Why does my husky rub its head on me?

If your husky has been rubbing its head on you this post will show you why and what you can do about it.

So, why does my husky rub its head on me? Possible reasons are that it makes it feel more secure, it has separation anxiety, it wants attention or that it is spreading its scent on to you.

There are actually a number of reasons why your husky might rub its head on you but there are a number of things that you can consider that will help you figure out the exact reason.

Why your husky rubs its head on you

The different reasons that your husky rubs its head on you will likely come with some clues in the way that it does it. Below, I will show you a number of possible causes and what would make them more likely.

Security

Huskies were bred to work alongside their owners and the other members of their pack for hours on a daily basis. The reason that your husky rubs its head on you could be that it makes it feel more secure.

Dominance

If your husky is trying to assert its dominance over you then it might be doing this by rubbing its head on you and positioning itself to be in higher positions than you. This would be more likely if your husky is difficult to control and it is unresponsive to your command.

In this case, it would be important to give it lots of training so that it learns how to behave and so that it sees you as the leader. If you have not given it much training, it would help to start doing so by starting with the basics such as by getting it to come to you on command.

Separation anxiety

The reason that it does it could be that it has 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 to be the reason if it starts showing signs of being anxious when you are about to leave.

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

It wants attention

It could be the case that it rubs its head on you because it is trying to get you to give it attention. This would be more likely if it tends to do it more when you have not been giving it much attention and if you tend to give it more attention when it does it.

To spread its scent

The reason that it rubs its head on you might be that it is trying to spread its scent so that other animals know not to approach you.

Things to consider

When it first started rubbing its head on you

If your husky did not always rub its head on you, it would help to consider what else changed when it started doing it since an event might have occurred that caused it to start.

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 it does it

It would also help to consider the timing of when it rubs its head against you since the timing of when it does it could have something to do with the cause.

If you notice that it does it more shortly before you leave home, it would make it more likely that it rubs its head on you because it has some separation anxiety.

Whereas, if it does it more when you have not been giving it much attention then it would be more likely that it is looking for attention from you.

How to get your husky to stop rubbing its head on you

Below are some options that you have when getting your husky to stop rubbing its head on you.

Ignore it

As mentioned above, it could be the case that it does it because it has learned that rubbing its head on you results in it getting more attention.

Instead, try giving it attention throughout the day by playing with it, training it and exercising it and avoid rewarding it with attention when it does it.

Avoid negative reinforcement training

It might also be the case that it has learned that rubbing its head against you results in it getting rewards. Instead of rewarding it when it does it, try to redirect its focus onto something else and to reward it when it is behaving the way that you want it to.

Give it attention

It would also help to give it attention throughout the day so that it does not feel the need to get attention from you. Ways to give it attention would be to exercise it, train it and to play with it.

Train it not to

Another option would be to train your husky not to rub its head on you by teaching it to go somewhere else. You can do this by teaching it to sit or to lay down somewhere and then by gradually training it to stay there over longer and longer time periods.

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