Yesterday was one week since Harley was spayed. She is currently 30 weeks and 6 days old and on the weekend DH and I were shopping and, as always, went down the toy aisle to see if there is anything suitable and preferably on sale, for Harley to destroy. And we found a very cute, medium sized pink teddy bear. We bought it, brought it home, installed some squeakers and gave it to Harls, who dragged it around and chewed on it. Because it is a soft toy we didn't leave her with it and only rotated it back in tonight. Harls was very excited, dragging it around, biting it and shaking it and then mounted teddy! She was very indecent with teddy. DH found it hilarious, I was horrified at our little girl growing up. In front of me... Question is, is this a stage she will grow out of? Do we leave her or discourage her? Will she do this to other dogs? We already have a reputation in puppy class for being permissive parents and having a "wild" child. *at least 70% of my horror was expressed as a joke, I am not shocked at her behaviour, I know it is natural
Don't panic, this is common behaviour, in male and female dogs / pups . Main thing is to not laugh at her , distract immediately, take the toy away and give her something else . At this age, its more likely to be excitement rather than a sexual urge , discouragement is the way to go without making a massive song and dance about it , otherwise it becomes a habit which is harder to break , good luck !
I know some people encourage humping of a special toy, but if it were me? I'd definitely discourage it, distract her and redirect to a different activity. It's not behaviour I want from my dog.
I have a friend whose neutered bitch humps toys. Her owners think its funny and reinforced it by giving her attention. She doesn't hump other dogs or people, just toys and only at home - they don't mind her doing it and she doesn't cause any problems Lucky went through a phase of trying to mount my boyfriend's leg when he was wearing a particular pair of shoes. No idea why the shoes got him so riled up, but he grew out of it, I think... the shoes are somewhere at the back of the wardrobe!
Willow did it a bit as a puppy - I just distracted her immediately and it never became habit. She has never mounted another dog.
Distract it is. This is the first time we have ever noticed it, and we pay close attention to her. I think the toy is a convenient size and she was getting very excited tossing it around. Thanks for the info.
Well since I bought the teddy (Poppa Bear) when Oban was 9 weeks old for the sole purpose of his indecent pleasure I say encourage, which is what I did. Oban is still intact and has never, ever humped anything besides Poppa. Note #1: not the Poppa that my BIL, against my advice, decided to have his grandchildren call him. No, the fuzzy stuffed Poppa. Note #2: Poppa can be hidden when company visits but I learned when I'm away and OH has company they get their jollies from watching Oban with Poppa. Tsk.
I would distract the dog and remove the toy. I do not find the behaviour funny. Although I wouldn't mind if it were only restricted to a toy, the risk is that it won't be. I find it intensely annoying - as do my dogs - for dogs to hump other dogs (or humans). Sure, humping toys isn't a big deal but if/when the behaviour translates to other objects you then have a dog that annoys other dogs or people - this restricts its life and opportunities to go places. So no way would I reinforce this as a behaviour.
