# Do we correct "humping" ???!



## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I do not- but my boys will be stud dogs. 
If I had a pet who would not be ever used, I would correct it.


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

A lot of times it's just frustration or over excitement. Sort of like zoomies. I'm dog sitting a 10 year old female terrier and she humps my boys to get them to play. A more appropriate behavior might be play bowing or shoving a toy in their faces, but no, humping works too. My best friends female boxer humps blankets. She is obsessed. 

Some people have a "special" toy, like a large teddy bear and then they redirect onto that. That is not what I have done. I treat it more like a behavior I do not want, so I redirect to another behavior such as asking for a sit and doing a short training session with food. I feel like it's a habit that can go away as long as you don't let it develop. I find that punishment is not that effective because they don't really know what they are doing and it's a bit of a behavior they can't control if it's to do with an emotional state. Hard to say without seeing what's going on or knowing the patterns. In some cases, I would walk out of the room and ignore it, especially if you are prone to laughing, yelling, pushing or pulling the dog off or giving him any attention without redirection. Depends on the dog and the situation. 

Someone I dated had a rescue Lab who, when he wanted our attention if we were watching television (always in the evenings), would drag his bed in front of the TV and go to town on it. At that point he was an adult and the habit was fairly concrete plus he only did it at this time with his bed, not to dogs or people, so we laughed and sometimes would pelt him with stuffed toys (which he liked) and eventually with a Nerf gun that was located in the drawer of the coffee table (which he also thought was a great time), so obviously this became the highlight of his evening and encouraged the behavior (where is the eyeroll emoji when you need it?).


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

I correct and deter very early so that by the time they go through the hormones and maturity, it is not a habit we have to deal with. And hate to say this, but once they going doing this through 4-6 months, it's very difficult to deter going forward. 

I'd honestly rather have to deal with collecting and AI vs having dogs humping each other and everything. :yuck: That would drive me NUTS. Especially since we have 3 right now and the youngest (collie pup) who is still in training concerning this.... 

The collie pup is being handled and trained as we go, but he apparently has more "drive" than my goldens ever had.... :surprise::| I can't begin to imagine letting that be and allowing it. >.<

The correction is simply taking by the collar or scruff (my dogs usually are naked in the house, so scruff it is) and firmly tell them "no" before sending them off to do something else.


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## Anele (Dec 12, 2014)

For some dogs, it becomes an obsession/compulsion, so I would put a stop to it. If there is a certain time of day or other identifiable pattern, redirect/manage the dog so he doesn't have access to whatever he humps and has an alternate activity available.


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## TennillA (Jun 4, 2017)

When we first got Gromit he did this a lot. What I did was pull out one of the treats that I now carry in my pocket and put him in a sit and like others have suggested start a short training session. Now the only time he does it is when my daughter gets home from school. He's over excited and missed her . I try to run him around to burn off the excess energy about 30 minutes before the bus is due with varying degrees of sucess. But I have been seeing a lot less. I didn't know that was a thing young puppies did so I didn't know how to handle it at first either.


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## Cody'sMom (Nov 7, 2010)

I will be getting a male puppy around Thanksgiving and will definitely stop any humping by redirecting. I plan on having him off leash with other dogs so any humping will not be tolerated. People totally freak out when they see a dog hump so eliminating the behavior from the beginning is a must for me. 

Connie :wavey:


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## Caledonian Isles (Apr 16, 2017)

Thank you, everyone for the great replies. Going right into a training session after quickly removing the object of his focus (poor big pink Carebear!) worked like a charm. And I haven't seen the behavior again, which is totally weird, but good. Thanks again! Love the forum!

Theresa


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## eml298 (May 28, 2017)

Our new puppy will come home at the end of October, but I'm "studying" and found this thread both very informative and entertaining to boot. Thank you to all who have posted. I will be prepared with the sit and train plan if our boy gets any ideas.


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