Dog Humping One Member Of The Family.

[HazyWal]

A friend of mine has a female Cocker Spaniel that is almost 3 years old. She got her as a pup and she was desexed at 6 months of age. She has recently started humping my friend, not her husband or her two kids aged in their 20's male and female, just her. It is getting to the point where she can't even hold her hand out to pat her as she starts humping the air before she even gets close. She asked me today why and I have no idea so thought I would ask here. She adores her and the rest of the family thinks it's hysterically funny but she doesn't obviously and she said it's getting worse. What could have triggered this behavior? Nothing in Molly's life has changed, my friend doesn't spend any more time with Molly than the rest of the family,so how can she stop this?

TIA.

[persephone]

Who trains/walks Molly?

Who feeds & disciplines her?

Does your friend have any health changes ..like maybe menopause /change in hormone levels/pheremones ?

[cavNrott]

Molly's humping is a display of dominance. She thinks it's ok to dominate your friend but not the other members of the family.

Your friend needs to give Molly a very stern AH AH to correct and then redirect Molly to another activity each and every time the dog tries to hump her. Molly is displaying poor dog manners and is disrespecting your friend because she thinks she's is a pushover.

If your friend does this every time, even if it means ignoring Molly and leaving the room, the humping behaviour will stop.

[HazyWal]

Well that's the thing Perse, they all work full time, no one spends anymore time with her, they all come home at night and do nothing different.No health changes There is not one particular person that trains her, they take her to the beach and the dog park but my friend does no more than the rest of the family.

[persephone]

Molly's humping is a display of dominance. She thinks it's ok to dominate your friend but not the other members of the family.

It is getting to the point where she can't even hold her hand out to pat her as she starts humping the air before she even gets close.

I have not a great deal of experience in this , ...but am thinking it could be either an excitement or an anxiety response as well ...... it happens in pups when there is just an 'overload' .....

Edited September 9, 2012 by persephone

[HazyWal]

Molly's humping is a display of dominance. She thinks it's ok to dominate your friend but not the other members of the family.

Your friend needs to give Molly a very stern AH AH to correct and then redirect Molly to another activity each and every time the dog tries to hump her. Molly is displaying poor dog manners and is disrespecting your friend because she thinks she's is a pushover.

If your friend does this every time, even if it means ignoring Molly and leaving the room, the humping behaviour will stop.

Thanks cavnRott. She does give her a firm no which works for everything else but the humping. She is a lovely little dog and has been very trainable but this is just weird. She said today her and her hubby were laying around the pool reading the Sunday papers as they always have and Molly was so bad at humping my friend she had to go inside, when she did Molly just layed down and went to sleep, she never went near her husband.

[persephone]

I would perhaps suggest your friend has Molly on a lead for a while when she's home .. have Molly with her ..attached by a lead ..and keep things matter of fact ... see what happens. IF she humps .. then being attached by lead will enable your friend to diffuse/control the behaviour.

[Greytmate]

Thanks cavnRott. She does give her a firm no which works for everything else but the humping. She is a lovely little dog and has been very trainable but this is just weird. She said today her and her hubby were laying around the pool reading the Sunday papers as they always have and Molly was so bad at humping my friend she had to go inside, when she did Molly just layed down and went to sleep, she never went near her husband.

Your friend didn't have to go inside, she could have locked the dog away instead, and taught it a lesson about what happens to bad dogs that hump. Going inside is just avoiding doing anything about the problem, and the dog knows that.

Edited September 9, 2012 by Greytmate

[noisymina]

When my Poodle started humping me (many moons ago now ) I mentioned it to the vet and he gave her a hormone type injection. Humping stopped pronto.

[Weasels]

Here's an interesting article on humping (via Zayda-Asher!) - Why Dogs Hump

I'm a fan of training a substitute behaviour for something like that - everytime the dog humps, I would interrupt, give another cue (like sit), then heavily reinforce the sitting instead :)

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Your friend needs to carry a water squirty bottle with her - every time the dog starts humping her, squirt the dog with it - say "aaaaahhhh" sharply and put the dog in the laundry or outside for 5 minutes.

When the dog comes back in, if the behaviour is repeated, then repeat the above.

The behaviour will stop, the dog will get the message that it is unacceptable behaviour.

I have been through this with a rescue dog and only had to go through the process twice - he's never done it again.

[RubyBlue]

Here's an interesting article on humping (via Zayda-Asher!) - Why Dogs Hump

I'm a fan of training a substitute behaviour for something like that - everytime the dog humps, I would interrupt, give another cue (like sit), then heavily reinforce the sitting instead :)

Interesting article... Thanks.

[HazyWal]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I will let her know everyones suggestions and hopefully she can find something that works for Molly.

[Cosmolo]

While i agree with some of the suggestions to correct this type of behaviour- if the underlying cause is a lack of exercise, attention and stimulation, the dog will just choose another inappropriate behaviour. Dealing with the cause is important.