Dry Humping 18 Months Old Female Staffordshire

[scolly]

Hi

can anyone tell me what it means when an 18 month old female staffordshire bull terrier tries to hump my husband's leg, arm???? He does spoil her and is the main feeder in the household. Should we ignore the behaviour or try to stop her from doing it?

[Dogsfevr]

It means the dog is ruling the house .

It isnt acceptable behavior & the dog obviously has little leadership respect of hubby.

Spoiling a dog creates issues ,you can love your dog dearly but one must always remember they are a dog & need to be treated as such to now where they stand.

My dogs are part of the house sleep on my bed BUT i never lose sight of the fact they are an animal & as such will be treated with the respect they deserve to be well adjusted animals

This young lady is establishing herself over hubby & at 18 months i would be addressing this issue now before it gets out of hand.

[scolly]

It means the dog is ruling the house .

It isnt acceptable behavior & the dog obviously has little leadership respect of hubby.

Spoiling a dog creates issues ,you can love your dog dearly but one must always remember they are a dog & need to be treated as such to now where they stand.

My dogs are part of the house sleep on my bed BUT i never lose sight of the fact they are an animal & as such will be treated with the respect they deserve to be well adjusted animals

This young lady is establishing herself over hubby & at 18 months i would be addressing this issue now before it gets out of hand.

Dear Showdog

thank you for your advice. I thought that might be the issue.

[shmoo]

Does your husband play with her before she starts humping? Humping can be a response to arousal, not necessarily a dominate gesture.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I had this problem with a rescue dog, was really having trouble managing. Telling him off or prising him off didn't work.

Finally, a fellow rescuer suggested getting some ice cold water in a squirty bottle and squirting at him whilst saying "aaahhh" when he started.

I think it took just a couple of goes and that was it - he's never done it again.

[scolly]

she tends to hump when he is paying her a lot of attention.We have had her for 6 months and saved her from death row at Blacktown pound. She has a beautiful personality.

[corvus]

I'm not picking on you showdog, but I don't believe you are entirely correct.

It means the dog is ruling the house . It isnt acceptable behavior & the dog obviously has little leadership respect of hubby.

I disagree. There are several reasons why dogs might hump. It is not uncommon in play between dogs and may or may not be considered rude or dominating. Like schmoo said, I often interpret it as the dog being excited but not really sure what to do about it. It can also be related to anxiety (same sort of scenario: dog is feeling socially conflicted and doesn't know what to do about it). And sometimes it is just hormonal, although usually in an adolescent dog hitting puberty. I do not really know why people think it is a dominance gesture. I have rarely seen it used as such, although I won't say never. Dominating is about control. If you're a dog using mounting as a dominant gesture you're doing it to show you can. Therefore you would have to rule out the other possible reasons first. At any rate, dogs that try to control other dogs are generally not actually dominant themselves. They just like to be in control. A truly dominant dog doesn't need to posture and so forth.

Spoiling a dog creates issues ,you can love your dog dearly but one must always remember they are a dog & need to be treated as such to now where they stand.

Actually, someone did a study on this and found that spoiling a dog does not create issues. However, your point that they need to know where they stand is valid and relevant to this situation IMO. If it is a reaction to excitement or anxiety or just not really knowing how to handle her arousal (that's not in the sexual sense), giving her structure and rules is a good place to start to address it. If it were me, I'd introduce some rules into play. Things like you sit or down before you get to tug/wrestle/chase. You can turn it into a little training session. In the meantime, I'd just gently push her off and give her something else to do instead. Whenever my little guy is being a nutter or doing something I'm not fond of I tell him to sit. It stops the behaviour and gives me a moment to decide what to do next. If I reward him then he's rewarded for the sit rather than the obnoxious behaviour preceding it. I have to be careful, though. Sometimes just telling him to sit can be a reward...

I think it is a problem in that some dogs REALLY don't like it. If she were to use this tactic on another dog she might end up in a fight.

[Dogsfevr]

I'm not picking on you showdog, but I don't believe you are entirely correct.

It means the dog is ruling the house . It isnt acceptable behavior & the dog obviously has little leadership respect of hubby.

I disagree. There are several reasons why dogs might hump. It is not uncommon in play between dogs and may or may not be considered rude or dominating. Like schmoo said, I often interpret it as the dog being excited but not really sure what to do about it. It can also be related to anxiety (same sort of scenario: dog is feeling socially conflicted and doesn't know what to do about it). And sometimes it is just hormonal, although usually in an adolescent dog hitting puberty. I do not really know why people think it is a dominance gesture. I have rarely seen it used as such, although I won't say never. Dominating is about control. If you're a dog using mounting as a dominant gesture you're doing it to show you can. Therefore you would have to rule out the other possible reasons first. At any rate, dogs that try to control other dogs are generally not actually dominant themselves. They just like to be in control. A truly dominant dog doesn't need to posture and so forth.

Spoiling a dog creates issues ,you can love your dog dearly but one must always remember they are a dog & need to be treated as such to now where they stand.

Actually, someone did a study on this and found that spoiling a dog does not create issues. However, your point that they need to know where they stand is valid and relevant to this situation IMO. If it is a reaction to excitement or anxiety or just not really knowing how to handle her arousal (that's not in the sexual sense), giving her structure and rules is a good place to start to address it. If it were me, I'd introduce some rules into play. Things like you sit or down before you get to tug/wrestle/chase. You can turn it into a little training session. In the meantime, I'd just gently push her off and give her something else to do instead. Whenever my little guy is being a nutter or doing something I'm not fond of I tell him to sit. It stops the behaviour and gives me a moment to decide what to do next. If I reward him then he's rewarded for the sit rather than the obnoxious behaviour preceding it. I have to be careful, though. Sometimes just telling him to sit can be a reward...

I think it is a problem in that some dogs REALLY don't like it. If she were to use this tactic on another dog she might end up in a fight.

lets just say after 25 plus years of owning dogs & many at that never ever had a humper .

See plenty of people who do have humpers & in all cases it has been the dog ruling the roost.

We have entire males,stud dogs & the likes & never have they attempted to hump our legs or the likes

[corvus]

Okay, I believe you. But I wouldn't go so far as to draw a line of causality is all. I've seen it in very different contexts, often as displacement behaviour. I think it is all together likely that a dog that does not have structure in its life would regularly feel conflicted or over-excited/aroused and engage in displacement behaviours. That's not to say the two go hand-in-hand, though. Let's not jump to conclusions.