Why Your German Shepherd Follows You Everywhere

If your German Shepherd follows you around everywhere then you’re probably wondering why and what you can do about it. This post will give you a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be following you around and what you can do about it.

So, why does your German Shepherd follow you? Possible reasons include wanting attention, wanting something else like food, separation anxiety, being in its nature to follow you and you might have been reinforcing the behavior by giving it what it wants. 

And what can you do about it? To get your German Shepherd to stop following you around you can try giving it more exercise than usual, ignoring the behavior and rewarding it when it doesn’t follow you or you can get help from a dog behaviorist. 

Before getting your German Shepherd to stop following you around it can actually be very helpful to take the time to figure out why.

Possible reasons why your German Shepherd follows you around

There are a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be doing it that I will mention below.

Attention

The first reason why your German Shepherd might be doing it is that it wants attention. German Shepherds are a breed that was bred to work with their owners doing intensive tasks on a daily basis.

So, they require a lot of exercise and attention to be properly stimulated. If your German Shepherd isn’t getting a lot of exercise then it might start following you around since it is waiting for you to give it some.

If your German Shepherd isn’t currently getting much exercise then it is important that you take the time to make sure that it does. You might find that the exercise that you give it isn’t enough so you will need to find ways to make the exercise more tiring for it. I will mention some ways that you can do so in the next section below.

Related post: How to tell if your German Shepherd loves you

It wants something

It could also be that it wants something other than attention from you. The most probable thing that it wants is food. If it has learned that following you around will get it food then it will encourage the behavior.

Separation anxiety

The reason why it follows you around 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.

If your German Shepherd gets anxious when it sees that your about to leave or it pees or destroys things when you’re away or if it can get aggressive at times or it is depressed then it could indicate that it has separation anxiety.

Related post: Why is my German Shepherd so anxious?

It was bred to work with humans

Another thing 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.

You reinforce the behavior

It might be that it has learned to follow you everywhere because you have been inadvertently rewarding the behavior. Perhaps when it follows you around it causes you to give it a lot more attention or you give it more treats or maybe when it doesn’t follow you around you forget to walk it.

How to stop your German Shepherd from following you around

Below are some things you can do to get your German Shepherd to stop doing it.

If you would like some more tips on how to train your German Shepherd, take a look at the German Shepherd training book on Amazon.

Give it lots of exercise

German Shepherds are a breed that requires a lot of exercise to be properly stimulated. If they don’t get enough exercise then it can cause them to become hyperactive and to look for ways to get it. This is why it’s important to make sure that your German Shepherd gets a lot of exercise.

One way to give your German Shepherd exercise is to walk it. You might find that walking it isn’t enough for it so you’ll need to find ways to wear it out even more. You can do this by walking faster, walking further, walking in a hilly area or you could make it wear a doggy weight vest that weighs less than 10% of your dog’s bodyweight. 

An easy way to give your German Shepherd a lot of exercise is to teach it to play fetch.  By doing so you will be able to get your German Shepherd to do a lot of running in a short time frame without having to do so much yourself.

Try ignoring it

Another thing that you can do is to take measures to stop rewarding the behavior. When your German Shepherd follows you around instead of giving it what it wants you can try ignoring it and then rewarding it when it behaves in the way that you want it to.

Get help

If you can’t get your German Shepherd to stop following you around then you should consider getting help from a dog behaviorist. They will be able to properly diagnose why your German Shepherd is behaving in that way and will show you what you need to do about it.

Things to consider

When you’re trying to figure out why your German Shepherd is following you around or you are trying to get it to stop there are some things to keep in mind. 

Don’t punish

If you don’t want your German Shepherd to follow you around then it might be tempting for you to punish it for doing so. But, you should avoid doing this since it can lead to other problems such as anxiety, stress, destruction, a lack of trust in you and it will be less willing to listen to your command in the future.

It’s not unusual

It might seem weird to you that your German Shepherd has a habit of following you around everywhere but it’s not unusual for German Shepherds to do so.

Be patient

When you’re trying to get your German Shepherd to stop following you around it’s important to be patient. Getting your German Shepherd to stop following you everywhere is not something that you will be able to stop overnight so it’s important for you to be consistent and to stick to it.

Related questions

Why does my German Shepherd follow me everywhere suddenly? If your German Shepherd has suddenly started to follow you everywhere after previously not doing so then it would indicate that it has something wrong. It could be that a recent event has caused it to become more anxious it could be that it’s ill or it might be because it feels insecure. Your best option would be to take it to a vet to get it checked out.

Why does my German Shepherd follow me to the bathroom? If your German Shepherd has a habit of following you to the bathroom then it could be because it wants to protect you but it could also be due to separation anxiety. This is where it doesn’t like being left alone so it follows you to the bathroom because you normally shut it out and it doesn’t like it.