Hi! Our lovely Henry has just turned one (and shared his birthday with my husband). He is our first dog and is a lovely boy and great with our son who is 2 1/2. We have been intending to not neuter Henry as have read about potential health issues/bone growth issues and that it doesn’t fix every problem it is sometimes said to fix. That being said our neighbour who does home dog boarding (she has four herself) has said she cannot have him any longer as he is constantly trying to hump her dogs (all female) and if not her dogs, her cushions, and that it isn’t fair to him as she is nagging him the whole time. Henry only occasionally humps anything at home but gets very excited around all dogs and particularly excited and intensely humpy with older female dogs. We did try a boarding kenne once but it felt like we were leaving him in something like out of lady and the tramp and he was really unhappy and subdued when we picked him up. The dog sitter is very pro neutering and has mentioned it on several occasions in relation to humping and unreliable recall (particularly when other dogs are involved). Anyway after all that long blurb I would like to hear if anyone’s dog’s behaviour changed after neutering with regards to humping or any other helpful strategies. I don’t want to put him through surgery and hormone changes unnecessarily but he is unrelating around female dogs! Help! Thank you!
Neutering does not stop dogs from humping. Maybe sometimes it reduces it, but the neutered males I'm around still hump. Some females do it too, including all of our labs, at least occasionally. In the states, lots of counties encourage it by offering reduced licensing fees for neutered dogs. We neutered our Females, because we didn't want to have unplanned pups, and no intention of breeding them. I did not neuter my Malamute years ago, and probably would not neuter a male dog now.
Thanks for replying! I’m aware not all humping is sexually motivated and so wouldn’t necessarily be impacted by neutering, but I did wonder, given it seems to be solely aimed at adult female dogs (and only cushions if the female dogs are present but out of bounds!) whether this might be. Either way, any advice/training tips on reducing this? If I can find another way of managing this behaviour that would be great, he is just not at all distractable in the moment. And he is so unrelenting with any female dogs we meet up with it understandably puts people off meeting up with us or looking after him on the few occasions we can’t take him away with us. Or should I start another thread on the training board?
Have you tried dog activities to get his focus on you? Advanced obedience, aginity, gundog training etc, all increase the dogs focus on the handler making them easier to distract from unwanted behaviours.
If he tried it with Cooper he might get schooled. Sometimes she doesn't mind, and sometimes she returns the compliment, but a couple of times she explained in no uncertain terms that it was not acceptable behavior. She is a big dog, and one sharp growl convinced a certain pit bull that she should not be messed with. We have two friends with neutered male Sammy's. Both hump some. One of them humps and herds other dogs so much that he has been kicked out of a couple of doggie daycares.
I'm also not sure about neutering. Max turned 1 in March. He is not a humper but he is extremely interested in other dogs and when he hears other dogs barking he starts too - even inside when it's already sleeping time. He also does not listen to me when he sees or hears other dogs and a few days ago he had no less than 7 dogs chasing him. Luckily he ran faster than them!! I'm just super worried he might end up in a fight. As part of our walking I let Max run free but there are many strays in the area and although Max just wants to be friends they are very territorial. Btw - Max is the best dog ever and I love him to bits!!
