# The Humpty Dance...



## Ambesi (Jul 16, 2009)

So, Winchester is driving me crazy with his humping. I am trying to hold out until at least 18 months before getting his "brain surgery." Does neutering help with the humping or is it just something they will continue to do afterward, or is it just a phase? My main problem is when he does it to my 7-year-old son while he's playing on the floor. My husband hates when he does it to a big stuffed lion rug thing that is my boys'. I find that hilarious and harmless personally, but nonetheless he needs to knock it off. So, any suggestions, nuggets of wisdom, or encouragement you can share would be appreciated.


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## phizzypho (Feb 1, 2010)

I can't speak from experience but I believe the "brain surgery" is supposed to take care of that problem.


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## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

I had Darby done a 1 yr. he was making us nuts. He was very good until about 9 months ago when he would mount Kirby (both are fixed). It is a dominance thing with him. I couldn't figure out why all of a sudden he started it and then it dawned on me. 

I stopped taking Darby to classes, the ADD makes it almost impossible for him to focus. Kirby got her CGC and started Rally. Well I was taking *her* to class, working with *her*, going to matches and eventually trial with *her*. He was feeling truly left out. So I started him in class again, he failed CGC (big surprise) but we are continuing to go to class just for "together" time and I now work him along with Kirby. He has gotten better but January he was off from class and Kirby was still going so he "back slid" a little. I started having more Darby time and he is behaving much better these days. His class starts back again tonight and he can't wait!!


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## rosebud (Jan 23, 2010)

*humping*

I was once told by a Vet that humping is a sign of affection! I don't know?????? I had a female that did that!  By the way, she did it even after she was spayed.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I would keep telling him to stop and for awhile you might put the stuffed lion up for a while. Bama was like a humping machine to his giant bear and we took it away for awhile. The humping isnt always sexual, it can be playing or showing dominance.


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## Bob Dylan (Mar 31, 2009)

We had no problems with Dylan & Bobby or even Frankie, UNTIL we got Erica.
Then Frankie started to hump, Dylan put him in his place and Erica (a rescue that her whole mission was to produce puppies) would allow it at her convenience.
To top it Frankie has HD and arthritis of both back legs, but you would never believe it if you saw him in action! He has slowed up and I don't know why, maybe he is bored with her.
Good Luck!


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## Augustus McCrae's Mom (Aug 14, 2007)

Gus was never a big humper, so I don't have any advice to offer, but I just wanted to say THANKS! When I saw this thread this morning, I got that song stuck in my head, and now it's back in there again


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## Jennifer (Sep 12, 2009)

I can relate! Teddy's newest thing is when someone tries to put their jacket on or off he tries to hump it. Since we first got him he has always enjoyed humping blankets and his pillow. :/


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

It can be a conflict behavior, and I think this is usually the context from which people think it's 'dominance'. Knowing how to specifically interact with people can decrease this behavior in many dogs. And with objects, it's often good to remove the object but to also address the reasons for the stress.


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## perdie (Oct 30, 2008)

Ive just had my boy neutered at 19 months but we never had a problem with humping, the first few times he did it we corrected him and that was the end of that  I believe it is a sign of dominance rather than sexual.


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## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Actually neither of my younger dogs did alot of humping...maybe the odd time but it wasn't a huge problem. I'm a bad mom and had my boys neutered at 6 months and 8 months....the odd time I might see one of them on the other but I think it's a dominant thing as they don't do it to anything else.


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## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

rosebud said:


> I had a female that did that!  By the way, she did it even after she was spayed.


LOL - my female sheltie used to hump my male cat. Both were neutered. We could never figure it out, just thought they were terribly confused!!


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

A lot of times it's an excitement thing. When they get overly excited, usually while playing, they lose all power to express it except through humping. My dogs rarely hump each other. Jasmine, my alpha, doesn't hump anyone. Jasper only humps Jasmine and only when she is focused on barking at something out the window. Danny only humps Jasper (he tried Jasmine once or twice and she put a stop to it immediately), again, usually only when Jasmine is barking at something outside the window. Though he will do it occasionally up at the lake when we are late starting our morning walk and he is just so worked up he can hardly stand it.

The best part is the hump train that they do in front of the windows at the front door if someone pulls in the driveway and walks up to the house. Jasmine is the engine, Jasper's the passenger car and Danny's the caboose!


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## Ambesi (Jul 16, 2009)

OMG! I got a kick out of some of your responses to this question. THANK YOU ALL for your input.

Oh, and Agustus... now the song is in my head too! LOL


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## jwemt81 (Aug 20, 2008)

Tucker is still intact at 18 months and he has never been a huge humper. The few times when he did hump, we just gave him a stern "knock it off" and he stopped. Tyson, on the other hand, is our little humping machine and will hump everything in site, including Tucker! With him, it's definitely dominance since he's only 11 weeks old. :doh:


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## walexk (Nov 13, 2009)

Gable only humps my mom when he is jumping and biting at her. When she tries to walk away and ignore him he graps onto her leg as she walks away. He has tried it once or twice with me but I can control him easier. Hopefully it will go away.


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## Mersee (Feb 26, 2007)

fostermom said:


> A lot of times it's an excitement thing. When they get overly excited, usually while playing, they lose all power to express it except through humping. My dogs rarely hump each other. Jasmine, my alpha, doesn't hump anyone. Jasper only humps Jasmine and only when she is focused on barking at something out the window. Danny only humps Jasper (he tried Jasmine once or twice and she put a stop to it immediately), again, usually only when Jasmine is barking at something outside the window. Though he will do it occasionally up at the lake when we are late starting our morning walk and he is just so worked up he can hardly stand it.
> 
> The best part is the hump train that they do in front of the windows at the front door if someone pulls in the driveway and walks up to the house. Jasmine is the engine, Jasper's the passenger car and Danny's the caboose!


The hump train cracks me up. I would love to see a pic of that!


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Mersee said:


> The hump train cracks me up. I would love to see a pic of that!


I wish I could find i! I know I uploaded it to my photobucket account, but I have about 1400 pictures there. LOL. I'll try to catch another one next time it happens. It really is funny!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

I love boy dogs, but this is the #1 reason I stuck with a girl when I got my Flora. Humping dogs actually for some reason really grosses me out, and I would be HORRIFIED if one of my dogs did it. Of course, saying that automatically means that the next puppy I get, if it's a boy, he will be a Master Humper. :

Good luck with figuring out a solution! Fortunately it's not a huge deal, but I totally understand you wanting to stop that kind of behavior.


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## looking4goldengirl (Dec 31, 2009)

I also read its a sign of dominance. I looked into this because my neighbors male golden dug into my yard and humped all my guests on 4th of july How embarrassing. We couldnt return him because my neighbors were gone ALL day and he just kept digging new holes under the fence. I read that some females also do this. It is something I would definitely not allow. Just grosses me out. Good luck.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Does anyone have a link/reference to a scientific journal that attributes this to "dominance"? This is something I've heard for years but it's always been a 'word of mouth' thing and not from any sort of behavior study. I've not come across a ton on dog social structure, and I though that Ray/Lorna Coppinger had at least one study about domestic dogs not having a linear social hierarchy?

Females definitely mount too! When we have moments of stress around here...my two males and female will all do some mounting. If I took one dog out to work or to class and we get home this happens, or after a class and I'm switching dogs at the car. Or if we all come in from being outside and some want to play but the other doesn't. I don't worry about it much unless a dog is uncomfortable with it. They sort everything out in a moment or two.


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## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

kdmarsh said:


> I love boy dogs, but this is the #1 reason I stuck with a girl when I got my Flora. Humping dogs actually for some reason really grosses me out, and I would be HORRIFIED if one of my dogs did it. Of course, saying that automatically means that the next puppy I get, if it's a boy, he will be a Master Humper. :


You may be in for a surprise, my female, fixed sheltie would do it. It was weird.


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## Noey (Feb 26, 2009)

Both mine are fixed and both still hump the dog beds and random stuffed animals. : (

It's not all the time or bad, but it is annoying.


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## Makino82 (Oct 23, 2009)

My room-mate's Female fixed lab is a humper! She always starts humping my female GR when they're playing and my GR has the toy, when she can't get the toy she resorts to humping. Recently I've been telling her 'No' and putting an end to it, as when she starts the humping they usually start getting rough with eachother. It's probably situational for each dog and their reason for humping, especially with females. All I know is with ours when the humping starts, they don't play so nice anymore.


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## esSJay (Apr 13, 2009)

fostermom said:


> The best part is the hump train that they do in front of the windows at the front door if someone pulls in the driveway and walks up to the house. Jasmine is the engine, Jasper's the passenger car and Danny's the caboose!


 
HAHAHA omg that just made my day!! 

Molson hasn't done much humping to people or things, but did a lot of humping to my mom's dog, Skoker, when Molson was about 5 months old. The first time Molson met Skoker there was a hump train going from one room to another... at the time I was showing my mom how to work her new cell phone camera and I snapped a picture of it and saved it as her background as a joke. LOL. I didn't think anything of it until about a month ago when I opened her cell phone and the same picture is STILL the background!! I felt so bad that I forgot to change it back! oops!

Ambesi, maybe you could get a water squirt bottle and have it on hand to squirt Winchester with it when he starts humping, and redirect his attention to something else??? I would start there and see if that helps!


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## Tracy S. (Jul 2, 2009)

Dusty was neutered at 6 months - he is now 10 months - and he's still humping. He still chases the cat. When I pick the cat up to lift him over the gate on the stairs - there's Dusty humping me because I have the cat in my hands. He humps my 11 year old son during wrestling matches, and he humps my daughter's friend....assumingly because she has a few little dogs that Dusty must smell. So yes, in his case I'd says it's a dominance issue - and MAYBE an excitement issue with the wrestle/play thing.

My motherinlaw has a rotten male yorkie - who doesn't hump - but barks at everything and everyone and does everything he's not supposed to. She also has two female dogs (A Cairn and a Chihuahua) that are very well behaved but both HUMP the male dog when he is acting this way. So I'd say it's a dominant behavior in females as well.

I'm just REALLY glad that the red rocket in the fur pocket doesn't come out - how humiliating !!!


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

It sounds more like conflict behaviors in all those situations, not to get/keep access to resources (...what seems to be the standard definition of 'dominance' in groups). 

When dogs know how to engage another dog or person in play or interaction the mounting behaviors often will decrease very, very quickly.


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## kaysy (Jan 9, 2010)

Marty is also a humper. Neutered 3 weeks ago (at 6 mo) and is MAYBE a little better. We're trying the turn around and put him in a down/stay. Marty is a pushy dog, tries to do it to clothes that we're taking off or putting on. I've been told it's a dominance/play behavior and later sexual.


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## Tracy S. (Jul 2, 2009)

Whatever it is, it seems to be when his "ego" is threatened by someone telling him no, getting the best of him, or bringing in the scent of a rival. Just like most men.  HAHA


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

Hank's not much of a humper, he tried a couple of times while playing with his stuffed devil and got a stern "knock it off". 

Count me in as another one that finds it boorish behavior and not amusing.


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## beccacc31 (Aug 17, 2009)

Wilson is now 17 weeks and he has a bear that has a stuffed head but has a flat body and he has been humping that for quite some time. Our puppy school instuctor told us that it was nothing to worry about and we humans automatically think the humping is sexual when it really isn't. So now I just let him hump away!!!! He really does enjoy it! LOL


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