Humping Puppy

[hilaryo]

A puppy from our current litter has gone to his new home. A fabulous home with a desexed adult female dalmation for company.

He is humping not only the dalmation but also the owner's daughter and her friends. Unfortunately the dally is not telling him off, nor did "Erin's" (from DOL) 2 lovely beagle girls when he was 6 weeks old.

Most of the post's I have found about this subject relate to the humping of toys which he does not do.

I have had beagles that hump other dogs when young but not people.

Is this a dominance issue? Should they just ignore him and walk away? Of course the kids laugh.

Thank you.

Edited January 10, 2010 by hilaryo

[SeeGee]

My beagle Charlie went through an insane period of humping when he was about 4 months old. Everyone, including people, chairs and pillows were violated LOL. We used the ignore tactic and it worked a treat. He rarely humps now.

*edited for relevence

Jacqui

Edited January 11, 2010 by jacquilee81

[Nekhbet]

spray bottle with water right between the eyes then walk off on him

[hilaryo]

Great idea Nekhbet! I'll tell her now as the new owner works with me.

Thank you

Thanks for your reply Jacquilee. Glad to hear your Charlie is better now.

[muddles]

Dream was a little pain for this - she's much better now, but when she was younger she'd try to hump legs in the evening when we were watching tv

We'd usually just 'kick' her off (i.e. remove her by moving the leg she was trying to attach to) - and ignore her, but she seemed to think it was a game and the behaviour escalated. One night I grabbed her off by the scruff and growled loudly which seemed to do the trick. I don't know if this is the right thing to do though!

She still humps her blankets some nights when she's really tired (fairly rare), or if we have visitors (charming)

She won't let other dogs hump her (her brother tried when he visited a few weeks back), so maybe she could tell the little fellow off

[sas]

A puppy from our current litter has gone to his new home. A fabulous home with a desexed adult female dalmation for company.

He is humping not only the dalmation but also the owner's daughter and her friends. Unfortunately the dally is not telling him off, nor did "Erin's" (from DOL) 2 lovely beagle girls when he was 6 weeks old.

Most of the post's I have found about this subject relate to the humping of toys which he does not do.

I have had beagles that hump other dogs when young but not people.

Is this a dominance issue? Should they just ignore him and walk away? Of course the kids laugh.

Thank you.

It's really important to realise that the mature dog shouldn't have to tell the new pup off. It's the new Owners job to show the pup what is acceptable behaviour. I suggest they put the dog on a lead whilst around the other dog so they can control the interaction.

Humping of humans is the pup testing out what the boundaries are and the pup should be corrected.

You really don't want the kids to laugh, I know this is a hard one but it's rewarding the dog for the behaviour, they really need to just walk off and ignore the dog or the parent correct the dog.

[Bundyburger]

Our puppy did that the first few weeks to my partner and our other dogs tail(!). He would be shoved off OH's leg and corrected. The problem got worse when OH would laugh as Bundy would keep doing it, as soon as he stopped reacting it only took a few attempts for him to stop. When he would hump Diesel's leg we'd lift him off the tail as he'd be biting it (and Diesel can't feel his tail to know what's going on after an accident 2yrs ago) and correct him. If he continued then he went into his crate to calm down.

[corvus]

Humping can, I think, actually be a sign that your puppy is uncertain of themselves. If the pup has only just gone to a new home, this is totally understandable. If it were me, I'd ignore it or gently distract the pup with something fun like a game to build their confidence. Erik humped a little at an early age and it vanished when he settled in and found his self-confidence again. If it doesn't go away in the next few weeks, then reassess.

The other dog won't tell the puppy off most likely because it is too young to know any better. The tolerance will most likely fade in time.

I swear humping is one of the most poorly understood dog behaviours. People just can't help being freaked out by it. Just ignore it.