The Most Embarassing Dog Issue? Humping..

I am having the most fun answering questions and helping pets all over the world on pawbly. Here is today's question..

Please let me know if you have any suggestions..

We are all about helping each other and our pets. 

Today's question was;

Lucy, our American Red Nose Pit puppy is now approx. 8 months old. She is definitely an Alpha dog!! I also have a lab/chow mix, Daisy, who will be 15 in a month. FYI, both of these dogs are taken care of by JVC. My question is this: Lucy keeps humping Daisy. I try to stop her and re-direct her attention when we catch her doing this but our efforts to stop Lucy of this habit isn't working. Do you have any suggestions for this type of behavior?

Thank you!!

Hi Dee,

Earlier this year, my rescue dog, Toby was obsessed with humping 1 particular dog in our local dog park. It redirected him and put him on his leash when the humping started. None of that worked.

So, I bought some fresh and organic turkey, which is something I would never give Toby and brought it to the park.

Each time he started humping, I would pull Toby off, make him sit and then give him some turkey. I was very deliberate in doing this. After 2 days, he completely stopped humping the other dog.

I think using a treat that the dog would only get when she stops humping can work.

Also, check out this Dogster article: http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/dog-behavior-training-5-reasons-hump-other-dogs

I hope this helps!

Margot Ahlquist
Life Coach and Blogger
Paws to Talk
http://www.pawstotalk.com

Here is my answer;

Hello Dee,

Thanks for your question..

Embarrassing as it is, this is quite a common problem. In fact, on just about any given day at my house you can look out my window and see my pit-bull mix on top of my beagle..seconds later you can witness me yelling at him, and then an hour later witness the whole episode over again. He's not stopping showing his dominance over the beagle (who in reality is the alpha dog, well, the alpha dog for things he cares about like food) and I think I am just yelling into the wind. The problem is that in the dog world this kind of behavior is perfectly acceptable, but in our world it isn't. So, we try to 'train' our dogs out of it.

The article on petMD is about as well written as they come. And I agree with every point the author brings up.

http://www.petmd.com/blogs/purelypuppy/lradosta/2012/jan/mounting_an_embarrassing_problem#.Ua9ubdKR-So

1. As long as the dogs aren't fighting over this action you don't have to intervene.
2. But, if you are like me, and don't want to be watching dog-humping all day then try to train it out of them by changing your dogs focus by giving them a command and rewarding them when they execute it correctly.
3. In reality you essentially have to be there almost every time and be re-directing the behavior every time consistently and effectively.

Even with me spending just about every second of every day with my dogs, there is still peeping tom doggy style misbehavior going on in our front yard..and I promise I have been trying for three years..(sigh of frustration).

Note; Because this is used as an article for our library I want to mention to others who made read this in the future, please don't ever resort to anything frightening or painful as a correction because this teaches fear and fear turns into anxiety, which can then turn into aggression, and as long as the two dogs aren't fighting about who is dominant to whom, you don't want to turn it into a domestic dispute.

I do think that a very important aspect to your question are the ages of your dogs. Lucy, your little one, is doing just what her thousands of years of canine instincts tell her to. To identify by challenging her place in the pack, and then assert it. With Daisy she is older and likely to just let Lucy, the young yipper-snapper that she is, take the leader position. There is a very good chance that Lucy will abandon trying to continue to remind Daisy that she is in charge because Daisy will likely never challenge her. I do think it is wisest with a young dog and an older dog to let them figure it out on their own. They are going to figure out who is in charge regardless of how many times you try to intervene,and it is far safer that they do it amicably.

I hope this helps, and I hope that your dogs figure it out and abandon the behavior soon, (I think I am unfortunately resigned to another decade of my two guys never stopping).

If you have any other questions or concerns about this, you know where to find me,,at JVC! have a great day!

Sincereley,
Krista
Krista Magnifico, DVM
Owner Jarrettsville Veterinary Center
Jarrettsville, MD
http://www.jarrettsvillevet.com