My dog will not leave me alone!!!

[TeddiH]

Well its been awhile! Hope everyone and their dog is doing well!

I have a almost 2 year old make chow, neutered. He has never really been close to me or bothered with me much until I got pregnant. When I first got pregnant he was trying to dominate me and was aggressive with me (at the time he was still intact), now that I am 33 weeks (almost done) he will NOT leave me alone. I am still giving him the same amount of attention as I always have but he is starting to drive me nuts! My female that I had when I was pregnant with my son never cared much until a few days before I went into labor, she would not leave me alone.
But I dont think thats why my male is following me everywhere... He is always sniffing me, he stands right in front of me and gets really hyper.
Anyone have any ideas? If he needs more attention I will give it to him but it hasnt helped yet!

[TeddiH]

Thanks for the advice and input!

Im still really not sure... He has eased up a lot since I posted this. We have always had chow, I do have quite a bit of experience with them. Asher, the male I have now is just still so young...
I did have problems with him when I first got pregnant, so we got him neutered! ;)
I have not had a problem since then, other then for about a week he would not leave me alone!
Asher tends to favor me, but my hubby works away and when he is home he seems very neutral to be honest. He has become very protective of our son as well lately but only when they are outside.
I think he might still be learning his role within the family. Our female had always been the dominate one. He still gets funny around other female dogs.
I hope he is just learning and curious and that it will all pass. We do have strict rules in our home about our dogs. No child is ever to be alone with them, the dogs are not allowed to come in a door before any humane, we do not walk around our dogs, they must get up and move... and many things, lol. But I have found that with the things we do in our home it helps our chows to know where they stand.

* We are this strict because we do take in rescues * Our female we lost (Tia) was a rescue, she was our of control when we got her! By the time we put her down I trusted her more then I have trusted anyone else in my life!

Thanks again!!!

[confusedlyd]

1 of 4 things.
1: he senses something, dogs are like that and will try to warn their owners of things. dogs are good at sensing medical problems and things like that.
2: chows tend to actually turn on people. i had 1 and he was the sweetest dog i had ever seen, but he ended up just turning on us 1 day and we had to put him down. chows also like ALL the attention to them, they get aggressive if something is in their way. (in your case, the baby) he knows something is about to take place. so i would be careful with that.
3: he just notices something different and wants to check it out.
4: maybe he does just want some attention..

but, i would really consider number 2..especially with a baby about to be around.

[ginger899]

Oh my gosh!
I'm not the dog behaviour expert around here. Jaybay is better with that kind of thing.
But all I can say is something has to be done about this. I hope also that when your baby is born, there are no problems....
The attention you give him makes good sense for a Human, but very bad idea for a dog. By giving him that attention you will be reinforcing the behaviour. You see, a dog craves attention, and when it does something, and therefore gets your attention, that is like a reward. When a dog is rewarded for doing something, it trains it to carry on doing that thing.....you see?

Other people may have very helpful comments here to help you, and the best I can do is to say never give him any attention at all for doing something you do not feel comfortable with. He is controlling you. It should be the other way around. Attention should only be given when he is behaving as you want him to.

But the training (which has to start right away, and may not be easy) has all kinds of angles to it, which you will have to work with and concentrate on every day.
Basically he has to be shown his place in your 'pack', and has to be gently but firmly kept in that place. And whatever happens, he has to realize that not only are you, and your husband/partner, and any children you have ABOVE him in that pack rank...but your new baby will be too.

A good idea might be to consult a dog behaviourist (not a dog *trainer*, they work differently) Because you must get 'on top' of his dominating behaviour before your baby is born. The good news is that once you start working with him in the correct way, he will start to respond almost immediately.