Why does my husky lay on me?

If your husky keeps laying on you, this post will show you a number of reasons why it might be doing it and what you can do about it.

So, why does my husky lay on me? Possible reasons are that it wants attention from you, separation anxiety, you have inadvertently reinforced the behavior, you’re in its spot or that it is just being affectionate.

There are actually many reasons why your husky might be doing it and there are many things that you can consider to help figure out why.

Why your husky lays on you

Each of the different reasons that your husky lays on you will likely come with some clues in the way that it does it.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why it might do it and what would make them more likely.

Attention

The reason that it does it could be that it is looking for attention from you. This would be more likely if it does it when you have not been giving it much attention and you tend to give it more attention when it does it.

If you do not want it to do it, try to give it attention throughout the day and to avoid rewarding it with attention when it does it.

Related: Why does my husky lean on me?

Dominance

Dominant dogs, in the wild, will try to show their dominant status in the group by positioning themselves to be higher than the other members of the group. The reason that your husky might lay on you could be that it is being dominant. This would be more likely if it also positions itself to be higher than you and it is not responsive to your command.

In this case, it would be important to give your husky lots of training so that it learns to follow your lead and that you avoid letting it sit on you unless you tell it to.

You’re in its spot

The reason that it does it could be because you sit in the same spot that it likes to sit in. If that is the case, then it would be important not to let it do it so that it learns that you are in charge. A good way to do this would be to recognize when it is about to do it and to redirect its focus.

Spreading its scent

It might be the case that it lays on you because it is trying to spread its scent. By doing so it will be able to let other dogs know not to approach you.

Separation anxiety

It might be the case that your husky has some separation anxiety. This is where it does not like being left alone and the prospect of being left alone causes it to become anxious. This would be more likely if it tends to lay on you shortly before you leave and it shows signs of becoming anxious when you are leaving.

In this case, it would help to avoid leaving it alone for long periods and to periodically check up on it if you can.

Also, it would help to train it to be less anxious when you are leaving and when you are away.

To do this you could do as follows:

• Make it seem like you are about to leave by doing something such as picking up your keys
• Reward your husky for not being anxious and repeat these two steps a few times
• Make more moves towards actually leaving such as by picking up the keys and putting your hand on the door handle
• Reward your husky for not being anxious and repeat the process a few times
• Actually open the door and go outside for a few moments then come back and reward your husky
• Repeat the above, each time staying outside for slightly longer

Reinforcing the behavior

It could be the case that you have inadvertently trained it to lay on you by giving it things that it wants when it does it. If you give it things such as attention, toys or treats when it does it then it will learn that laying on you results in it getting rewards.

Instead of giving it things that it wants when it does it, try to reward it when it is being well behaved and to redirect its focus when it is about to lay on you.

Guarding you

It could be the case that it does it because it is being protective. This would be more likely if it tends to do it more when other people are around and if it has a tendency of being overly protective.

It’s being affectionate

The reason that it lays on you could be that it is just being affectionate. This would be more likely if it also tries to get you to do things such as give it belly rubs when it does it.

Things to consider

Below are a couple of things that you can consider to help figure out what has been causing it to do it.

When your husky started to lay on you

It would help to consider when your husky first started doing it since it could be the case that there was an event that triggered it to start laying on you.

Some things to consider would be:

• If you moved home
• If someone else moved away
• If its schedule changed
• If you started working different hours

When and where it lays on you

The timing and location that it does it in would also be something to consider.

If it tends to lay on you shortly before you leave home, it would make it more likely that it has some separation anxiety. Whereas, if it does it more when you sit in a certain spot, it might be trying to get you out of the spot.

How to get your husky to stop laying on you

If you want to get your husky to stop laying on you, there are a number of options that you have below.

Ignore it

One option that you have would be to get if off you, leave and avoid giving it attention. By doing so you will be able to teach it that laying on you does not allow it to get attention.

Avoid negative reinforcement training

In addition to avoiding reinforcing the behavior with attention it would also help to avoid rewarding the behavior in other ways. Instead, try to train it to lay somewhere else, to recognize when it is about to lay on you and to redirect its focus to laying in that spot.

I have written more about how you can teach your husky the down command here.

Give it attention

It would also help to give your husky attention throughout the day so that it doesn’t feel the need to get it from you. Ways to give it attention would be to exercise it, play with it and to train it.

Train it not to

You can also train your husky not to lay on you by teaching it to stay on the floor when you’re sat down. You can do this by getting it to sit or to lay down and then gradually teaching it to stay there over longer and longer time periods.

You can do this by applying the same techniques as in the video below: