Why does my husky sit on my lap?

If your husky keeps sitting on your lap this post will show you why it might be doing it and what you can do about it.

So, why does my husky sit on my lap? Possible reasons are that it wants attention, is being dominant, thinks that you’re in its spot, you have inadvertently rewarded the behavior or that it has separation anxiety.

There are actually many reasons why your husky might be sitting on your lap. Fortunately, there are also a number of things that you can consider that will help you figure out the exact reason. Once you have a good idea of the cause, it will become a lot easier to get it to stop if you want to.

Why your husky sits on your lap

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

Below are a number of possible reasons why your husky sits on your lap and what would make them more likely.

It wants attention

The reason your Siberian husky sits on your lap could be that it is looking for you to give it attention. This would be more likely if it does it more when you have not been giving it much attention and if you tend to do things such as pet it or give it belly rubs when it sits on your lap.

If you don’t want it to sit on your lap, try to give it attention throughout the day by walking it, training it and playing with it and to avoid rewarding it with attention when it sits on your lap.

It is being dominant

The reason why your husky sits on your lap could be that it is being dominant. In the wild dogs will position themselves to be in higher positions than less dominant members of the pack and it might be why your husky sits on your lap. This would be more likely if your husky also tends to position itself to be in higher positions than you and if it is not very responsive to your command.

In this case, it would be important to give it lots of training so that it learns to follow your command and to avoid allowing it to sit in higher positions than you.

You’re in its spot

The reason why it does it might be that it thinks you are in its spot. This would be more likely if it only does it when you sit in the same spot that it normally sits in.

In this case, it would help to train it to lay down on your command and then to get it to lay down in a different spot when it seems like it is about to try and sit on you.

To spread its scent

The cause of it sitting your lap could be that it is trying to spread its scent onto you so that other dogs can smell it. This is its way of saying that you belong to it so that other dogs will steer clear of you.

To prevent this you’ll need to spend time training your husky to sit and lay down in certain places. Then you can discourage it from sitting on your lap by telling it to sit or lay somewhere else.

It has been reinforced

It might be the case that you have actually trained it to sit on your lap by giving it things that it wants when it does it. If you tend to give it things such as extra attention, treats or toys when it does it then it might do it more in order to get more of those rewards.

Instead of rewarding it when it sits on your lap try to reward it when it is behaving how you want it to and to train it not to using positive reinforcement training which is mentioned below.

Separation anxiety

It might be the case that your husky has some separation anxiety. This is where your husky does not like being left alone and it becomes anxious when it is left alone. This would be more likely if your husky tends to sit on your lap just before you would normally leave home and if it tends to get anxious when you are leaving.

In this case, it would help to avoid leaving it for extended periods and to periodically check up on it if possible.

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

Things to consider

Below are some things you can consider to help figure out why your husky sits on your lap.

When it first started sitting on your lap

If your husky did not always sit on your lap it would help to consider what else happened at around the same time it started doing it since it could be the case that there was an event that caused it to start.

If it did start sitting on your lap suddenly it would make it more likely to be due to things such as learning that it results in it getting rewards or looking for attention.

If it didn’t always sit on your lap and it started doing it suddenly it would help to consider what else happened at around the time that it started doing it.

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 your husky sits on your lap since it could be the case that the timing has something to do with it.

If you notice that it tends to sit on your lap just before you would normally leave for work it would make it more likely to be due to some separation anxiety.

Whereas, if it tends to do it when you sit in the same spot that it normally sits in, it would make it more likely to be due to thinking that you’re in its spot and perhaps slightly dominant behavior.

How to get your husky to stop sitting on your lap

Below are a number of options that you have when getting your Siberian husky to stop sitting on your lap.

Ignore it

If your husky sits on your lap because it is looking for attention, which is often the case, one way to get it to stop would be to leave and completely ignore it.

This means that you should get it off you, wait for it to calm down, reward it for behaving, then sit back down. If it tries to sit on you again then repeat the process.

Train it not to

One option you have is to learn to recognize when your husky is about to sit on your lap and to train it to lay or sit somewhere else. That way you can redirect its focus to sitting or laying somewhere else when it is about to sit on you.

I have written about how you can teach it the down command here.

You can also watch the video below to see how to train it to sit somewhere else.

Avoid negatively reinforcing it

As mentioned above, it could be the case that you have been training your husky to sit on your lap by giving it rewards when it does it.

Instead of rewarding the behavior, try to redirect its focus when it is about to do it and to give it lots of positive reinforcement training.

Give it distractions

In addition to the things mentioned above, it would also help to give your husky lots of things to be distracted with. By giving it things such as toys, puzzles and bones you will be able to keep it occupied and less likely to seek stimulation from you.