Why is my German Shepherd obsessed with me?

If your German Shepherd is obsessed with you then you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.

This post will show you a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might not leave you alone and how you can get it to stop doing it

So, why is my German Shepherd obsessed with me? Possible reasons are that it wants attention or exercise, is hungry, is frightened, it has separation anxiety or that you have been inadvertently rewarding the behavior.

There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out why your German Shepherd is obsessed with you. Depending on the cause, there are also a number of things that you can do about it.

Why your German Shepherd is obsessed with you

Each of the different reasons why your German Shepherd is obsessed with you will likely come with some clues.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be obsessed with you and what would make them more likely.

It wants attention

The reason why it is obsessed with you might be that it is looking for attention. This would be more likely if it becomes more obsessed when you have not been giving it much attention. It would also be more likely if you tend to give it more attention when it is acting that way.

If it does seem to be doing it because it is looking for attention then it would help to train it to lay down somewhere and to stay and to reward it for doing that. It would also help to avoid rewarding it with attention when it is obsessed with you but to try to give it attention throughout the day and to reward it when it is being well behaved.

It wants exercise

It could also be the case that it is not getting enough exercise. German Shepherds are a breed that is supposed to get a lot of exercise on a daily basis since they were bred to be working dogs.

Generally, it is recommended for them to get at least an hour of exercise per day. When they don’t get enough exercise it can cause them to develop behavioral issues including becoming obsessive.

If your German Shepherd is not currently getting that much exercise then it would help to make sure that it does.

It’s hungry

It could be the case that it does it because it is hungry. This would be more likely if it seems to become more obsessed when it has not been fed for a while or when it would normally get fed.

In this case, it would help to make sure that you are feeding it the right amount. It would also help to train it to stay before feeding it so that it sees you as the one that is in control.

Fear

The reason why it is obsessed with you might be that something has caused it to become fearful. The reason for this might be that someone mistreated it. This would be more likely if you adopted it from a shelter. It would also be more likely that it is fearful if it tends to cry, whine or hide a lot.

In this case, it would help to try and figure out what it is causing it to become fearful and then to take action accordingly. If you can’t figure out why it might be that it is injured so it would help to take it to a vet.

Related post: Why is my German Shepherd afraid?

Nature

Something to consider is that German Shepherds were bred to work alongside humans. Due to this, it is to be expected that your German Shepherd will look to you for direction and that it will cause it to follow you around at times.

If it won’t leave you alone then it would help to train it to lay down somewhere and to stay so that you can tell it to do so when you want it to.

Separation anxiety

The reason why it does it could be due to separation anxiety. This is where your German Shepherd does not like being left without you and, when it does, it causes it to get anxious.

It would be more likely that your German Shepherd has separation anxiety if it shows signs of getting anxious when you are about to leave. Ways that it might get anxious could include pacing, crying or whining. It would also be more likely if it does things such as become destructive or pee when you are away.

Reinforcing the behavior

It might be the case that you have been inadvertently rewarding the behavior. This would be more likely if you tend to give it things that it wants when it gets obsessed with you.

Instead of giving it things that it wants it would help to train it to lay down somewhere else and to get it to do that when it is being obsessive.

Things to consider

When it became obsessed with you

If your German Shepherd has not always been obsessed with you it would help to consider when it started doing it and what happened at around that time.

Things that might have happened could include:

• Someone mistreated it
• You started leaving it alone for longer periods
• It stopped getting as much exercise

When it is more obsessed with you

It would also help to consider the timing of when it is more obsessed with you. If it seems to become obsessed only at certain times then it would be likely that the timing will give you some clues.

For example, if it only seems to become obsessed when you would normally feed it or walk it then it might be trying to remind you of that.

How to get it to stop being obsessed with you

There are a number of things that you can do to get it to be less obsessed with you that I will mention below.

Train it to listen to your command

If you have not already done so it would help to train your German Shepherd to do simple tasks so that it will listen to you when you want it to.

To use this to get it to be less obsessed with you, it would help to train it to lay down somewhere and to stay. That way you will be able to tell it lay down when it starts getting obsessed with you.

I have written about how you can train your German Shepherd to stay here. I have also written about how you can train your German Shepherd to lay down here.

You can look at the book Training Your German Shepherd on Amazon to get more tips about how you can train your GSD.

Give it exercise

As mentioned above, it is important to make sure that your German Shepherd is getting exercise on a daily basis. You might find that just walking it isn’t enough. If it isn’t, then you could wear it out even more by training it to play fetch.

Make sure its diet is right

It might be the case that there is something wrong with its diet that is causing it to be more obsessive. You can look here to see what you should and should not be feeding your German Shepherd.

If you are unsure of what food to get for your German Shepherd, consider getting dog food designed specifically for German Shepherds. You can get a GSD specific dog food on Amazon here and one for GSD puppies on Chewy here. 

Give it distractions

Another option for you would be to give your German Shepherd things to be distracted with such as toys, chews or bones throughout the day. Try to give it these things before it becomes obsessive so that it doesn’t associate being obsessive with rewards.

Avoid encouraging it

As mentioned above, it could be the case that you have been inadvertently training your German Shepherd to be obsessive by giving it things that it wants to get it to stop.

Instead of giving it things such as toys, treats or attention, when it gets obsessive, it would help to get use the tips above and to reward it when it is well behaved.