My Desexed Spaniel Has A Thing For Labrador Puppies...

[alexandrite]

My Cocker Spaniel, Charlie, seems to have developed an attraction to Labrador puppies - and ONLY labrador puppies!

Can anyone please explain why the heck he does this?

A friend of ours recently got a male Labrador puppy, and he was about the same size as my spaniel when they met, so they were playing chasing each other, wrestling around, and taking turns humping one another. I think my spaniel finally found someone his own mental age, haha. Now, my Charlie is definitely desexed (by the RSPCA, over half a year ago), so I think he only does this as a behaviour/dominance thing, as dogs sometimes do. I don't think he's purposely trying to be a puppy-molester...!

We've recently moved, and at the new dog park that we now go to, there is a couple that has 3 gorgeous Labrador puppies, around the same age as Charlie's puppy friend that is owned by our friend. Whenever we meet them at the dog park, Charlie recognizes them as being Labrador puppies, the same as the other one... and starts humping them too!!! Now, while our friend's pup knew it was a game, these ones don't really want to play this game. Charlie ONLY does it to the Labrador puppies, not to any Labrador adults or any other dog at the dog park. Just these three poor pups.

Now, he was being actually rather annoying yesterday, and the owners of the pups drag Charlie off their pups by the collar - if I can't run over quickly enough to retrieve him myself. (it's a BIG dog park.) One of the pups was sitting with his owner on a bench, and Charlie ran right into their personal space and onto the bench, to try to hump the puppy. I apologised profusely for my rude dog and took him off to distract him with some jumping and agility instead.

Does anyone have any idea why Charlie now molests every Lab puppy he sees, and how do I teach him to stop?

He is desexed so there's no danger of Labraspaniels running around in anyone's future. I just don't want him to annoy the other dog owners

[megan_]

Humping is often a sign of dominance and has nothing to do with sex. My desexed girl tries to do it to my desexed boy. I give a quick "Agh!" in a loud voice. "Agh" is "no" in our house. Stops it straight away and it hasn't happened for a while.

[alexandrite]

Humping is often a sign of dominance and has nothing to do with sex. My desexed girl tries to do it to my desexed boy. I give a quick "Agh!" in a loud voice. "Agh" is "no" in our house. Stops it straight away and it hasn't happened for a while.

Oh I'm positive that Charlie isn't trying to sexually molest these puppies... Maybe he is just confusing all the other lab puppies now, with his one puppy-friend who didn't mind that game?

I tell him "NO" or "OI" which for us is kind of the same as your "agh" when I drag him off them, so I'm hoping that he'll get the idea soon that all Lab puppies are not the same and to leave these three alone

[poodlefan]

My guess is that he's reading the pups as submissive and taking advantage of it.

Now, he was being actually rather annoying yesterday, and the owners of the pups drag Charlie off their pups by the collar - if I can't run over quickly enough to retrieve him myself. (it's a BIG dog park.) One of the pups was sitting with his owner on a bench, and Charlie ran right into their personal space and onto the bench, to try to hump the puppy. I apologised profusely for my rude dog and took him off to distract him with some jumping and agility instead.

Sounds like some recall work might help too! He cannot hump a puppy if he's not allowed that close before you recall him.

[lovemesideways]

My Cocker Spaniel, Charlie, seems to have developed an attraction to Labrador puppies - and ONLY labrador puppies!

Can anyone please explain why the heck he does this?

A friend of ours recently got a male Labrador puppy, and he was about the same size as my spaniel when they met, so they were playing chasing each other, wrestling around, and taking turns humping one another. I think my spaniel finally found someone his own mental age, haha. Now, my Charlie is definitely desexed (by the RSPCA, over half a year ago), so I think he only does this as a behaviour/dominance thing, as dogs sometimes do. I don't think he's purposely trying to be a puppy-molester...!

We've recently moved, and at the new dog park that we now go to, there is a couple that has 3 gorgeous Labrador puppies, around the same age as Charlie's puppy friend that is owned by our friend. Whenever we meet them at the dog park, Charlie recognizes them as being Labrador puppies, the same as the other one... and starts humping them too!!! Now, while our friend's pup knew it was a game, these ones don't really want to play this game. Charlie ONLY does it to the Labrador puppies, not to any Labrador adults or any other dog at the dog park. Just these three poor pups.

Now, he was being actually rather annoying yesterday, and the owners of the pups drag Charlie off their pups by the collar - if I can't run over quickly enough to retrieve him myself. (it's a BIG dog park.) One of the pups was sitting with his owner on a bench, and Charlie ran right into their personal space and onto the bench, to try to hump the puppy. I apologised profusely for my rude dog and took him off to distract him with some jumping and agility instead.

Does anyone have any idea why Charlie now molests every Lab puppy he sees, and how do I teach him to stop?

He is desexed so there's no danger of Labraspaniels running around in anyone's future. I just don't want him to annoy the other dog owners ;)

Going off topic, but a small worry that came to mind when I read this. If you're that far away, that you can't get to your dog to stop it simply humping another dog. What happens if he one day tries to hump a dog that attacks him? You're so far away by the time you get there, huge amounts of damage could already be done? Whats to stop another dog attacking your dog before you could do something about it?