Dogs Like Dads Best Because We Are the Same Creature

Save your animal expertise — dogs like dads because they just want to hang out with someone who will eat something unrecognizable straight off the floor.

This article first ran in my Dad Weighs In column for CodeWritePlay.com.

I’ve been noticing a lot of amateur dog whisperer talk exploring the mysterious bond between dogs and dads.

”Dogs must like dads because dads are pack leaders!” ”The dog must have imprinted on Dad as a puppy!” ”You scolded the dog too much, so he likes Dad better!”

Yikes.

It’s actually pretty simple, and it doesn’t take Cesar Milan to explain it: dogs love dads because we basically are dogs. Seriously. The closer you look, the more difficult it gets to tell us apart. Let’s break it down.

Dads and dogs around the house

Dads and dogs both have two gears: the one where we can’t calm down and the one where we’re asleep in the middle of the day. If kids act like they’re about to throw something, our blood pressure goes through the roof, otherwise we’re usually glued to our special place on the couch where no one else wants to sit any more. We need the TV on, but we don’t really know how to set it up ourselves. We’re not going to pay any attention to it once it’s on.