Aaaaaaahhh. Dog people- Help!!

[plain jane]

Out of the blue, one of my dogs, 20mos old altered female has started humping my other dog. :glare::glare::glare:

 

Ugh. I don't not want one of *those* dogs. :willy_nilly: Is it just a matter of time before she starts this up on my kids? :w00t:

 

What would cause an altered female dog to start this behavior up when it's never happened before? Can it be stopped... and how do I put an end to this??

 

ETA: she's definitely not the dominant dog or animal in this household, in fact, she's at the bottom of ranks around here and she knows it. :) My male has never ever once done this sort of behavior and I'd like to keep my home a hump-free zone. :p

Edited September 13, 2012 by plain jane

[jeninok]

Generally this is a rank or dominance issue, not reproductive. At 20 months she has fully matured and is probably testing the "rank" waters with your other dog.

[Jpoy85]

Generally this is a rank or dominance issue, not reproductive. At 20 months she has fully matured and is probably testing the "rank" waters with your other dog.

 

:iagree:

[plain jane]

Generally this is a rank or dominance issue, not reproductive. At 20 months she has fully matured and is probably testing the "rank" waters with your other dog.

 

:iagree:

 

So how do I stop this? :ack2:

[Pawz4me]

So how do I stop this? :ack2:

 

Start working more on obedience training.

 

Implement the Nothing in Life is Free Program (Google it). Make sure everyone in the family does it. Let the kids feed the dog her food (you prepare it, let the kids take turns placing the bowl in her eating spot). It won't stop the dogs from humping each other, but it will help to gently reinforce the idea that the humans in the house are in charge.

 

But FWIW dogs humping each other isn't always a sinister move to take over the world, nor does it mean that your kids are next. It can be a rather benign play activity between two dogs who get along very well. Something along the lines of kids playing king (or queen) of the hill. I almost always have multiple dogs around here, and most of them do it to some extent. Never to humans, though. As long as they don't do it in front of company I don't care (and that only because too many people don't understand that the activity isn't sexual). The key is that when I say "Stop" they know to stop. And they do.

[hillfarm]

When any of our dogs have tried to start this, I just commanded them to cut it out, and they did. I might have had to remind them half a dozen times over the course of a few weeks, but it seems that the behavior just expired. IDK if it was hormones or dominance or whatever triggering it, but apparently whatever kind of urge it was wasn't all that strong.

 

The bottom line is to treat this as you would any other unwelcome behavior (like barking at the cat, or whatever), and calmly tell them to knock it off. Don't let human interpretations cause you to make it a bigger issue than it is.

[Mom-ninja.]

ETA: she's definitely not the dominant dog or animal in this household, in fact, she's at the bottom of ranks around here and she knows it.

 

No, she doesn't know where her rank it. She's trying to figure it out. She's 20 months and a "teen' and trying to find her place in the pack. You must be the head dog and show her that behavior is not tolerated.