doggy humping questions?

[tinksmama]

ok- I couldn't think of a better title,sorry- we have a 2 year old chi mix- a 12 year old beagle mix,and recently added a 5 year old silky to the mix. After a few days adjusting,everyone gets along well, and the little guys started playing/ wrestling-but the last day or two,they've been trying to out-hump each other.
Sorry but I'm grossed out,and don't wish this to continue on....they're a male and female,both long nuetered- is this an aggressive maneuver? like figuring out who is top dog? They both know old beagle mix is top dog,is this a normal scrabble for 2nd place,and is there anything I can do to curb it? BTW,this is just the 2 little ones,old dog will not participate in the nonsense.....thanks for any advice- one thing I didn't want to do is start a badly behaved wolf pack here at home.....

[girlbuffalo1]

Well my little 7 lb female will sometimes hump my 16 lb male (both altered)--I just laugh and let her do it--but then again it is like twice a week or happens once or twice--it's not constant.

What if you were to offer a treat and ask them to do a command like sit--while they were doing it? Would they stop? If so I would try something like this to curb the behavior.

[lizzybeth727]

Originally Posted by tinksmama

one thing I didn't want to do is start a badly behaved wolf pack here at home.....

I think you're safe, considering that you have dogs. Dogs and wolves get compared a lot, and that's fine, but dogs have one characteristic that wolves don't have - orientation to humans. So, when you see them start to hump and you don't like it, call them to you, and reward them heavily when they get to you. Then try to redirect their attention to a toy or do a short training session with them.

[tinksmama]

ok- thanks..... I have been redirecting them,my fear is that they'll end up like some dogs I know..... they have 5 small,untrained dogs,and they a;; hump each others heads constantly and act in other undesirable ways....I didn't want to replicate the experience of that
I guess I was a little worried that was inevitable,as they're dogs,and I hae a few of them now....thanks!

[DanL]

Originally Posted by girlbuffalo1

Well my little 7 lb female will sometimes hump my 16 lb male (both altered)--I just laugh and let her do it--but then again it is like twice a week or happens once or twice--it's not constant.

What if you were to offer a treat and ask them to do a command like sit--while they were doing it? Would they stop? If so I would try something like this to curb the behavior.

What if your cute little 7lb female were 70lbs. Would you still laugh and let her do it?

[MafiaPrincess]

Cider's a dog humper. She humps smudge occasionally.. she likes to do it in play with other dogs. I pick her up pull her off and send her off to play elsewhere. It's not a behaviour I appreciate, nor do most dog owners who you meet in the park.

[blackcat]

Nothing wrong with your title I saw that title and couldn't pass it up.

[tinksmama]

Originally Posted by blackcat

Nothing wrong with your title I saw that title and couldn't pass it up.

well,I've spent the week redirecting quite firmly(eh-eh is a big one for them too) and they have been playing nice for a few days.....I'll just hope it continues!

[a.baker]

I have read and would say from experience it is a dominance thing. My female who is not quite a year old and was spayed at a very very early age has this thing with a dog bed thats fuzzy. She sees it and has to hump it. The other side of the dog bed is like sued material and if you flip the bed over she leaves it alone. We researched it and found it to be a dominance thing. For some reason our dog doesn't like the fuzzy side of her bed and has to show it whose boss.

We brought a puppy home who is a male but only 3 mths old. At first she tried to hump him but now she decided to just stand over him in his face. LOL he doesn't like it so he will usually immediately jump up and they will start romping around the house play fighting.

My dog also tries to do this to little kids who sit on the floor; talk about embarrassing! In my dogs case I would say its definitely a dominance thing and not sexual. Wait till our male puppy grows up who is not fixed and starts bugging her LOL

[lizzybeth727]

Ok, I do believe that dogs humping dogs is a dominance thing, but this --

Originally Posted by a.baker

For some reason our dog doesn't like the fuzzy side of her bed and has to show it whose boss.

just sounds utterly silly.

MAYBE, she just likes to hump the bed? It's just a fun thing to do.