A One Person Dog?

Are some breeds more possessive and prone to bond to just one person than other breeds? If so how do you deal with it? My mother adopted a stray dachshund, in many ways he was a lovely dog, I liked him a lot but almost from the day he arrived he was very possessive of my mum, he would even guard her clothes. We coped and he led a very happy life with us, but I would like to avoid the problem in future which is why I am asking about it.

Yes, some breeds are more prone to be one person dogs. However IMO often the owner uninetntionally creates this problem by revolving their live around the dog. By giving the dog too much time and attention and not letting the dog develop a life away from that particular person. I'm not saying thats what your mother did, just saying it happens that way sometimes.

That is interesting Bill, could you please tell us one or two of the breeds that are more prone to being possessive. What you say about the owner in some cases making the situation worse makes a lot of sense.

Chow Chows are notorious for being one person dogs. Any of the dogs that are bred to guard herds of livestock would tend be one person dogs. Some of thoe breds would be Anitolian Shepherds(sp) and Great Pyrenees. Doberman's tend to be one person dogs.

Oh yes! I have two sort of cases. I had a chow lab mix who adopted me (yes, he adopted me; I had little to say about it when he showed up at work one day and wouldn't let anyone feed him but me) who stayed at my feet all the time. He did bond with my 2 other days at the time, but he was with me every step of the way. I don't think I ever walked out of the room without him following. I also currently have a dog who is a mix of shepherd, lab and blue heeler. It is the blue heeler part that has the herding element. She's had some separation anxiety but I've worked with her on that, and she's better, but she's still a mama's dog, if you know what I mean, even though she is definitely bonded to my other lab.

Yup, My Rott/Chow is definitely a one person dog!

It is very interesting to hear these stories, thank you.

Thanks for these answers, it confirms what I had suspected. Oddly in our family it is one of my cats who is the most posessive.

Kernow mentioned a dachshund in the original post, I have also come across a lovely but very possessive dachshund. Is it a common trait with this breed too?

I don't have cats but a friend of mine does, and they definitely have their own attitudes about things.