Hi all My 14 month old intact male met up with his recently castrated litter mate yesterday. They have met many times before, and right from birth the other dog has always been the dominant one. They have a great time playing and it's lovely to watch.....usually! Yesterday they started out as normal, but suddenly after about 15 minutes or so, as if a switch had been flicked, my dog started to hump him. He has never shown any interest in humping anything before, let alone another dog. My dog is considerably fitter than the other one and can run the pants off him, and it was very noticeable yesterday. As the playtime progressed the need to hump the other one got greater. My question is was this a realisation for my dog that his sibling no longer has any dangly bits and he was dominating him for top dog position? His brother wasn't bothered in any way but I had to remove my dog in the end as play had all but stopped. He was becoming too determined, although there was no aggression at all. And will this probably happen again? I don't get the impression it was sexual but I could be wrong. He also had no interest in his ball which is usually the be all and end all for him, and I can distract him from most things with it. I will be interested to see if when he meets another dog intact or otherwise, if the same thing occurs. Your thoughts and opinions would be greatly appreciated. Jan
Re: A question! I don't think it necessarily follows that intact males hump other dogs. My intact male never has, and all the male dogs at (gundog) class are all intact and I've never seen any of them hump another dog. I also don't think it is about your dog thinking he would be top dog because he still has his bits and the other dog doesn't - although it's possible he was confused by the scent of the other dog having changed, perhaps. Generally, dogs humping other dogs seems to me to reflect a lack of developed manners - it's just an awkward way of interacting with other dogs - and sometimes aggression, rather than anything else (although perhaps your dog was just confused by the change in this case). Obviously, it can be motivated by sex, of course. It isn't a behaviour that I'd allow to become established, although the dog yesterday didn't mind, some dogs mind a lot and it's the type of behaviour that can cause trouble. My own dog pretty much hates it, although will tolerate it in dogs he knows that aren't acting aggressively, it's the one thing that will make him stand up to a strange dog and growl if they try it.
Re: A question! Thanks for your reply Julie. I definitely won't let it become established , he's never humped anything before, not even a cushion and definitely not another dog. I am curious as to why the sudden change yesterday after 15 mins of regular play with a dog he knows very well and has interacted with many times. Whenever he meets other dogs he wants to play and backs off if they're not interested. It was very odd. Jan
Re: A question! Humping can have many causes, very few are sexual in dogs. Gypsy likes to hump Tatze, but Tatze doesn't let her - I'm glad to say. I don't see it as 'polite' behaviour and I would stop her if Tatze didn't. They are both neutered females
Re: A question! Maybe he was just a bit confused? A dog that he had previously known to smell a certain way, suddenly had a different smell. It's difficult to know what goes on in their furry minds sometimes....
Re: A question! My only experience of it has been very slight and it's always been during really energetic play ,when Dexter had gone over his threshold of excitement or maybe even a bit like Julie said,lack of nice manners,he didn't know what to do meeting a new dog so he'd have a try.....I have never let it continue,always interrupted him and it's ages since I've seen him do it x
Re: A question! I just witnessed something like this the other day at my friend's house. She has three dogs. One is a Pit Bull, one is a Golden Retriever and one is a Doberman Pit mix. The Doberman is just about a year old while the others are a year or two older. The Doberman jumped up on me to say hello and as I was pushing him "off" the Pit jumped on his back and started to hump the Doberman. Quick as a whip, the Doberman turned around and definitely in dog-speak "yelled" at the Pit. The Golden Retriever was about 6 feet away minding his business, but the Doberman went back and forth between the two barking at them in a manner that appeared to be telling them "don't ever do that again because I won't tolerate it." I don't know why the Pit decided to hump the Doberman other than his behind was right there. The Doberman jumped on me and the Pit jumped on the Doberman... but I do think it can be a way to show who's boss kind of thing. If the Doberman allowed it, then the Pit would probably would always dominate the Doberman but since the Doberman wouldn't allow it, it put them back on equal footing. Lisa
Re: A question! Shadow tries to hump Willow every now and again. She normally tells him off, but if she doesn't, I remove him immediately because I don't want it to become a habit. There may be an amount of sexual motivation in it because of his age, but he shows no signs of arousal. He doesn't hump anything else, and has never tried with another dog. Willow used to hump her toy meerkat sometimes, but grew out of it. I'm hoping Shadow does the same. In this case, it's certainly not a dominance thing. There isn't really a "top dog" in the house but if there was one, it certainly wouldn't be my little pansy Shadow
Re: A question! Benson (entire 17 months) occasionally does a bit of humping, it is rare though, and I don't think sexually motivated. It is with the same dogs, my castrated dog (6 years) also shows interest in the same dogs. I suspect something is not quite right with them, impacted anal glands or maybe a UTI. In other situations, Benson has just gotten himself so excited....he just wants to hump... : Again though, uncommon behaviour from him.
Re: A question! I meant to add, when we first got Casper last October, he wanted to hump everything, we think now he was really just way over his threshold, and err.....humped to relieve stress? Now he is far more relaxed and doesn't hump anymore, well apart from the same dogs my entire dog is interested in.
