My grandma’s dogs like me better then her. What do I do?
ByI moved in with my grandma recently to take care of her. I have two dogs, a Chihuahua(3) and a Papillion(2). Both my dogs are very clingy to me. They want to be with me all the time. When I go out they go in my room and remain antisocial until I get home. My biggest problem is that my grandma got a Papillion(almost 2yr old), who I’ve known since she was born – she got it from the same breeder as me. But her dog Zoey, never clinged to her. My grandma loves dogs and it’s not like she does anything to make a dog not want to like her. She does have a illness which makes her homebound. She rarely goes outside. Before I started living with her, every time I came over her dog Zoey would come be by me. Now that I’m living with her, my grandma bought a Pomeranian hoping that would be a clingy dog. but that dog who’s only 2 months old is following the rest of the dogs – which when it comes down to it they are following me!! My grandma feels like her dogs don’t like her – and I don’t know how to get her dogs to not want to be around me so much…
6 Comments
October 31st, 2010 at 1:03 am
The dog is following the other dogs because they go in packs, they stick with eachother. Your grandma shouldnt be getting another dog just to have one up her butt all the time thats not good for her or the dog.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:05 am
make sure she feeds the dogs, and gives them all the treats. really its only natural for the dogs to cling to you because you are the one who walks them and what not. try to only walk them and kind of ignore them otherwise. that is really the only thing you could do at this point.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:18 am
The dogs are all young and energetic. If your grandmother has an illness and can’t be physically active with the dogs, they will seek out someone who can give them exercise and interaction. Its not that they don’t like her, but at this stage in their lives they probably get more of what they need from you. If she had an older, sedentary dog, that dog may be more comfortable with a less-active person. Maybe you could teach the dogs little games, like fetching a soft ball in the house, that your grandmother is able to do with them also. Good luck.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:59 am
i dont wanna sound like an expert, but its because of their instincts. they consider you “the leader of the pack”. are you more assertive than your grandma? if she coos over them and gives them whatever they want, and you are more assertive and lay down the law better, then they will think you are “the leader of the pack” maybe your grandma needs to be a little more assertive so the dogs will realize that SHES the leader of the house, and they will be more clingy to her.
it also might be because she might not really spend that much time with them. do you spend more time with the her dog than she does?
i hope this helps!
October 31st, 2010 at 2:07 am
She has to spend as much time as she can with the dogs:
feeding them
petting them
brushing them
playing with them
cuddling with them
play outside
take them for walks
talk to them
I can understand with your grandma’s illness, she may not be able to do some of these things like taking them outside to play or go for walks but she should be able to do some of these things.
October 31st, 2010 at 3:06 am
Dogs are pack animals and so they will follow whoever they think is in charge.
Part of the reason why the dogs follow you around is because you are the one that gives them treats and takes them for walks. We have 2 dogs and they are the same. Whenever I am home they look at me because they think they are more likely to get a walk out of me. They might look at my brother, but they know it is unlikely to get a walk out of him so they don’t bother unless no one else is around.
It is only natural that dogs will want to spend more time with someone who is active and doing stuff that they want to do. The reason they stay in your room could be because dogs generally spend most of their day lying around and they are waiting for you to come home. they probably don’t have a preference on why they stay. I was wondering if you spend a lot of time in your room. If you do, then the dogs may associate it with where they hang out to relax.
The only things you can do are spend more time with your Grandmother and make sure that she has some treats for the dogs which she can give them when you are at work. If you spend more time in her presence the dogs will get better used to it and may be more likely to spend more time with her when you are gone.