The extreme loyalty and friendly nature of Blue Heelers often make them clingy towards their owners. If your Blue Heeler follows you everywhere, you’re not the only one concerned about it.
Do you want to know why your Blue Heeler follows you everywhere? Blue Heelers love to bond with their owners. But, they might also have a lack of confidence that makes them clingy. Other reasons include not exercising regularly, health issues, stress due to environmental change, and always keeping the dog with you.
Let’s discuss these factors in detail and learn how you can make your Blue Heeler independent.
Why Does My Blue Heeler Follow Me Everywhere?
The behavior of your Blue Heeler following you everywhere may feel clingy, and here are all the reasons for it!
1. Love
Blue Heelers are highly loyal and affectionate dogs that crave the attention of their owners. These dogs were originally bred as herding breeds, and they take care of animals on the farm.
This instinct makes them overly affectionate, and they want to protect their owners at all costs. That is why Blue Heelers follow you everywhere you go.
Your Blue Heeler will treat you as a responsibility and keep an eye on you all the time.
2. Separation anxiety
As mentioned before, Blue Heelers are loyal and always want to stay with their owners. That’s why they always fear being away from them.
If your Blue Heeler follows you around, it may also mean that it’s afraid of you going out of its sight and disappearing. Blue Heelers cannot withstand separation anxiety, and if you suddenly leave your dog alone for a long time, the situation will become worse.
Upon seeing you again, your Blue Heeler will stick to you and won’t leave.
3. Stress
Stress is the common reason behind your dog following you in almost every breed. Whenever you move to a new location, your Blue Heeler will become stressed and anxious.
The dog will not feel secure right after moving to a new house, and it will only come up to you to seek security and comfort. Also, as your Blue Heeler thinks of you as its responsibility, it will follow you around to save you from any obstacle or mishap at a new place.
4. Lack of exercise
Blue Heelers are active dogs with a lot of energy to release. So, they need regular exercise and playtime to keep them occupied. If you don’t give enough time to your Blue Heeler and exercise it, it will eventually get bored.
In such a case, your dog will try to find an activity for itself, and what’s better than following you around?
5. Owner’s behavior
Sometimes, your Blue Heeler being clingy may be your fault.
Blue Heelers are already clingy dogs, and making them dependent on you for everything will worsen the situation. Your dog will never learn to stay alone, and if you do so, it will suffer from separation anxiety.
Owners that constantly give treats to their Blue Heelers are also encouraging clingy behavior. Your dog will want more treats and cuddles, and it will follow you around to get more of these.
Apart from these, you may be keeping your dog with you all the time, especially while sleeping. This behavior from your side will make your dog overly dependent on you, and it will follow you everywhere.
6. Lack of confidence
Some Blue Heelers will feel insecure, especially after moving to a new place or after the introduction of a new member into the family.
This lack of confidence will make it follow you around the house. It’s only to make itself relaxed and comfortable.
How To Make Your Blue Heeler More Independent?
Here are all the tips you can use to make your Blue Heeler more independent and stop it from following you like a shadow.
1. Socialize your dog
Although Blue Heelers are independent, they tend to bond with one person only and would devote their love to them.
But, socializing your Blue Heeler can still help. When it plays and interacts with other dogs and people, it will realize that there is more to the world than just one person. You should also let your Blue Heeler spend time with other people and animals to make it independent.
Socializing is also beneficial for Blue Heelers that follow their owners and hide behind them due to lack of confidence.
2. Set boundaries
If you let your Blue Heeler follow you around, it will continue to do so. Therefore, you need to set boundaries to tell the dog that you don’t want it to follow you.
For this, you can close the door when you go into another room while leaving the Blue Heeler outside the room. After two to three minutes, you can open it again and continue your work.
But, make sure you don’t extend the time to ten or fifteen minutes in the beginning. Taking things slowly and gradually increasing the time is the best idea.
Otherwise, your Blue Heeler will suffer from separation anxiety, which will worsen the situation.
3. Provide distractions
Your Blue Heeler may follow you around because it’s fun. If that’s the case, it’s time to bring chew toys and puzzles into the house for your dog.
The dog will stay occupied playing with the chew toys, and these distractions will encourage it to play with them instead of following you around.
4. Make it sleep separately
If your Blue Heeler is used to sleeping with you, the problem of it following you around lies here.
To avoid it, a better idea is to provide it with a safe place in the house to sleep. Initially, you can allow it to sleep in your room, but on a separate bed. Make sure you provide it with a good bed and soft blanket, along with its favorite toys.
5. Exercise it regularly
Blue Heelers are intelligent dogs with lots of energy. So, making them exercise regularly is essential. Otherwise, the dog will get bored and may end up following you around for fun.
Also, don’t forget to take it out for a walk to help it socialize with people.
6. Teach it commands
Teaching commands to your dog will definitely help you avoid many unwanted behaviors. When your Blue Heeler follows you around, tell it to stay at a place by saying ‘’stop’’. You can also ask it to stop at the door while you go into another room.
Apart from these, you can use commands to tell your dog to stay on his bed when it’s time to sleep.
7. Help it relieve the stress
Your Blue Heeler may be following you around because you moved to a new house and it feels stressed. In such a case, it’s better to give attention to your dog and pet it to make it calm and relaxed.
But, make sure that too much attention and rewards will also provoke the dog to follow you everywhere.
Final Words
Blue Heelers are highly affectionate to their owners, and this love encourages them to follow them around the house. But, this unexpected behavior can feel clingy to the owners.
It’s better to make your Blue Heeler independent. Otherwise, it will suffer from separation anxiety as soon as you go out of sight.
So, identifying the cause and following our tips will definitely help you make your Blue Heeler more independent.
My name is Katie, and I have had different pets at home for as long as I can remember. While I can definitely say I love all animals in general, my heart belongs to cats and dogs. I know you are supposed to choose one or the other, but I could never really decide. I’ve also owned hamsters and fish when I was a kid, and they filled my childhood with very delightful memories.
