Reuben was neutered in may. We thought it would calm him down (common misconception, I know now), but mostly to stop him trying to hump everything. If Myself or the wife pick up a cushion, soft flannel blanket, he will literally charge us and death-grip with his paws. It takes quite an effort to pry him off and settle him. Having quite a childish sense of humour myself, have to admit to entertaining this and finding it hilarious at first. But now it's becoming a real nuisance, especially in the evenings for some reason. We have trouble doing the washing, if Reubs isn't trying to steal it, he wants to hump it. Is there any way I can discourage this sexual behavior? He gets over an hour mental / physical exercise a day and is normally settled... until anything material comes out. :-\
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Yes, big mistake to laugh at him/encourage him when he is humping, its giving him permission and he is responding by playing to the audience : This has become a habit , the fact that its at the same time of the day tends to confirm it, it what he thinks he has to do because you found it humerous and our dogs do love to see us happy and laughing . Best thing to do is distraction immediately and remove the offending article . The best thing is to not pick up a cushion as this is the cataylst to his behaviour but if he does charge a you , a sharp firm NO .
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny I genuinely thought he would grow out of it, lose interest. That was pretty much our experience with our last dog. He understands "NO" in every other regard (leaving food or running through open gates) but when we use it while he's humping, it seems to make him more excited and more stubborn. OOOp I should add, I haven't encouraged this since may (his operation). I have been persistant in trying to stop him. We will be on my guard and try catch it BEFORE, see if that makes any difference.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny The joys of forbidden fruit!! I think Karen is right, get the "NO" out BEFORE he gets the love interest ie blankie firmly in paws....the excitement of your excited reaction only adds to the thrill,I suspect. So if he's heading towards the "item" with that gleam in his eyes, then use the distraction or NO.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny You could always try sitting cold and uncomfortable for a while... then when you reintroduce the cushions & blankets, tolerate no humping at all??? Hide them now, still get them back way before Christmas? Introduce a new toy such as a treat dispensing ball ( definitely not a soft toy of any sort, nothing that will encourage humping!) so he gets something great to do at what has traditionally been Humping o'Clock, save it just for that time of day - i.e. when you want to settle down comfortably - and hope that helps him to break the pattern of what he probably now considers to be a scheduled playtime. Have no idea if my suggestion would work - just trying to think my way around alternatives. Or, exactly as Kate says, it's the tried and tested option of stocking up on patience... and a firm NO, removal and distraction every time. Clare
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Thanks for suggestions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjCyPkXcxBk - towards end of video :-[
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Oh my goodness, what a sweetheart! Love the cocking head....I'm just starting on the "sit pretty" (beg) with Simba....Rueben is a star!! I love the eyes when he's waiting for his food....focus!! He is beautiful....I'm sure if you've been able to train him in all these other ways, the "no humping" will come along just fine. (Humping O'Clock....snort..... ;D)
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny He is very handsome (even when he's humping ;D ;D )
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Lovely little video. The humping was pretty funny (to watch, if not to experience live). I'm not sure that your initial encouragement of the humping would have made a huge difference, relative to doing nothing. I think it's probably inherently enjoyable and also a bit of an outlet for pent up energy - so it's a self-reinforcing activity. I would just be persistent in getting in quickly with a very forceful no, soon as you notice that eye gleam. And, as suggested, remove cushions for a bit and shut the laundry door, if you have a door there. Keeping him well occupied will also help, so he doesn't have a heap of spare energy looking for an outlet.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Thanks folks. Video put together with scraps of footage, but You can all see what I mean. He's not usually allowed on our bed, has the run of the house and his own bed ! His little gyrating body and persistence were funny at first, but neither of us relish having his 'pink lipstick' rubbing up on everything. We have a particular fleece blanket on our duvet, same material as plush toys. He tries to romance it when either of us get into bed. We've taken it away now to reduce temptation, there doesn't seem to be any other way of stopping him. He see's it move... he pounces without warning. Not sold on the alternative yet, might look nice next to some tasteful contemporary sculptures
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Yeah, I'm sure that's not the most fabulous experience in the world - Reuben humping your bedding while you're in it..! When he humps, would you say it's when he is not getting attention? Does it seem like a thing he does when he's bored, or when you are busy doing something else that doesn't involve him? I'm wondering if you can build other activities into his daily regime to wear out his brain a bit more - perhaps that hour of exercise/work is not enough. Can you introduce another session of training before bedtime or before washing sessions? Does he have a good sit or drop? Can you work on these things and get him to sit or drop when he wants to hump? Can't hump if he's sitting or lying down.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Its normally when he is settled and catches sight of material things, it can be straight after a walk sometimes. It's very random, almost like frapping. His antsy behavior is very different (He whinges and grumbles every few minutes, paces, nudges and brings toys if he doesn't get enough exercise).
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Sounds quite a lot like Obi, actually. Is critical to ignore any whining and attention-seeking, and to reward quiet behaviour. We've tried to strongly reinforce 'lying down quietly' (with food treats). We've had Obi for a year now and the improvement has been huge (though he's still a whiny pain at predictable times). Ensuring plenty of mental and physical work is also important, and will probably help with the humping too.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Can you introduce another session of training before bedtime or before washing sessions? It can't be done. I was reading some exercise posts here and I don't understand how some owners have the time to walk their dogs for 3 HOURS a day (unless they're retired or something?) Ruebs gets a walk around the block in the morning, someone always returns home to let him out at lunch (that's what I should be doing right now instead of typing this ), he gets an hour in woodland every night. Combined with his regular schedule, he's obviously taken out for longer on weekends, bankholidays and holidays. We normally spend the day out with him. Some readers might think 'oh, you shouldn't have got a dog then' but the fact is - the majority of dogs out there (at least in my location) don't get as much exercise as ours. Also, we've always maintained this schedule with our last dog, he was fine with it.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Riley probably doesn't get as much walking as some dogs on here as I work 4 days a week and have an 18month old who needs a little attention the rest of the time. I try and do 3 or more training sessions a day though. Some of the best advice I got was to build it into every day lives. We would do sit/stay training in the kitchen while I was cooking dinner - talk about distractions! Or when I went to make a cup of tea Riley would walk at heel through to the kitchen, sit while I made my tea and walk at heel back to the sofa and then go to his bed. The same when we stock the log basket, heel to the woodshed and back. It's all training and it all makes a difference Our more gundog oriented sessions are often in the garden and very rarely exceed 15 minutes. It doesn't matter if it's dark, he usually delivers to hand very well in the dark Hope that gives you some food for thought......
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny It is difficult, I know, I work long hours too. But a clicker session for heel takes about 2 minutes (10 treats for 10 reps of a few seconds each). A 2 minute sit/stay obviously takes 2 minutes! 5 treats for leave it, watch me, and so on can be under a minute. And so on. Clicker training sessions are super quick, and can be done in whatever few minutes you have.
Re: Reuben has thing for soft blankets and cushions.. always horny Well for about five days now, we've started mental exercises before bed. Sometimes its 10 minutes of tug 'o war, other times a big kong wobbler with treats, fetch the shoe or 'find the hidden toy'. It actually seems to be working, so far so good - no humping incidents or blanky molestation.
