If your Rottweiler leans on you a lot you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.
This post will show you a number of possible causes and what you can do to get it to stop.
So, why does my Rottweiler lean on me? Possible reasons are that it makes it feel more secure, it has separation anxiety, it does it for attention, it is spreading its scent or that it is being protective.
Your Rottweiler might be leaning on you for a number of different reasons and it could be due to a combination of causes. However, there are a number of things you can do about it.
Why your Rottweiler leans on you
Below, I will show you a number of possible reasons why your Rottweiler leans on you and what would make them more likely to be the reason.
It is being protective
The reason why your Rottweiler does it might be that it is being protective. This would be more likely if it tends to lean on you more when you are around other people and dogs.
Dominance
The cause could also be that it is being dominant. This would be more likely if it tries to get you to move when it does it and if it does other dominant things such as position itself to be higher than you and be unresponsive to your command.
To prevent this, it is important to give it lots of positive reinforcement training so that it learns how to behave and so that it respects you as the leader. If it is aggressive, it would also help to get help from a professional dog trainer.
Security
The reason why it does it could also be that it makes it feel more secure. Dogs are pack animals and they evolved to spend most of their time around the other dogs and people in the pack so it is natural that being near you will make it feel more secure.
Separation anxiety
The cause could be that it has some separation anxiety. This would be more likely if it tends to do it more when you are about to leave and if it becomes anxious when you are leaving.
If it does seem like it has some separation anxiety, it would help to take measures to reduce how anxious it becomes while 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 Rottweiler 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 Rottweiler 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 Rottweiler
- Repeat the above, each time staying outside for slightly longer
You can watch the video below for more tips on how you can reduce its separation anxiety.
It wants attention
The reason why it does it might be that it is looking for attention. This would be more likely to be the reason if it does it more when you have not been giving it much attention and if you tend to give it more attention when it does it.
Instead, it would help to give it attention when it is behaving the way you want it to and to avoid rewarding it with attention when it leans on you if you do not want it to do it.
To spread its scent
The reason why it does it could be to spread its scent onto you so that other dogs are less likely to approach you.
Things to consider
When it started leaning on you
If it did not always lean on you, it would help to consider what else happened at around the same time that it started doing it since it could be the case that there was an event 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 and where it leans on you
It would also help to consider if there is a certain time that it tends to lean on you more since the timing might have something to do with it.
For example, if it tends to do it when you are likely to leave soon, it might be due to separation anxiety.
How to get your Rottweiler to stop leaning on you
Below are some options you have when getting your Rottweiler to stop doing it.
Ignore it
Since it might be leaning on you for attention, one option would be to get it off you and to ignore it until it calms down. By doing so you should be able to teach it that leaning on you does not result in it getting rewards.
Give it attention
It would also help to give it attention throughout the day so that it is less likely to seek attention from you. Ways to give it attention would be to exercise it, train it or to play with it.
Train it not to
Another option would be to make use of positive reinforcement training and get it to sit or lay down somewhere else. You can do this by teaching it to sit or to lay down somewhere and then by gradually teaching it to stay there over longer and longer time periods.
You can watch the video below for more tips on how to do it.