Why Does My Dog Follow Me Everywhere?

Let’s say you’ve spent the past three hours binge-watching a true-crime documentary, as one does, and have finally paused for a popcorn refill and bathroom break. As soon as your feet hit the floor, your dog is up too. It joins you in the kitchen and trails behind you as you hit the restroom. And look, it’s great to have a canine companion after hours of grisly murder investigations, but a lack of bathroom privacy probably has you wondering, “Why does my dog follow me everywhere?”

As you return to the living room with your four-legged, waggy-tailed buddy by your side, you might eye it with another question on the tip of your tongue: Is it normal for your dog to follow you everywhere? To that, dog experts say you’re most definitely not alone. In fact, these questions are as ubiquitous among dog owners as “Why does my dog stare at me?” and “What does my dog’s facial expression mean?” These are all fundamental aspects of dog behavior, just like how dogs circle before they lie down, get the zoomies, or chase their tails for no apparent reason.

In other words, it’s not just your dog that follows you everywhere. Everyone else’s dogs play a canine version of follow-the-leader too. So let’s unpack this doggy behavior and dive into the reasons why your pup may be following you at any given time.

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Why do dogs follow people everywhere?

Domesticated dogs descended from wild canines (aka wolves) that lived in cooperative family groups, according to Tennessee veterinarian Kathryn Primm, DVM. As such, before dogs even began evolving into man’s best friend more than 10,000 years ago, they were already predisposed to pack living, which by its very nature demands a certain level of social interaction.

Over many millennia, the dogs that survived in domestication tended to be those best able to interact with humans in ways that benefited both themselves and their humans. Since dogs are naturally predisposed to protect their resources, Dr. Primm explains, early dogs likely followed their human companions around as they guarded their shelters against other humans and other animals.

The food and companionship dogs received in return would have motivated them to keep doing what they’d been doing (following their humans around) and to do it more often and in a greater variety of circumstances. Dogs who fit into this rubric became accustomed to good things happening when they followed their humans, which motivated them to continue following their humans around.

And that brings us to what we would wager to be the biggest reason you find yourself asking, “Why does my dog follow me everywhere?” That is, someone trained it to.

1. For a reward

When you ask the question, “Why does my dog follow me everywhere?” it might be best to do so while looking in a mirror. As much as it’s in your dog’s nature to follow you around, it’s also very much on you—not that there’s really anything wrong with that, as we’ll get to in a bit.

Through a continuous stream of positive reinforcement, you’ve trained your dog to follow you everywhere. It’s a dog-training mistake you may have even made unintentionally. Just like ancient dogs, modern dogs recognize that when they follow humans around, good things happen. You toss your pup a treat, give it a tummy rub, or take it on a walk around the neighborhood.

Your dog’s no dummy. And one of its many talents is learning from experience. That’s reinforcement. So if your dog keeps getting good things from following you around, then of course it’s going to keep following you around.

2. For food

Your dog may have a specific reason for following you around at any given time. In fact, that’s pretty much a given, though the reason will depend as much upon context as it does upon science.

For example, does the question, “Why does my dog follow me everywhere?” always seem to arise at dinnertime? If so, your dog could be following you because it’s hungry and it’s time to pour a bowl of dog food.