Dogs have several ways of expressing themselves. Among them are audible cues like barking and growling. Meanwhile, they are also masters of non-verbal communication. Only those who are well-informed of their behavior will be able to decode these signs. Sitting on your feet is one of them.
Dogs love to stay close to you and sit on your feet for many reasons. At times, it is for your protection. For other times, it is their way of showing affection. Meanwhile, it can also be a sign of an unhealthy trait such as anxiety disorder. You can take a clue from theory actions to know how best to respond to the situation.
But what exactly are furry canines trying to pass across when they choose to take a seat on our feet? When they do, what should be your response? These, among other things, you’ll get to know as you read this article. So, let’s get started at once.
What Does It Mean When Your Dog Sits On Your Feet?
Dogs are one of the most sociable animals in the world. They are not all barks and growls. So when they sit on your feet, it is a way of showing their love or anxiety.
A Show Of Love
Your dog knows you to be a friend, and staying close to each other is what friends do. While not all love to sit on a couch beside their owners, they’ll always like to stick close. You’ll find this common among the medium and big dogs. The smaller ones know how to jump right into your laps.
Sometimes, when a dog chooses to lie down, your feet seem to be the best headrest for that moment. Then you’re wondering if your four-legged furry friend is doing this because they do not want you to leave. It’s all the same. Your dog is telling you it cherishes your friendship.
In response to this act, you can bend over and gently run your hand through its fur. If you can, try giving your fido a belly rub. Dogs love that almost all of the time.
Getting Anxious
Sometimes, dogs suffer from separation anxiety, and they only feel better when they make bodily contact with you. It brings them an assurance that you are with them. Your doggie can also make bodily contact with you when it gets scared. The sight of another pet, thundering and other things could make your dog lose its wit.
What you should do is to check for other signs that it may show. Is your furry friend panting and drooling excessively? Is its tail between its legs? How about its ears? Is it pulled back while the head is hanging? These are clear signs of anxiety and distress.
Why Does My Dog Lie Beneath My Feet?
One reason your canine buddy does this is to ensure that you don’t leave without notification.
To stand up, you’ll require tapping it to move aside before dropping your legs. That is what it wants. You would find it raising itself to follow you.
Another reason it behaves this way has to do with its natural intuition. Dogs are social animals, and they love to stay together. If you watch them in a pack, you can’t help but notice that they love to lie down close to each other. To your furry canine, you are the alpha, and it is seeking to protect you.
Why Do Dogs Sit At Your Feet In The Bathroom?
Canines don’t know that the bathroom is different from the other parts of the house. If they have been sitting at your feet in the front yard, nothing will stop them from doing the same when you get into the bathroom.
Other reasons can also be responsible for this behavior. We talk about some of them below.
Feeling Of Insecurity
If your dog is feeling insecure, it will shadow you everywhere you go, including the bathroom. Hence, it sits at your feet and keeps staring at you.
Meanwhile, this very trait is not a positive one. You’ll need to find a way to condition its behavior to cope without you being with it all the time. If left uncontrolled, it could lead to much worse problems such as anxiety.
Your Dog Loves The Scents
You know very well that dogs have a powerful olfactory sense. It also follows that the bathroom is one of the areas in the house with the highest concentration of scents. It won’t be strange if your dog takes an interest in following you to the bathroom and sitting by your feet, putting its nose to work.
Canines Don’t Understand The Word ‘Privacy’
You don’t expect your dog to back off when you’re going into the bathroom. If any dog behaves this way, it must be in response to the owner’s training. Dogs cannot decipher moments of privacy from any other time. Hence, even the bathroom is not sufficient to keep it away.
When your canine buddy is sitting at your feet in the bathroom, it is trying to tell you that you’re not alone. You have all the support you need. It doesn’t know that that isn’t the right place to show some solidarity.
It Seeks To Protect You
Your fido will follow you to the bathroom and sit at your feet as one doing an escort duty. Just because it is a bathroom doesn’t mean that it won’t want to guard its owner.
Besides, the moment you open that door to get into that enclosure, your furry friend deems it a duty to keep you away from harm. While sitting at your feet, observe if it is looking around from time to time. If that’s what it is doing, you have your reason.
If you wish to discontinue this act, you don’t need to shoo your canine companion off. Instead, you can train it to sit in a place outside the bathroom door. Whenever you’re going in, ask it to sit.
Why Does My Dog Like To Sleep At My Feet?
If your dog likes to sleep at your feet, then let it be. It is only exhibiting the instinctive trait of a pack member.
To understand this behavior, you must go back in time, before the domestication of dogs. An easy way to do so is by watching a documentary about wild dogs in a pack. Domesticated dogs differ in behavior from their wild relatives in several ways. Nevertheless, they are much alike when it comes to relating with a friend. Here are a few of these intuitive behaviors.
Respect
Fellow dogs often surround the alpha male as a sign of respect and to offer protection against invaders. You bring the food, make the calls, and your furry canine’s life revolves around you. That makes you as much an alpha male as they have in their pack.
Empathy
Dogs can be very emotional. Research has shown that dogs are good at reading expressions on our faces. If it perceives that you are not in a good mood, one of its ways of showing empathy is lying down at your feet.
Staying On The Ready
You lead, and your pooch follows. You stop, and it waits, lying at your feet. If you think it is napping, shuffle your feet and watch it raise its head. Dogs love to lie at your feet because it gives the best hint when you are about to move.
Generally, dogs do not like to be alone. They can’t have you walking away and leaving them all alone. If your canine friend doesn’t want you to leave without taking it along, that’s an effective way to stay on guard.
Why Does My Dog Love To Make Contact With My Feet When Sleeping?
Dogs share a bond as a group. It isn’t uncommon to see them cuddle against each other while sleeping
The same applies to being with you. The sense of touch makes them feel like a part of the family and also keeps them warm. In this case, it is you and them.
That’s why your dog often adjusts itself to get its body touching yours, even when it is asleep. Should you choose to pull yourself away, it would find a way of reaching you still.
If you don’t like the feeling of your canine buddy against you when sleeping, then get the doggie its bed. With sufficient training, your loyal companion would come to know the bed as its place for reclining.
Why Does My Dog Sit Between My Legs?
If your dog has chosen to sit between your legs, it can be a show of submission or a need for attention. Besides, it can be that it is watching over you or just following a pattern you’ve taught it unconsciously.
It would be nice if you knew which of these reasons is responsible for the behavior. So, either you want to stop it or encourage it, here are some ways to find out which it is.
Submissiveness
Going between your legs means it is going underneath you. By doing that, it is acknowledging your superiority. Mounting is a common trait among dominant dogs. The submissive ones, in return, take a bow to acknowledge their superiority. Also, watch out for the tail. If it is hanging between its legs, you can assume this to be the cause.
Needing Attention
If your dog feels you are not giving it enough attention, a gentle way to remind you to do this is by sitting between your legs. You’ll notice that after settling down, it swings its nose in the air as if trying to catch a scent. A more direct approach is gently pulling your cloth with its teeth.
What you need to do is to assure your furry canine that you are with them. A rub on the head or brush through its coat with your finger will go a long way to show that you care.
Protection
In the wild, dog packs have members that stand up for each other. Their collective strength is what makes them prevail over assailants. The weaker ones among them, such as the pups, never stray away from their mums. At the slightest threat, they run underneath them.
While your canine buddy sees you as a boss and friend, your presence is also a reassurance of safety. So, sitting between your legs feels like sitting between two walls, and your furry friend feels protected.
Reach for it and stroke it to assure it that you are there with it. That’s what companions do, reassuring each other of safety.
Consent
If your dear fido walks between your legs and you often bend over to play with it, you are reinforcing this habit. In a short while, it becomes accustomed to this form of affection, knowing that you are comfortable with this action and giving the consent your pooch seeks.
Besides, your pooch gets you to play with it. If you aren’t up for this, you have to step away each time it does so. Over time, it would understand that the action isn’t the right thing to do.
