Hey all! First post here, but im a huge fan of Pippa's writing so this seems like a great place to ask a question! I have a male Chocolate Lab who is 9 weeks old and he loves his bed! Like... REALLY loves his bed! And for the last 3 or 4 days (I've only had him for 7 days) he's started mounting his bed. It's not the bed he sleeps in (his crate) just a secondary one for the living room. I know that mounting isn't a huge deal with puppies, but it is getting to be extremely frequent. I also find it odd that it's ONLY his bed. We've never seen him mount a toy, a person, another dog... nothing else. Just the bed! So I'm wondering if there is an underlying issue here I should be looking at fixing or if I should maybe remove the bed? Any long term reasons it could become a problem? Thank you for any input!
Hello and welcome . Distraction is the way to go , this is very common in male and female pups, its nothing sexual at this age, its pure excitement ! Whilst it isn't harmful, its not a desirable habit for them to form , its one that needs breaking and the best way is to distract him with a toy , or just playing with him . My lad used to be just the same with his bed at this age, nothing else , we just took him away from it, metaphorically speaking ! Pups are easily distracted when very young and the habit will soon be broken , but don't react or tell him off, keep calm and offer him an alternative .
AT 9 weeks old Oban LOVED the dirty laundry lying on the basement floor waiting their turn in the washing machine. My solution was to buy him his own humpee toy, a teddy bear, bigger than Oban at the time, and encourage him to, "Get Poppa." Oban is 10 years old now and we still have Poppa who has undergone some serious surgery over the years. Poppa can be washed and can be hidden when company comes. Oban has never, ever humped anything other than Poppa. We laugh, Poppa seems particularly popular after a good walk and a good meal.
My previous male lab always humped his bed after breakfast. It was just something that he did. I didn't try and stop him nor did I consider it a harmful habit. He grew out of it. Caspar is trying to do the same with his toys but can't find the right position.
Thank you all so much! Great to have it confirmed that its totally normal! Distraction is essentially what I've been doing so I will continue down that road and hopefully he'll break the habit soon enough. At least if it's only the bed I could just hide it when company is over or something so he isn't getting busy in front of family!
