick so I didn't want him licking and he weighs 62lbs, he would crush me lol.
You probably made it clear to him a while back that that behavior wasn't okay and he listened to you. You should teach him some tricks that he only does for you, and have a special toy for just you too, if you want to feel closer to him. Our two do seem to have their favorites, Bailey is much more my husband dog(the lap sitter as mentioned above) and Maddie, who I had for 3 years before we even got married, is my princess. So it works out.
He's being respectful to you and trying to dominate the rest of them. He's letting you have the high value seat, he doesn't want them to have it.
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