Dog Following You To The Bathroom? Here’s Why

One of the ways dogs show affection to their owners is by following them everywhere. Your dog may follow you from one room to the next and typically enjoy being in your presence. For them, it is part of the bonding experience and the intimacy they have with you. But for you, your dog following you to the bathroom may not be such a comfortable experience.

For many pet parents, one of the things that come with owning a dog is that they will go to the bathroom with you. They may stay outside the door or even follow you and stare at you while you do your business. For you, it’s bizarre, but for them, it’s totally normal. If you’re wondering why dogs follow you to the bathroom, here are ten possible reasons for this behavior. 

Dogs Want To Be Part Of All Your Activities 

This isn’t really surprising; most dogs are so attached to their owners that they want to be part of everything they do. Since they were domesticated thousands of years ago, they have evolved to share everything with us. They hunted side-by-side with our ancestors and have remained close ever since. Therefore, it is not surprising that your dog wants to follow you everywhere. It’s just another room in the house and another activity to enjoy. 

They Are Curious

Dogs are instinctively curious. They don’t like to be left out of anything. This behavior often results in them trying to find out what you’re doing in the bathroom. Your dog will most likely interpret the fact that you’re there often to mean that something interesting is going on there. So many things can happen in a bathroom, and this makes the experience of watching you even more interesting for your pup. They see you relieve yourself, take your bath, do your makeup, and do other things in the bathroom. This is probably why they’re so curious to see what you’re up to this time. 

They Think They Are Protecting You

Dogs are not little creeps that just want to watch you poop. They’re often there with you because they are trying to protect you. The dog may interpret the fact that you go to the bathroom daily to mean that it’s your territory and needs to be protected. So if you ever get attacked in your bathroom, you can be confident your pooch will swoop in to protect you. 

They Love Your Company 

Dogs are naturally sociable animals. They enjoy being around family, and they don’t like being alone. Given a chance, your dog will most likely follow you everywhere. It’s the reason they’re sad when you leave for work, and they wiggle in excitement when you return at the end of the day. The fact that they want to go with you to the bathroom is not an exception. Your canine friend is just showing you how much he cares about you. 

They Like To Smell Several Scents

Okay, before you get ahead of yourself, you should know this. Sometimes, your dog is not even there with you in the bathroom because of you. Dogs have a highly active sense of smell, and there’s no better place to discover such a new smell than in the bathroom. Even the scent of what you consider gross is interesting to them. There’s also the smell of soaps, shaving creams, perfumes, and other cleaning products that you use. It’s a scented paradise for your dog. Just like you, it’s their favorite part of the house too. 

They Worry About You

You enter a room and spend several minutes sitting in a spot, making weird faces, or even making occasional grunts and sounds. Of course, your dog will be worried. He doesn’t know what’s going on, so he’ll stand close to you and stare at you the whole time. 

Your Dog Is Suffering From Separation Anxiety

This reason is not as cute as the other ones, but it’s a plausible explanation for why your dog wants to go everywhere with you. Dogs suffering from separation anxiety want to always be around someone. They’ll get restless if they have to be left alone for some reason. This is why they’ll follow you everywhere, including the loo. If your puppy is exhibiting stressful behavior when left alone (even for a few minutes), it might be a case of separation anxiety, and you should talk to your vet about it. 

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Dogs Don’t Understand The Concept Of Privacy

The reason you can’t go when someone is watching you or you think having your pet with you in the loo is weird is that you’re human, and you understand what privacy is. Dogs have no understanding of that concept. They are natural pack animals which means they’re programmed to live in groups. To them, there’s nothing private about going to the bathroom, so they’ll follow you there. 

They Try To Help

Dogs can stress you unknowingly. When they knock out your trash can, for instance, they are only trying to play, but they’ll end up leaving a mess. It’s the same thing with dogs following you to the bathroom. Some dogs are trained to help with everything, and your bathroom is just another place in the house where they can show their training. They can help you hold toilet paper, bring your towel or pick up items that you drop. It’s just their way of showing they care and demonstrating their training. You should be proud. 

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You Made A Mistake 

Sometimes, it’s your fault that your dog can’t stay away from you or come to you precisely when you’re in the bathroom. During training at an early age, some pet owners offer their dogs a treat, hug, or any other reward right before entering or when leaving the toilet.

Your dog may connect that room with the reward and get conditioned to waiting for it with time. So when next you’re wondering why dogs follow you to the bathroom, you may have to look back at how the dog was trained in the first place. If this is the reason, you may consider retraining your dog to prevent this and start enjoying your privacy again.

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Conclusion 

Not all dogs follow you to the bathroom. In fact, some dogs may not even follow you anywhere in the house. It doesn’t mean they’re abnormal.

Some dog breeds are simply not very affectionate, while others can be quite clingy. For instance, shepherding dog breeds are generally more clingy than other aloof breeds. It may also depend on the personality of your pet.

However, following you to the bathroom is not abnormal dog behavior. Of course, if you prefer to have total privacy away from peering eyes, it’s not difficult to train your dog to stay away while you do your business. 

Bonus: Speaking of Poop – Why Do Dogs Take So Long to Find the Perfect Spot to Poop?

Speaking of pooping – have you ever wondered why your dog seems to hold in its poop until it finds just the right spot to make the deposit? Any old patch of grass just won’t do! They sniff and search and turn around – why? There are several theories.

One is that your dog is stamping down the grass for a smooth place to poop. Two is that it is looking out for predators before taking up such a vulnerable position. A study in Europe found that dogs try to align themselves in a north-south position for pooping. They found that dogs seldom resort to an east-west alignment. Why? They don’t know. Check out a compass next time your dog poops to see if it follows the north-south rule!

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Jimmy Gunawan/Shutterstock.com