Hi.first and foremost i know puppies hump for a number of reasons.mine did it since he was 7 weeks old.and he is 4 month old which means he's losing puppy teeth too.I've read that small breeds can enter adolescence sooner but mine is a husky.the signs that make me think he may have hit puberty are:1.he has become less focused.working for any food used to be so much fun but now it's too much trouble and he gets easily distracted.2.he is humping toys he didn't even look at twice oh and blankets too.he has begun biting and jumping up and nipping after forgetting it a month ago.3.when he visited an intact female he tried to grab her neck however that could have just been him being very pushy in play.4.he is restless and roams.5even though he has a bit of separation anxiety and not very happy when i'm away for more than 10 minutes he has stopped following me everywhere and sleeps further away from me.6.he has entered his second fear period (afraid of men especially and barks at them.he barks more in general now)which i read often starts at 6 months with adolescence.what i want to know is have you seen any large breed puppies hit puberty around 18 weeks?and if that's what's happened does it mean it will also end sooner?
Observing my puppy who is now 6 months, she started to change at 4 months from being a total croco pup to what I assume is the beginning of adolescence. She became less focussed and easily distracted. Her baby teeth started coming out - she now has her permanent teeth. She did have a few weeks of occasionally humping her bed but I just ignored it and haven't seen her do this for a while. She grabs our older dog by the neck which I must admit I don't like but my DH says is play - we only allow so much and then stop her. Last week, she saw a movement in the garden from the kitchen where we were. It was my DH gardening but I don't think she realised it was him as her hackles went up and she barked quite a bit (she's a fairly silent dog). I just thought she is becoming more aware of her surroundings and becoming naturally a bit more fearful as her 'world' becomes bigger. She also doesn't always like it when I leave her in a room and go somewhere else in the house. I think the adolescent phase goes on for a long time and some things will change - some things get better, some things get worse .
I think he is just losing that need to hang on to your coat tails...this is a behaviour that very young puppies have...and is gaining confidence to explore the outside world on his own. Not really at adolescence yet, but still a bit of a challenge! Increase your training when out on walks by using more "focus on you games" such at as hand touch, chase, playing a game of tuggy. Rewarding "check ins" is also helpful at this stage. This means that whenever your pup glances at you..mark this behaviour and throw a tasty treat. Play can get a little more rough, I wouldn't encourage this too much on walks with unfamiliar dogs, as it means your dog thinks this is OK behaviour with the dogs he meets, and some dogs, really don't appreciate being hustled by youngsters! Humping other dogs is normal, and simply means that they are over aroused and humping is how they express excitement. Humping is not something to be encouraged though, I stop the dog immediately and work on calming the dog down, as an overexcited dog is one that is not thinking or listening to me.
