How do you stop a dog humping?

catkins

My dog is 18 months old. He isn't neutered although will probably be done when he is 2. If he plays with another dog he keeps trying to hump it which is embarrassing.


Over Christmas me and OH took in a rescue dog. He was 6 months old and he my do got on brilliantly except my dog kept humping. I thought after the first day he would stop or at least it would be less but no. We had the rescue dog for 5 days and it was the same every day.


I really would like this behaviour to stop. He does occasionally try and hump me or OH but we just walk away, it's with other dogs that I feel there is a problem.


Me and OH are talking about maybe fostering dogs or even getting a second dog but feel we can't because of this.


Can anyone give me some advice. I know neutering quite likely will not stop this - is he likely to grow out of it? If not what can we do to stop it?

joansgirl

I'll probably get criticised for saying this but I think it's all down to over excitement. My female humps as did my last male dog even though he was neutered. It seems to me that it's one of the ways they show excitement whether they be male or female. It used to be thought that it was a dominance thing but having watched my last 2 dogs I don't think so. They seem to get so excited when somebody new turns up or they see someone they like and they don't know any other way of expressing it.


I expect somebody will be along soon and explain about redirecting this behaviour and teaching them an acceptable alternative but all I do is give a very stern, loud "GET DOWN".


Neutering, especially in a male, may help but don't pin all your hopes on it! He will probably grow out of it in time as he naturally calms down. That's what I'm hoping anyway. With some dogs it's amazing to see the transformation from the age of about 2 or so. My friends dog although not a humper did have a tendency to jump up a lot but once he got to 2 it basically stopped overnight.


We live in hope!


Good luck.

krlyr

Humping is done for various reasons and I agree that it could well be overexcitement.

Preventing the humping with management (so using babygates and crates, for example) will stop your dog learning that it is a rewarding behaviour (his body will react with hormones etc. which will feel good - so the more he does it the more rewards he experiences and the more likely he is to do it again)

Teaching the dog more appropriate ways to interact with other dogs - so for example, having the second dog in a crate and rewarding your dog for glancing at him and looking away, for settling on his bed or into a down and so on. Having both dogs on-lead just out of reach of each other, and rewarding similar behaviour - so he learns that he can be in the same room as a dog but that it is more rewarding to relax rather than get overexcited. Taking them on walks on-lead and parallel walking (having them side by side but just out of reach) and when calm, letting them meet for a few seconds and really rewarding every time they just bump noses or have a polite sniff. Basically you want to teach your dog that interaction with other dogs should be calm, brief and polite. The rough and tumble and playing with his household buddy can come later, once he's learnt the ground rules.

Pamelamarxsen on Youtube has some fab videos and does one on stopping humping (though this is in a slightly different context)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0i4S4cWQBA

Kikopup is fab too, and does a video on teaching dogs to settle together. Her video includes teaching her group to settle with a new dog in the group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S590rJORPhQ

It could also be worth getting in touch with a local trainer or behaviourist to help. They should be happy to set up situations using stooge dogs, to teach your dog appropriate interaction with other dogs. Try http://www.apdt.co.uk or http://www.apbc.org.uk to find a local trainer who uses modern, fair, kind methods.