If your husky has been sleeping by your head a lot you might want to know why and what you can do about it.
This post will show you a number of reasons why your husky might be doing it and what you can do about it.
So, why does my husky sleep by my head? Possible reasons are that it makes it feel safer, it has separation anxiety, you have inadvertently rewarded it for doing it or that it is being protective.
There are a number of reasons why your husky might be doing it but there are some things you can consider which will help in figuring out the exact reason.
Why your husky sleeps by your head
Each of the different reasons why your husky sleeps by your head will likely come with a number of clues in the way that it does it.
Below are a number of possible reasons why it does it and what would make them more likely.
It makes it feel more secure
Huskies were pack animals and they would spend hours daily with their owners. With that being the case, it could be that your husky sleeps by your head because being around you makes it feel safer. This would be more likely if your husky sleeps by your head at night.
It has some separation anxiety
It might be the case that it has separation anxiety. This is where it 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 do it more before you would normally leave home and if it starts being anxious when you are leaving home.
You have inadvertently reinforced the behavior
It could be the case that you have actually trained it to sleep by your head by giving it things it wants when it does it. If you tend to give it things such as extra attention, toys or treats when it sleeps by your head, it might have learned to do it more in order to get those things.
Instead, it would help to train it to sleep somewhere else using positive reinforcement training and to reward it when it sleeps there.
It’s being protective
The reason that it does it could be that it is being protective. This would be more likely if it sleeps by your head more when other people are around and if it can get overprotective when other people are around.
Things to consider
When it started doing it
It would help to consider when your husky first started sleeping by your head since it could be the case that it has been doing it due to an event occurring.
If it did start doing it suddenly things that might have happened could include:
- You inadvertently rewarded it one time when it slept there
- The place that it normally would sleep became unavailable to it
- You asked it to come and sleep with you and it learned that its what you want
When it does it more
It would also help to consider the timing of when your husky does it. If it tends to do it more at a certain time it could be that the timing has something to do with it.
For example, if it tends to sleep by your head more when you are leaving it would be more likely that it does it due to separation anxiety. Whereas, if it does it more at night it would be more likely that it does it because it feels safer.
How to get your husky to stop sleeping by your head
If you want to get your Siberian husky to stop sleeping by your head there are some options you have below. You will likely find that using a combination of them will work the best.
Train it to sleep somewhere else
To get your husky to stop sleeping by your head you could train it to sleep somewhere else using positive reinforcement training. This is where you reward your husky for showing signs of behaving the way you want and avoid rewarding it when it does not.
To use positive reinforcement training to train your husky to sleep somewhere else you would train it to lay down in a certain spot and then gradually train it to stay there for longer and longer periods.
I have written about you how you can train your husky to lay down here and how you can train it to stay here.
Deal with its separation anxiety
It would also help to reduce how anxious it becomes when you are leaving if it seems to have separation anxiety.
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
Avoid negatively reinforcing the behavior
As mentioned above, it could be the case that you have been inadvertently rewarding it for sleeping by your head.
Instead, it would help to avoid rewarding it when it does it and to use positive reinforcement training to get it to sleep somewhere else.
Make its sleeping environment comfortable
It would also help to give it a comfortable place to sleep in order to encourage it to sleep there instead of by your head.
You could do this by getting a dog bed for it, and keeping the room dark and cool at night so that it can sleep more easily.