Humping Puppy

[Michelleva]

Earlier tonight I witnessed something odd.

I saw it once and thought I was seeing things, then it happened again. Georgia was humping her own bed.......... does anybody have an idea WHY a female desexed puppy would do such a thing... I always assumed only grotty boys did those things, well clearly I was wrong.

Should I do anything? I just ignored it this time, and haven't seen her do it since, she's now sound asleep at my feet. She's the only dog we have, but we do have three cats. The cats were nowhere near her when she started this behaviour, so its not like she was trying to dominate them. I was in the kitchen doing dishes when she did this and the kids weren't playing with her either.

Edited June 3, 2010 by Michelleva

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Michelleva

They do it because it feels good. Sometimes they do it because it feels good and they're bored.

My desexed dog doesn't because I don't think she's ever figured out that it feels good.

It depends how you feel about it whether you try to stop it.

I think, if it were my dog, she can hump her bed as much as she likes but there is no way I'm going to let her hump me or my guests and friends so I'd stop her and give her something else to do if she tried it on something unacceptable.

[Verdant Amphibian]

When I was a kid we had a parson russell terrier bitch, she was desexed quite young but still at least once a week she would steal a cushion off the couch or get her bed and have her way with it. She continued until she was 17 although it became less frequent as her arthritis got worse. I never saw her attempt it with a person or another dog though

[Michelleva]

hmmmm interesting. She's obviously not the only girl thats done this before. Is it actually sexual behaviour or something else? I always thought it was dominance related, but no one was in her vicinity to be dominate over. Maybe she wanted to show the bed whose the boss?? We've had her for about 6 weeks and its the first time I've seen her do it.

[Guest belgian.blue]

My mums mature [6 year old maybe] desexed female Pointer does it sometimes, when she's excited. To her teddies and bed.

Badger [entire puppy] does it when he's very excited. Normally to Ivy, now he's big or just to the air

Ivy has never done it and she's desexed; nearly two years old.

[Verdant Amphibian]

Kerry always did it when she was happy and excited either right before, right after or mid zoomies.

[matilda1]

I always thought it was dominance related too, and had nothing to do with sexual behaviour at all.

We have a parson JRT and he is very anxious, he humps my husbands leg sometimes when he doesn't want him to leave the room. So in his case it is fear/anxiety related.

I think different dogs do it for many different reasons, but believe it has nothing to do with sexuality at all.

Edited June 4, 2010 by BellaDonna

[aussielover]

I have also noticed that Mindy humps her duck toy. It is the only one she does it to and only when she is excited and playing roughly with it. I am not overly concerned as long as she does not start to hump my leg or anything like that!

I have heard though that this is a sign of dominance? Can that be true? I don't think she is trying to dominate her toy duck- it is interesting though because the toy is actually bigger than she is, so maybe she does feel the need to dominate it. I hope she won't do this to other dogs. should i try to get her to stop?

Mindy and her toy:

[~*Shell*~]

I think it becomes a default action for them if they get excited. Their mind has a mini-explosion and it's what they do. You could try and break her out of the habit by redirecting her attention when she does it. Get some food and hold it under her nose so she follows it then ask her todo something like sit. Hopefully she'll make the connection between being excited and doing something other than humping.

Zero started humping the on of the cushions the other night. Our house was filled with dogs and i was reving him up. I've only ever seen him hump his bedding once, when i put it back in his crate. He hasn't done it since but then he hasn't been excited when I've been moving his bedding since then. He is easy to redirect wth food - he'll come and do some great obedience work with me!

[Serket]

My almost 1 year old golden retriever bitch still humps when she gets overly excited, lucky for me I'm the target of her affection - whatever you do don't laugh at her when she does it as a small puppy, it's much harder to completely eradicate later on. Correct it /distract her right from the beginning.

Gypsy has never, ever tried to hump anyone else, and I've never seen her do it with her toys or anything else. She only does it when she's super hyped up, she's easily distracted and she stops when she's told. She's given us no cause for concern re: dominance, she does what she's told when she's told, so for her, it's just her expressing her excitement.

So that's a what not to do story really.

[persephone]

Alittle puppy like Mindy is just doing waht little pups do- they will do this to litter mates- it's playing/experimenting.. don't let it become a habit tho-- make sure she has different toys- rotate them so she doesn't always have teh duck with her, etc.

[koalathebear]

Sigh. Elbie was desexed at 10 weeks and he still tries humping things - toys, my boyfriend's arm and my leg for some reason. We try to discourage him and he doesn't do it all the time, but now and then he just gets really humpy The really bizarre thing is that he has a little plushy dog that doesn't even look like a dog and just looking at it makes him go into humpy spasms

[Michelleva]

Well Georgia hasn't had a repeat performance of the humping thank goodness. But if it happens again I'll definitely re-direct her to something more appropriate.

[sas]

My recent 15 month old foster dog humped her teddy when she got excited but not for long.

I don't think it's anything to worry about as long as she's not doing it to other dogs and people.

[misscoco13]

We have a 1 year old female Shih Tzu, Candy, and she humps our male cat! She did it before she was desexed and she still chases him to do it. Alot of the time he just lets her do it We shoo her away when we see it, but honestly he doesn't seem to mind. He loves her - he comes up to her so she can lick his head! She doesn't hump anything or anyone else...just Beaumont the cat...and we have 5 cats but he is her choice