# What does it really mean when puppy climbs on your shoulder?



## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

Recently Bella, now just turning 5 months old, will sometimes move up from my lap and climb onto my shoulder. She's not quite big enough, but it's as though she's trying to be a scarf. She seems to be happy up there and wags her tail, and I place my hand her gently on her back so she won't fall. 

I wondered if she was trying to see something behind me, but nothing is going on; the cat is usually asleep on the couch, and that's it. 

Is this a poodle hug, or one of those poodle domination moves? Or maybe she just likes being up high? She's not trying to get down. It's really adorable but I wonder if others have this experience and what they think about it.


----------



## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Sophy climbs up and licks my ear when she wants me to play - it means she can stare straight into my eyes and exert even stronger mind control than usual! I think if Bella likes to relax on your shoulder it is simply a natural desire to be close to your face.


----------



## Bevvie (Jun 17, 2017)

Interesting question. 
When Copper was a young pup, he would sleep on my head at night ... drape himself over the crown of my head like he was a hat. 
As he grew bigger, he didn't quite fit that well anymore but periodically would still drape the top part of himself over my head - sometimes with his nose doing little doggie poofs in my ear.
Now, if he alerts with a middle-of-the-night bark as he senses a perpetrator in the night, he will return with a huge leap on the bed and go straight for my head .. I can almost hear him say, "it was nothing and I have it under control" (poof-poof).
Bella seems to have a somewhat similar personality quirk. It's an attribute that may go back to the litter mates and possibly the breeder. I have pictures with Copper always sleeping on top of his litter mates. Copper's breeder also handles the pups a lot so when they're ready for gotcha day, human interactions and trust are quite normal for them. 
This may be similar with Bella and it might explain why she is quite content to settle around your neck. 
BTW, I wouldn't change that quirk for anything - especially when that anything is as cute as Bella!


----------



## Cricket78 (Aug 17, 2017)

I think poodle hug!
How adorable


----------



## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

Mine like to hang out on the back of the couch, Beatrice in particular will hang out on my shoulder, I call her my parrot dog

I should say that my toy pups like to hang out on the back of the couch, the poodles I adopted as adults not so much.


----------



## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

I love the idea of a that being a poodle hug. I used to have a papillon that loved to hang out on the back of the couch, and especially when we were sitting there so he was close to our face. Now our spoo can't do anything like that, but she does do what I call a spoo hug. When I am sitting on the ground she comes up to me and nuzzles her face into my chest and just leans on me so that I have easy access to put my arms around her and give her a hug. She would sit like that all day, she loves it. Poodles do the cutest things!


----------



## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

One of my favorite pics of a poodle hug; I love the pony cut:


----------



## chinchillafuzzy (Feb 11, 2017)

I love the pony clip too!! I think that will be the first clip that I put Luna in when I cut her down from show hair. Cute pic!


----------



## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

Some place I read do not know how true it is . 

That being high up in bed toward the head of a human head was showing dominance to other dogs. Mine sleep in a line, Cayenne at my head, age chest level and little Bella at tummy level.


----------



## Vita (Sep 23, 2017)

Glorybeecosta, Hmm, this doesn't surprise me. My late poodle used to put his two front paws on the backs or shoulders of other dogs, often bigger than he was. I've seen Bella do this to the cat, and when she's up high on my shoulder, the cat can see her (when he's awake). Maybe Bella is showing dominance to the cat.

Or maybe even a kind of possessiveness toward me, aka, _this is my human! _ She's a good girl, so that's fine with me.


----------



## neophyte282 (Nov 6, 2017)

I’m so getting my standard a pony cut lol. My papillon climbs onto my face and chest for cuddles. I say he is trying to climb in to my soul, lol. It’s adorable. I also call it “scarfing” because he will lay himself on my neck like a scarf.


----------



## Johanna (Jun 21, 2017)

glorybeecosta said:


> That being high up in bed toward the head of a human head was showing dominance to other dogs.


I have "treated" a miniature poodle who was fearful by putting his crate on top of another dog's crate. This really worked well. This was a dog who was sent to us by a professional handler because the dog was very timid in the show ring - a fault that should always result in being out of the ribbons. He was with us for a month or six weeks before he went back to the handler - and he finished his championship quite quickly.

So I am a great believer in putting a timid dog in a position of dominance.

If you watch dogs interact, notice that a dog who puts his head or a leg over the shoulder of another dog is showing dominance.


----------



## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

I don't buy into the idea of symbolic dominance displays generally - I think it's more about resources. Dogs don't want power for its own sake so much as they want _things,_ and for some that just means getting the things more quickly and easily than everyone else. And for others, they'd rather avoid conflict even if it means they go without specific things. And everywhere in between. So it does happen that animals boss each other around, but it's more situational than fixed.

I say that because I find people can get really hung up on little expressions that they see representing rank or hierarchy, and then that can go in some scary directions (like people who think they need to physically enforce their own "dominance" over a dog). It is interesting to watch the dynamics between animals play out, though. 

As for puppy climbing on your shoulder, it's probably either that they like being up high, like having access to something up there (like the back of the couch), or just think it's a comfy spot. Maybe the puppy's learned that being close to your face means they get attention more quickly when they want it. I know when Archie really wants something from me, he'll do everything he can to stick his face right in my face. He also likes to lie on pillows and will give "hugs," where he rests his paws on my shoulder and stands in my lap, then either licks my face or sometimes just snuggles in. I call those Archie Hugs.

Cleo doesn't like climbing on people at all, but she's definitely the bossier of the two dogs.


----------

