Have you ever wondered why your lovely dog seems to prefer your sister over you? As many people have asked me about this matter, I decided to create helpful content just for you.
Why does my dog like my sister more than me?
Your dog may like your sister more than you due to obsession, stress and anxiety, resource guarding your sister as their favorite person, being reminded of someone, your sister having a soft voice and attractive scent, attention, or the dog being a one-person dog.
This problem can be caused by both normal and abnormal reasons. Identifying the exact cause can help improve the bond between you and your dog. So, let’s dive right in and explore this topic further.
Reasons Why does my dog like my sister more than me.
You may be the one who completely cares about your dog. If he only likes someone else when you do all this, it’s kind of a heartbreaking situation. But remember, trying to separate your dog from her is not the solution.
Instead, It’s essential to develop the bond between you and the dog without spoiling the bond between dog and sister. Then guess what? Everyone gonna be happy. Is that wrong?
Actually, you should be happy because there is someone to look after your dog even in your absence. To do that successfully, it’s crucial to figure out why your dog likes the sister more than you.
Here is the list of reasons.
- The dog sees your sister as the alpha female
- The dog is used to you
- Resource guarding your sister
- Check if she gives your dog tasty unhealthy food
- Dogs have their own favorite person
- Male dogs are often dependent on female members
- Obsession
- Sister reminds your dog of someone
- Some dogs can understand any emotional or physical changes in humans
- Women generally have a softer voice
- Your dog may like her smell
- Stress and Anxiety
- One person dog
Your dog may like the sister more than you because he sees your sister as the alpha female.
Is your sister somewhat older than you? And if she has some level of authority in your house, your dog may identify your sister as the Alpha-female in the household (or his pack according to your dog’s pack tendencies.)
If you think females can be Alpha in a pack, yes, it happens. This happens most often if there is no male dog to take that place in the dog pack and if the female has a reasonable size compared to the other dogs.
If this is the reason, you need to thrive the bond between you and the dog and understand how to make it happen that under solutions.
Because the dog is used to you
If you feel something like your dog, your like sister more than you, and the dog doesn’t care much about you. Perhaps it may be used to you.
Think about that this way. You might entirely care about him by feeding, bathing, meeting his exercise requirements, and everything. Since you spend loads of time with your canine friend, he might get used to you.
Think a little bit, even though parents love their children to the sky, typically children go nuts if grandparents arrive home. Does that mean children don’t love their parents? Nope!
In the same way, your dog may get excited about your sister’s company. Because she may give some tasty treats all the time. And your dog loves that. So, it doesn’t mean that your dog doesn’t love you or he likes your sister more than you.
Your dog may like the sister more than you because of the dog resource guarding your sister.
If you feel something like your dog is overly attached to your sister, it seems like a resource guarding issue has occurred. Normally, dogs tend to guard the following things,
- Treats
- Toys
- Food
- Bed
- Bones
- Rawhide
- Another dog or person
If your dog has a resource guarding problem with your sister, he may go after everywhere your sister goes. Sometimes he likes to sit in the same room as the sister. What you wanna figure out is that this situation is abnormal and crucial to wipe it out.
Otherwise, things can get worse. So, these dogs tend to exhibit the following behaviors.
- Often growling
- Freezing
- Biting
- Braced body position over the sister
- Ears pinned flat against the head
- Hard stare
- Lunging and Air Snapping
- Raising lips and baring teeth
If so, you need to take some appropriate actions as soon as possible.
Check if she gives your dog tasty unhealthy food.
If you feel something like your dog overly attached to your sister all of a sudden, there might have an underlying reason for that.
Sometimes, she may give him a tasty unhealthy amount of human food. And you know what, dogs love and attach to foods. And if this is the case, It seems not good for your dog’s health.
Your dog may like your sister more than you because dogs have favorite persons.
As humans have their own favorite persons, dogs also have their own favorite persons. So, your dog’s favorite person may be the sister, and that’s why he is enjoying her company.
But it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you. Your dog still loves you. So, Dogs tend to choose their favorite people based on several factors.
- Attention
- Affection
- Positive association
- The person who socialized the dog in its early stages.
- Similar personalities and temperament
- Quality time spent with the dog
- Breed and personality
So, what I wanna emphasize here is that you don’t wanna worry too much about this matter. Because it’s entirely natural behavior, and the dog loves you. But the only thing you can do here is developing the bond between you and the dog.
Male dogs are often dependent on female members.
If you have a male dog and like the sister more than you, it’s because male dogs often depend on female members. This happens because females tend to give more love and attention.
But if you are a woman, he has a clear idea that your sister is a dominant one. And dogs do respect that. But if you are a male, you can be a fellow member of your dog’s pack, and he probably treats you as subordinate while treating your sister as his mother.
Your dog may like your sister more than you due to obsession.
If you feel something like your dog over-attached to the sister, it can be due to an obsession situation, and trust me, it’s not good.
In most cases, we can see this abnormal behavior in puppies while adults show it rarely. Check if the dog follows your sister everywhere, or the dog cry when your sister leaves the house for at least five minutes.
Sister reminds your dog of someone.
If you just got your dog and he’s still in the adjusting period, and if the dog tends to enjoy your sister’s company more than you, the sister may remind the dog of someone positive in his former life.
So, you need to give him more time while,
- Training with treats
- Building positive associations
- Taking him for short and fun walks
Surely, these things gonna thrive the bond between you and your dog. In fact, it will be beneficial to deal with his adjusting period.
Some dogs can understand any emotional or physical changes in humans.
We know that dogs are very clever in so many aspects. Some dogs are extremely sensitive, and they can identify emotional and physical changes in humans. That means your dog can understand if you are sick or not mentally fit.
So, if you feel your dog likes the sister more than you and follows everywhere, this may be the reason. See if your sister is in good health.
So, If you own one of these breeds, this may be the reason.
- Labrador Retriever
- Doberman pinscher
- Dogue de Bordeaux
- Staffordshire bull terrier
- Brussels Griffon
- American pit bull terrier
- Border collie
- Cavalier kind Charles spaniel
- Australian shepherd
- Golden retriever
- Rottweiler
- Affenpinscher
- Irish Wolfhound
- Chihuahua
- Great Dane
- English Bulldog
Women generally have a softer voice.
If you are a female, please ignore this point. We know that women have a softer voices. When we think about the dog’s perspective, women’s voices give some kind of safe and closeness.
In fact, dogs tend to listen and act better to men’s commands because of the strength of the voice. But, when we think about women’s voices, it can make us feel more comfortable for dogs.
So, that’s why you feel something like your dog like your sister more than you.
Your dog may like her smell.
Your dog may overly attach to your sister. It is possible that your dog just likes your sister’s smell. But I cannot confirm this statement as a strong factor. But it can happen.
Usually, dogs have a sharp sense of smell compared with humans, and if your dog finds that your sister’s smell is better than yours, he may just want to be close to her.
Your dog may like your sister more than you due to stress and anxiety.
If you start to see this kind of abnormal behavior all of a sudden, it can be due to anxiety or stress. In most cases, human activities could cause these problems.
Check if your dog exhibits the following behaviors.
If so, your dog is stressed for some reason. So, you need to take appropriate actions to release stress.
In fact, dogs that are prone to anxiety tend to exhibit the following signs,
- Chewing
- Digging
- Destruction
- Pacing
- Howling and barking
- Urinating and defecating
- Escaping
If your dog shows these behaviors, your dog seems to be suffering from anxiety. So, it can be the reason why does your dog shows that kind of abnormal behavior.
If your dog likes your sister more than you, the dog can be a one-person dog.
Certain types of dog breeds are more prone to attach with only one person in a household. So, check if your dog also belongs to one of the following.
- Kuvasz
- Rough collie
- St. Bernard
- Sky terrier
- Yorkshire terrier
- Akita
- Beagle
- Boxer
- Brittany
- Chihuahua
- Dachshund
- Doberman pinscher
- German shepherd
- Great pyrenes
- Irish wolfhound
What can you do If your dog obsessed with your sister & thrive on the bond between you and the dog?
As we discussed so far, both normal and abnormal causes can be the cause of this. So, when it comes to normal reasons, actually, you cannot do anything, because it’s completely natural.
But, when we think about abnormal reasons, it’s necessary to take appropriate actions according to the situation. So, it’s time to discuss suitable approaches to thrive the bond between both of you.
- Stay calm with the dog
- Be playful with him
- Communicate clearly with him
- Spend time together
- Understand what your dog likes and dislikes
- Physically touch him
- Train him
- Stimulate our dog’s brain
- Release its stress and anxious
Stay calm with the dog.
If your behavior is not calm and very rush with the dog, it will cause your dog to gravitate toward your sister. So, you need to stay calm with him.
Be playful with him
Numerous studies have shown that playing with dogs can increase the bond between dog and owner. If you engage in outdoor games with your dog, you don’t wanna think anymore, something like my dog like my sister more than me.
Because by spending quality time playing with your dog, both of you can share your happiness, affection during playtime. So, it could increase the bond between both of you.
So, you can try the following games,
- Treat dispensing toys
- Fetch
- Hide and seek
- Frisbee toss
- Casual agility
- Retrieval games
- Digging in the sandbox
Communicate clearly with him
In order to reduce some potential confusion and misunderstandings, it’s necessary to communicate with your dog very clearly.
I mean, if you used a certain set of commands during his training, make sure to use them continuously. If you do wanna teach him new commands or new things, do it more gently and calmly.
Spend time together
Spending quality time with your dog can enhance the bond between you and the dog. Sit beside him and cuddle when you have free time.
Use tasty treats and sweet and encourageable words to teach new things.
Understand what your dog likes and dislikes
As the owner, you need to be aware of what your dog likes and dislikes. Then you can use these preferences to gravitate the dog towards you. So, Understand the dog’s preferences for the following,
- Toys
- Foods
- Games
Physically touch him
If you want to develop the bond between the dog and you, it’s necessary to physically touch him. What I mean by this is, you need to bathe him, groom him on your own.
Train him
Here I’m not talking about basic obedience training, or crate training, or whatever the essential basic training. If you can dedicate some time to train your dogs to do some fun stuff, it would enhance both of you’s bond.
Because dogs like to play, and you don’t wanna worry if your dog like your sister. Because he likes you too. So, I do wanna suggest the following. So, give it a shot!
- Field events
- Rally
- Lure coursing
- Agility training
Stimulate our dog’s brain
Some dogs easily get boredom due to loads of reasons. So, it’s essential to stimulate its brain in order to keep him active. In fact, it would help you to enhance the bond between both of you.
So, here are some ways you can use it to stimulate your dog’s brain.
- Give Raw bones
- Give puzzle treats
- Provide adequate exercises
- Bring him another companion
Release its stress and anxious
As we discussed above, dogs are prone to stress or anxiety due to various reasons. So, in such a situation, you can try the following.
- Massage your dog.
- Use calming coats
- Stick with a routine
- Consult a Veterinarian
- Give adequate exercises
- Keep physical contacts to soothe your dog
- Use music therapy techniques
Conclusion
Have you ever wondered why does your lovely dog like your sister more than you? Both normal and abnormal causes can cause this problem. This comprehensive guide contains every aspect you need to know about this topic. I hope it helps. So, don’t forget to share your story with us. Have a nice day.
