Shadow Dogs

[Linds]

I think we need a thread dedicated to all those dogs pushing open bathroom doors, sleeping under the chair in the kitchen, causing cooking accidents from being underfoot, nosing the back of legs and hands as you walk and all around want to always be with you dogs.

I can't imagine not living with a dog that follows me room to room. Here is my boy who got into the bathroom and waited for me to get out of the shower in "his spot", curled up on my clothes.

IMG_2378 by Traveling Koolie, on Flickr

Kaylee on the other hand just waits for me to leave to steal my spot or my food. Or get into something.

So, who all here shares there life with dogs who's desire is to always be with you? Do you like it? Do you not? Are all your dogs like that or only a few?

 

[Shai]

Kim and Web loosely follow me around the house. That is, if I'm in a room they are either somewhere around it or right outside the door. Kim especially tends to be near the door of wherever I am vs. right on top of me. She has a space bubble. Webby's a snuggler, on his own terms, and can usually be found in the general vicinity unless he just couldn't resist a sunbeam somewhere else lol.

And this may come as a shock but Mira is like crazy glue . Hubby thinks it's hilarious that I can't go anywhere in the house without being "announced" by Teh Black Dog...

 

[SaraB]

Both of my dogs are shadow dogs. As I type this, I'm covered in a dane and a zuma. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[MicksMom]

Kim and Web loosely follow me around the house. That is, if I'm in a room they are either somewhere around it or right outside the door. Kim especially tends to be near the door of wherever I am vs. right on top of me. She has a space bubble. Webby's a snuggler, on his own terms, and can usually be found in the general vicinity unless he just couldn't resist a sunbeam somewhere else lol...

That's kind of what Caleb is like. When I get up in the morning, he follows me into the bathroom. While I'm "taking care of business", we have our morning chat & snuggle. When I come home from someplace, that's when he follows me with a toy in his mouth and touches my leg. The problem there is his nose has to actually touch you. Which isn't so bad when he has a small toy in him mouth. But when he has Elmo or his huge frog, it feels like he's pushing you along. Most of the time, tho, he's usually in the general vacinity of where I am, but not necessarily touching me.

 

[Gypsydals]

1 shadow dog and 1 not shadow dog. Ivan is stuck on me like crazy glue when I let him. I will put him in his crate just.to.give.me.space. He doesn't just break into the bathroom while I'm showering to lay on the floor, he jumps in the tub with me. He does have his space bubble but that doesn't exclude me, accually it includes me. Which occasionally causes problems within the house.
Peewee is not a cuddler, I think his fur makes him too hot so hes much more comfortable on the corner of the bed vs. on top of me.

For the most part, I don't mind having a shadow dog. It would defiantly be better if he didn't wish the others in the house away though.

 

[Dogs6]

I have 6 shadow dogs. Fudge, Tika and Aura are the worst/best at it. It sucks because they all have some slight SA from me as well. Fudge IS getting better at it though. He can now stay sleeping if I walk out of the room but if I'm away for too long he has to come and find me. Aura is just developing her stalker skills but earlier she threw a hissy fit because she was lying next to the fire chewing a large bone and I walked out of her sight. She had to come check on me before she would settle to her bone. Tika follows me everywhere and I feel so bad about it! Earlier i needed a glass off water and she was sleeping peacefully on the sofa so I tried to sneak out of the room ... Yeah it didn't work. She dragged herself off the sofa, flopped down in the kitchen and then had to drag herself up again when I went back to the living room.

Taz and Scamp arent as bad about it. They prefer to be in the same room as me but are usually fine if they have to be away from me.

I can't make Jenkins up if Diesel is following me or Aura but both of them are usually wherever I am!

I walked out of the bathroom earlier to 4 shadows staring at me. They completely blocked the hallway. My mum says its like the pied piper around the house!

 

[Laurelin]

My two (Mia especially) are with me all the time. Inside, outside- doesn't matter. I've never had to work with them off leash because they really and truly desire just to be with me. Mia's even tried to get in the shower with me before.

I'm on the couch right now and Summer is curled up next to me and Mia is on my shoulder.

 

[Dekka]

Dekka is my constant shadow. JRTs tend to be very into their humans. They are independent thinkers, but can be prone to SA because they get very attached.
independan
Dekka is a velcro dog to end all velcro dogs lol. No matter where I am there she is. Even in new environments. Its great when working on a set, I don't have to crate her or leash her as she just chills near me. She does have SA though. And no other human will do, she (according to hubby) stares out the window all day when I am gone.

 

[CaliTerp07]

Lucy is my velcro. She follows me into the bathroom, tries to sit on my lap when I'm at the table, spoons with me in bed, and follows me everywhere during the day. I love it--she's my baby girl, I'd be sad if she didn't want to be with me.

 

[*blackrose]

I can't stand having a dog constantly having to be RIGHT BY ME at every second and having to constantly be in physical contact with me. But I very much appreciate having a dog trail me from room to room and lay semi-close to me to keep an eye on things.

They both did this while I was across the room at my computer. When I got up to leave the room, they both followed and chilled out wherever I was at.

Right now I'm in my room, but my door is shut due to the ferret's being out. Chloe's hanging out right outside the door, sleeping in the hallway. When I was in the shower this morning, Cynder curled up into a ball and went to sleep right outside the bathroom door until I got out - then she followed me around until I sat down to read a book on the couch, when she laid on the floor at my feet.

Cynder would prefer to be glued to your side, but her daddy's taught her good enough manners that she keeps her distance unless invited. Chloe isn't a cuddler, but she wants to keep an eye on you at all times. They both keep an extremely close eye on their respective person in new environments and don't let us out of their sites.

I love them both. <3 Although Chloe can be a bit of a bother, because even though she wants to be near you, if you trod on her she gets bitchy about it. LOL

 

[Southpaw]

Ugh that is Juno. Sitting on my feet if I'm at the kitchen sink or stove. Following me into the bathroom. Resting her head in my lap as I eat food. If I make any move at all, her eyes are on me to watch what I'm doing--and if I leave her field of vision, she comes after me.

Sometimes I don't mind it. But it does get annoying when I'm tripping over her, or I can't open the bottom drawer in the bathroom because she's curled up right in front of it, or when a peaceful Juno turns into a hyper-alert Juno just because I walked into a different room for a moment.

Lucy shadows my mom but she is not as annoying about it as Juno is lol.

 

[Lizmo]

Blaze is a shadow dog. He follows me in the bathroom, outside, inside, through the house, even outside the fence. I love it!

 

[Maxy24]

Tucker's a bit of a velcro dog (he was a super velcro dog as a puppy), the cats are like that too actually. It's kind of funny to have three animals leap up and trot behind me from room to room, and I love when I leave the bathroom and have all three sitting there in front of the door waiting (if they didn't join me in the bathroom in the first place).

Tucker's not as clingy as he was as a puppy. Now if he's resting and I leave he'll usually stay if someone else is in the room with him, he used to drag himself out of a dead sleep to follow me and then plop himself very grumpily on the floor in whatever room I had moved to, I felt bad for him lol. But if I leave the room and don't come back for several minutes he'll come to find me and see what I'm up to. If I'm in a room with somewhere he can lay comfortably he'll stay, if not he'll say hello, stay a while but then might go back to the living room because he's too good for hard floors.

 

[Saeleofu]

Gavroche and Logan are both like that. however Logan will follow whoever is doing the most interesting things, and Gavroche is stuck to me unless I'm not home.

 

[MyHorseMyRules]

Tempie is a velcro dog. Boone is a shadow dog. Raja just checks in to see if I am doing something that interests her. lol

 

[Bigpoodleperson]

Riley was a shadow boy. He used to have to be in the bathroom with me while I took a shower. That stopped after a few years though. It got too hot, and he realized I wasnt leaving out some trap door hidden in there. He waited for me in the hall or the couch instead. Otherwise he was with me everywhere! I left, he left. No matter who was home with him, when I opened the door he came to greet me. If I was home, he wouldnt check on who just walked in the door. I LOVE that personality in a dog! I want a shadow dog always! Not needy, but There All The Time.

 

[Red.Apricot]

Normally, Elsie is on me at all times. She likes to be touching me. She sleeps with her head touching my foot, or her paw on me, and at night she likes to sleep against my knees. When I get ready in the morning, she lays on my pillow and watches me. If I leave a room, she follows. She learned how to open doors because I kept trying to shut her out of the bathroom.

Zobby's supposed to be the one who is off doing his own thing.

Right this second, though, Zobby is curled up under my boyfriend's chair with his head resting on the rung, and Elsie is at the back door because the neighbor's dogs are howling.

 

[Toller_08]

Ripley and Dance are both very much shadow dogs. Dance is in the sense that she follows me everywhere and likes to be near me and in the same room as me, but Ripley is more velcro in that he needs to be as close to me as possible. Dance is fine just knowing I am in her proximity, and Ripley likes to be able to keep an eye and an ear on me at all times to make sure he doesn't miss out on anything. If he had it his way, he'd be touching me at all times. That said, I can tell them to stay in a certain room and not follow me, but that's not their preference. Keira is a major velcro dog when it comes to my mom much in the same way as Ripley is to me.

I prefer how Dance is, but I don't mind the extreme velcro aspect of the Dobermans either. It is something one should expect when owning a Doberman, so it didn't take me by surprise at all. I just don't like it when they get obsessive about being with their person all the time almost to a neurotic point. Neither of mine are like that fortunately, unless we're at my breeder's house and then Keira is super annoying with not being able to leave us for a second. But overall, it's kind of nice. And if they're being a little much and in my space/"bubble", I can tell them to go away for a while and they do.

Most of my dogs have been like Dance, but I've had a couple other dogs more like the Dobermans. I've never had a dog that was overly independent and didn't like to follow us around. My grandma's dog is like that, though. She likes to know you're in the same house as her but she's constantly off doing her own thing and is much more independent than my guys.

 

[CharlieDog]

Enzo is a major velcro/shadow dog. Right this second she is curled up in her chair just a few feet away from me.

Ozzy is not really my Velcro /shadow dog as much as he is Stevens. Knox is currently crated still when I can't keep an eye on him.

 

[RD]

Eve is clingy if anything is amiss. If there is something upsetting or stressing her, she forgets about everything in the world except for trying to crawl up my ass. She's the only dog I've met who actually finds comfort in being held, hugged and restrained when she's afraid. If I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her, I can just feel her body relax and she forgets what she was worried about.

Other than that, she's a velcro dog but she doesn't get underfoot too badly. She used to have some SA and would fuss when I left, but she's absolutely fine now at home, and I never leave her alone for long in a strange place.