Humping dog

[Anonymous]

My dog is 7. And has now decided that he must hump all other dogs — young, old, doesn’t matter. He doesn’t do it to our other dog or dogs he already knows, but any new dog is fair game. Any way to stop this? I pull him off immediately and if off leash, I leash him. What else?

[Anonymous]

Is he fixed? What else is he humping? Stuffed animals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he fixed? What else is he humping? Stuffed animals?

He is fixed. Only thing he goes for is new dogs.

[Anonymous]

Humping isn’t always sexual with dogs - it’s a dominance thing. Every group of dogs has one dominant one, and they sort that out one way or another. Your dog has a dominant personality, and is telling other dogs he’s the boss. A submissive dog will accept that messaging; a dominant one will be willing to fight to show who is the boss between them. You perhaps should see a trainer to learn how best to intervene - not good behavior to allow.

[Anonymous]

Mine (died at 11 last fall) had this whole routine with our 20 year old cat (who passed away a few months before the dog). Dominance? Meh, I took the cat in from a family member who was terminally ill when the cat was 16. The dog was terrified of her for the first year, until gradually the cat accepted him. Every night she would walk up to the dog to get a bath, after which the dog (a 66 pound husky) would hump her (well, hum the air above the cat) for a few minutes before they both settled down for the night. The dog himself was pretty much a chicken***, and when he saw a bigger dog at the dog park he would hide behind me.

My parents had a spayed female lab on their farm. She was definitely dominant over the other dogs (another spayed female, a male chow+blue heeler, a little male dog, both males unneutered). She would hump the males and always take the food before the others were allowed near it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Humping isn’t always sexual with dogs - it’s a dominance thing. Every group of dogs has one dominant one, and they sort that out one way or another. Your dog has a dominant personality, and is telling other dogs he’s the boss. A submissive dog will accept that messaging; a dominant one will be willing to fight to show who is the boss between them. You perhaps should see a trainer to learn how best to intervene - not good behavior to allow.

OP here.

My dog is actually super submissive. He will roll over on his back and tuck his tail if a dog looks at him the wrong way.

[Anonymous]

Strange.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would be very strict with him when meeting new dogs. Keep him in a sit or a down position after the sniff. Give him absolutely no opportunity to start the behavior. When he greets appropriately, give him a treat.

[Anonymous]

Does he ask consent?

[Anonymous]

I have a 9 month old medium breed dog who has a very alpha, gregarious personality. She gets dogs trying to hump often. It drives me crazy and I wish I knew how I could stop it.