[llombardo]

My household blows the whole male/female thing out of the water My GSD(female) is definitely more bonded to me then my son, but she still loves him. She is always with me, watching over me, and following me At night if my son is sleeping on the couch, she gets up and checks everything out a couple times at night, but she always comes back and ends up with me. I did most of her training, but it was evident that she was close to me, so my son took over the last class and did the CGC with her. The trainer did not think that she would pass being left with a stranger if it was me walking away, she did fine with my son. My male golden is also more bonded with me(shh, don't tell my son), but that is a close one between my son and myself. My oldest female(non GSD) is nothing like the other two, she is pretty much equal with both my son and I, but she is the most independent dog I have ever had.

 

[Rachel.E]

In my experience, the male/female thing does definitely play into it. Males tend to be more affectionate with female owners, and challenge the male owners more, and females tend to be daddy's girls. Also, females in general seem to have more aloof/independant personalities than males. My female seems to be bonded to both my husband and I equally, but I've noticed that she gives him a little more "respect" than she gives me. I'm primarily responsible for her walks, playing, etc., but I have noticed than when she gets bitey or rebellious, she responds to my husband right away, but usually tries to challenge me more.

 

[LajollaMatt]

The reason I ask this question is my 6 month old girl Tess seems to be bonded to my husband a lot more than she is with me, which causes me to wonder why, as I'm the one who's with her the most, I'm the one who trains her, I'm with her all day, I picked her out, etc. etc.

I know that she loves me, she always comes in to greet me in the morning, even if my husband lets her out of her crate and vice versa if I let her out, she goes in to greet him. When I had her in day care and would pick her up at the end of the day, she would be all over me, even peeing due to her excitement to see me most of the time. When my husband goes out, she will sit by the door waiting for him to return and last night he spent the night in Boston at his daughters house and it seemed as if Tess couldn't settle very well due to him not being there. Maybe she'd do that if I had to spend the night away from home, I don't know. I'm just curious and yes, maybe a little bit jealous about how much affection she shows my husband.

I've read that GSD usually will bond with one person but I've also heard that they will bond with all that are in the household, as that's her pack.

Anyone else feel that their dog is showing more devotion to their significant other?

Well, our two boys were 9/11 yrs. when our beautiful Veleska came home and, as others have mentioned she had special rituals with each one of us. My wife spent the most time with Veleska however, to her endless wonder this brilliant girl was “totally in love with Daddy” lol Our GSD was fantastic with both boys and so affectionate with my wife but her relationship with me was so different. She followed me everywhere and would always sit or lay directly opposite me with her eyes glued to mine. All I would need to do is smile at her and she would jump up and bound across the room ready to play! Or if I winked at her she would run to get her lead ~ while blowing her a kiss well, that seemed to send her right over the top and I’d need to brace myself for her grand leap into my arms LOL And if she was outside playing with the kids when I arrived home then she’d spend literally 5 minutes excitedly running up & down the street and squealing with delight before I could catch her and deliver some enormous hugs while she lapped up my face. Now that’s GSD love!

 

[Lexie’s mom]

The original post was in 2013.

 

[WNGD]

There may be more tendencies but it's not entirely a male/female thing. I had three females that were definitely more bonded to me and now two males that are the same, especially the older one (6). But the one he's most excited to see is my son when he visits so go figure. The younger male (1) would be more bonded to my youngest daughter as the number 2.

 

[Ruben8130]

My 9 month old Ruben really only listens to me, and is definitely my dude. He is affectionate with my kids and husband, but he clearly looks at me like the leader. I am with him the most. I am also more assertive than my husband. I am not sure if this matters, but makes sense in my mind that is why he perceives me as the leader.