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Why Does My Dog Sleep On Top Of Me [5 Reasons Explained]

It cannot be obvious when you awake and find your dog sleeping on top of you.

You might be wondering why he is doing that. 

Why does my dog sleep on top of me? 

There can be several reasons why your dogs may do this behavior. Your dogs may be trying to get your attention. Or he may feel comfortable lying on top of you. Again, maybe you are influencing his activity by treating this behavior. Perhaps your dog has separation anxiety for another reason. 

It would help if you still were blurry about this matter.

Don’t worry; we have prepared the whole article to clear your doubts. 

Let’s jump in!

5 Reasons That Make Your Dog Sleep on You

Like humans, dogs also communicate with their owners. They try to share some signs and behavior like lying to you. Your dog might sit on you as well.

In this case, they show you affection. And try to communicate what they want. 

You need to understand those signs. If you know your dog’s repetitive behavior, you can quickly form a bond with him.

For many several reasons, your dogs can show this behavior. Below, we have discussed the most common sense your dogs sleep on top of you. 

Reason 1: Feeling Comfortable & Safe 

Feeling comfortable can be a reason for your dogs to sleep on top of you. Most likely, you and your dog spend a lot of time together. And he feels comfortable around you. 

, Generally, every breed tries to sleep on the owner’s bed. But in some cases, the dogs may want to sleep on you. And that’s why, when sleeping, he wants to sleep with you. 

Reason 2: Wanting Attention 

Wanting attention can be a reason. Your dogs want your attention while you are resting on your bed. 

You might notice these behaviors happen mainly in the daytime while sleeping. Then you can say your dogs want some extra attention from you. Or it can also occur if you are out for a long time or didn’t give him that much attention.

Reason 3: Encouraging the Behavior 

You might be the reason why your dog is showing this behavior. You are unintentionally encouraging him to do so. 

He can get encouraged by getting what he wants. He’ll lay on you when he wants to be patted, and you pet him. Then this can encourage him to do these behaviors often.

In most cases, dogs get encouraged by getting attention or treatment. If you’re giving him extra attention or treating him, these can also influence him. 

Here’s a thing, if you like it, you can treat him while he is laying to you. You can treat him to some healthy food. For example, you can feed your dog mango, pears, etc. 

Reason 4: Calming You 

Like humans, dogs also like to stay with their families. In that case, your dogs consider you part of your family. And he tries to claim you by sleeping on top of you. 

Or there can be another reason as well. Maybe there are some other dogs or pets in your house. And because of that, your dogs may get jealous. And he may want to claim you as his owner. In this process, your dog might sleep on you. 

This mostly happens when you get a new pet in the house. And you notice the old one is showing this behavior towards you. 

Reason 5: Having Separation Anxiety 

Separation anxiety can cause your dog to show this behavior. In that case, your dog wants to know when you are leaving. And that’s why he sleeps on top of you to get the alarm. 

In that case, you will notice your dog is sleeping on you when you wake. He may also show signs like licking a pillow or biting your clothes. And he would also show some anxiety symptoms when you are about to leave.

It can be a bad thing if your dogs have separation anxiety. Also, you may not like the behavior. And maybe you are wondering how to prevent this behavior. 

Here are some steps you can follow to prevent your dog from sleeping on you. 

Methods to Prevent Your Dog From Sleeping on You

It’s okay if your dog buddy is a little one in size. But if it’s a big dog like a bull mastiff, it can be very uncomfortable if he sleeps on you. 

Whatever the reason, you might want to prevent your dogs from sleeping on you. Here are some of the methods you can try. 

Method 1: Avoid Encourage the Behavior

Avoiding or not treating your pets can stop them from doing it. If he gets what he wants, it’ll only encourage the behavior. 

To prevent him from sleeping on you, you must avoid encouraging this behavior. 

Method 2: Positive Reinforcement Training 

You can train your dog to obey your command. And by doing so, you can command him to sleep in a suitable place.

Treat your dog to obey every little command. Treating is the only way of reinforcement training. It will encourage him and make him affected towards you. 

You can treat your dog with some healthy treat biscuits or vitamin-added treats. There are so many products in the market for you to pick from. 

Don’t get confused; here we have collected some of the best products for you:

Product 01
Product 02 

These products have vitamins and minerals that will help your dog be healthy. And also, they can be such an excellent treat for your dog.

Method 03: Console a Vat 

If your dog’s showing this with some other anxiety behavior, then you should console a vet. Your vet will take proper precautions to get him out of separation anxiety. 

Here we’ve concluded all the critical issues on this topic. We hope it’ll help you in gaining direct knowledge.

FAQs 

What does my dog sigh? 

A sigh can be the most common sound of pleasure for dogs. Also, dogs whine and growl to admit happiness. And commonly, puppies make low-pitched moans to state joy and pleasure. 

Why does my dog tilt his head? 

Dogs tilt their head to improve their visual perspective. They tend to do it by working around their interfering muzzles. 

Do dogs know when we are sleeping? 

Yes, dogs do know when you’re sleeping. Dogs can notice the change in your breath. By seeing the slower and heavy breath, dogs determine whether you are asleep or awake.