I want to be the favorite person

Fergus and I went to our third obedience class. They are a lot of fun and just what the two of us need. My husband came yesterday to see the class and pick up some of the finer points for me. Big mistake. Fergus loves him, he likes me, but he LOVES my husband. He kept turning around to see him and just had to watch him, so after ten minutes of that, we decided he should leave so we could continue the class. Fergus settled down a bit, but was still looking here and there for him.
Here's the bad part: I am so jealous. I want to be his favorite. I feel small just saying that.. Fergus has a history of not liking females, so I started out by being the wrong sex, but I'm working hard to change his mind.
Does anyone else feel this way? Or are you the dog's favorite person already?
~Rhonda

Well, I’m my dogs’ only person, so I guess I win by default. Lol

But they do have their “favorite” people. For example, Flicka loves my friend Matt, while Pepe adores my dad…

-Rosefern

I''m the boyz favourite person because Im the only one that does anything with them. I do all the training, I do all the excercising, I do all the feeding, Im the one that lets them out and puts them away etc etc. The only time my parents really do anything with them is if I happen to not be home or the odd time my mum will take OC along on her jog (cant take Ronan as she doesnt trust her abilities to control him - wise move on her part). So basically, it tends to be whoever does more stuff with the dog is the favourite HOWEVER there are esceptions. My friend''s Collie/Lab/Husky favours the dad the most out of the whole family and the dad hardly ever even looks at her.

Don't feel small, you will just have to work around it. Our first jrt LOVES my husband, her life is completely centered around him. He LOVES her as well.
My dog Petie (we have 5 jrts) is my soul, period. Him and I have that special connection.
My stud dog Bobbi, yep he loves us BUT the person he is IN LOVE with is my friend Laura, it is very clear that for whatever reason he adores her. Our one intact female The Russell Sprout, lives for our 14 yr old son, he feels the same way about her, she is his little Princess lol. My other intact females seems to spread herself out among all of us, but she sleeps with our son as well.
Don't be jealous, try to understand it and believe me ONE day you will have a dog that will ONLY have eyes for you. I firmly believe it isn't something that is trained or whether its the person that does everything with them and feeds them. It is something a lot deeper than that, its a connection that JUST IS.
You will know it when it happens, when Petie was 4 wks old (I breed him) I KNEW, he always made eye contact with me and I felt like he was looking into my soul. From that first moment I became his person and he my dog.

Lynn

If you do most of the training/feeding/etc. I'm sure you will start to feel the love.

It's funny - Max used to get upset because I am definitely Chester's favourite. He loves Max, but he adores me. It's pretty hard. That was until Max realised that I am the one who gives Chester all the love and cuddles and affection - Max is very, very affectionate with them but Chester and I used to have special cuddles every night when Max was away touring. Now that he's back, Chester loves him almost just as much, but I'm still his favourite.

I think you can definitely even out the scores, `level the playing field' so to speak, but mostly once they have a favourite that's pretty much that. Don't feel bad though - if you start doing some of the things that your husband does for him, and your husband allows you to take his role for a while, that will really help. You just have to get your husband to agree!

we have 4 dogs between three people so they've all dorted themselve out and they all know who they belong to. i'm busters favourite and yes i get so jelous when he talk to mum.. and i know he does it because i get in such a fuss. lol.

then again. he gets snappy when harry comes over to lick me in the face. so i guess it works both ways.

would you consider getting another dog for yourself? lol

i complettley agree, when mum bought buster home after finding him in a car park i took one look at him and thought "thats my dog!" over the years after that i'd be sitting out the back and mum would say "he's just been starring at you with googly eyes for the last ten minutes straight" lol he's my special boy.

same thing happened with my mum and harry, she said she HAD to take him. she looked straight into his eyes and she said that was it, they had both decided they were in love and she had to take him home. lol

It was good reading everyone's thoughts and experience on this. My husband travels here and there, so that may be where I can get an "edge".
My husband doesn't do anything special or more for Fergus, he just is...himself.
I may be trying too hard, since I knew Fergus had problems with his last female owner. I think I will take a step back and relax and see how that works.
~Rhonda

I pretty much have the opposite problem. I am CeCe's favorite and I would like her to be more loving towards my wife and son. CeCe will not usually go to them when called if I am in the room. Of course, the physical location of the cat has a lot to do with this. The cat "owns" my wife and son. LOL

When school is out and my wife is home CeCe will start spending the workdays with her. It should be interesting to see if the balance changes.

Taking a step back and relaxing is a great idea. It worked wonders with my kittehs. I really loved Emma, our tabby, when she was a kitten.. I fawned over her and only had eyes for her, and basically ignored Chili (other kitten), Chili had been picked as well just to be a companion to Emma. I was depressed for weeks about Emma not liking me... The poor little munchkin really wasn't fond of me... And then, one day, I was lying down, and Chili (about 8 inches long) trotted up to me and gazed at me with her big blue eyes and purred. She purred SO loudly... and there was that connection there, that instant spark that people here have described. You will have that someday, probably someday soon. Don't rip yourself to pieces like I did, and like many others have done. It will come, and you'll have a soulmate with four furry paws that loves you back. For now, you have our empathy and good wishes, so hang in there, hon.