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Advice on a Serial Humper
So I don't post on this board regularly, but every time I have, you have given me great advice. I'm hoping somebody has some advice or solutions to my dog's fairly recent obsession with humping.
Zeke was a rescue dog, and we've had him for nearly 2 years now. For the first year we had him, he hardly every humped anything or anyone. Recently, I'd say in the past 4-6 months, he's been humping just about everybody and any other dogs he meets for the first time. We pull him back and correct him when this happens, but that doesn't stop him from trying. He is neutered, and this is usually a problem I've heard of with dogs who haven't been fixed. It's getting really bad lately, and we just don't know why. He listens really well with basic commands, but for some reason his humping is just becoming out of control.
I'm not sure if this is because he's becoming more comfortable in his environment or what. I know humping can be a dominance thing or a boredom thing, but he often does this after he's ate or while he's playing. What can I do to stop this?!
Re: Advice on a Serial Humper
I don't necessarily have advice, but our female beagle is fixed and regularly (like every night) humps a body pillow. She actually really likes to show off for company (she once dragged it up some steps out of a closet and into our living room).
In any case, it doesn't hurt anyone, she seems to enjoy it, and we've encouraged it as a way for her to get out excess energy (after a very long walk).
Maybe you could try giving him an alternative to humans and praising him for it? It sounds weird, but we've never really minded it. She's very well behaved otherwise.
5 cats. 1 baby.
Our female corgi has as very similar history like this. We adopted her, and probably a year after she had been in our home, started humping us and our male dog.
Our trainer said it was her finally feeling like she can try to have some dominance over us. We learned the pattern, and she would hump when she was bored and or, annoyed by a basic command.
So if she is bored and humps my leg, I pull her up on my lap. Basically showing she gets the opposite of what she wants if she humps.
Not sure if that will help, but you are certainly not alone!
Yeah, that's what our vet told us. I'm glad we're not alone in this. It's so embarrassing when he does this when people are over, especially if they've never met Zeke before. I guess we just have to keep trying to correct the behavior when it occurs.
My dog is a humper - he apparently used to have a serious problem with humping everything in sight (when he was at animal control) but now he reserves it for dogs.
For him, I think it's over-excitement. He would go after our other dog 10 times a day when we first got him, but now he only does it if we have company over or are out of town at my parents house. It's almost like he's showing off.
We have been able to read his body language enough to see when he's about to do it. If we can catch it in time we put the dogs in a down/stay, and if he's already started he gets a time out away from the action.