Questions about Humping

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Just some quick questions about humping... Is it bad if two dogs are having fun in the dog park and one gets fixated on humping the other? I know hump happens from time to time, but when one dog gets obsessed and won't quit, is this a sign of trouble (other than it being annoying to the humpee and the owner)?

 

If one dog is obsessivly humping another dog should the owner not take action to stop it, or else leave the park with their dog?

 

The back story - both Sophie and Winston were playing in the park and in came a spaniel of some sort, full of energy. They were all having a blast chasing each other when suddenly Moxie became obssessed with humping Sophie and wouldn't stop. The owner laughed it off while I pryed him off of her over and over again. I know she doesn't like it but she never does anything about it, just sort of wiggles a bit to get loose. Sophie eventually shook him off and ran around while he chased her. She didn't seem too bothered, was having fun, but the humping kept up and I had to keep prying Moxie away from Sophie. The owner never reacted, but eventually distracted him with a ball. Winston meanwhile, was bothered that he wasn't included so started humping Moxie. Then Moxie turned his obssession to him. it was a giant hump fest and I was getting really annoyed.

 

Am I the one with "humping issues" or would this bother other people too?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree that the behavior can be the result of overexcitement rather than dominance, as I stated in the case of my female poodle. But I also think that in many cases, it is a dominance behavior. Maybe not with your dogs, but others of us have seen it used as a dominance behavior. Ithink that many behaviors in dogs (and humans, for that matter) can have more than one motivation.
However,it's the sexual angle that I was questioning in my comment above.
The first sentence of the article states:
"Humping is primarily a sexual behavior."
That's the part that doesn't make sense to me, and I think it's important to clarify this, because we have many first-time dog owners on this site, and I have seen cases where an owner thought that a neutered or spayed dog was like a human who has had a vasectomy or tubal ligation, in that they still have sexual urges and a desire to engage in sexual relations.
That's the part I was trying to clarify, that whether humping behaviors are an expression of dominance or excitement, I do not think they are expressions of sexual desire, lol.

[Amber (with Maggie)]

Maggie is the least dominant dog I have ever met. She used to tummy up to every dog when she was younger, now she avoids all but nice dogs. She has never, ever, ever tried to hump another dog (she did try to hump a stuffed toy once...while trying to drag it). She gets excited a lot, but does not display any humping when she does.

 

Many dogs try to hump her. (she is fixed by the way). Her reaction is to promptly sit down. When they try her face she goes belly up. I tend to get her away from that as soon as I see the other dog doing the motions.

 

I don't try to tell other owners what to do with their dogs, I just remove my dog from their area. Many times, they have followed her and continue the activity (in a fairly obsessive way). She doesn't like it and won't play with that dog.

 

So even if it is excitement, it is invasive and when you can tell the dog being humped doesn't like this invasion, it should be stopped. If you happen to own all of the dogs and know none of them are bothered by it, you as the top dog, can choose the reaction to the situation you are ok with.)

 

I think ALL behaviors by dogs are assumptions. None of us can know for sure. As edie brikel said "...is a smile on a dog." What we can do is look at responses to situations and make our best guess...and see if the dog reacts in a way that seems positive. (e.g. a dog attacking another dog = in my assumption is a dog not getting along with another dog; a dog licking another dog, is a dog grooming another dog, a dog humping another dog, is a dog trying to get the other dog pregnant/show ownership of the other dog/show dominance). All of these things, are my assumptions. I do not think dogs running up to random dogs and humping them is ok while I do think a dog running up and smelling its butt is normal. I don't think a dog running up and sniffing my butt or humping me is ok. (no matter how "excited" the dog is)

 

I am not sure how you can say that when you do it, it is accurately reading a dog behavior and when someone else reads a dogs behavior they are misreading the behavior?

[BG and Gavin]

I have had a couple annoying experiences where Gavin was the humpee.  One time a fairly young dog was humping Gavin's head.  Well ewww - no more forehead kisses that day!  The second more serious time was at the dog park (where I no longer go).  Two husky brothers more or less "cut" poor Gavin from the rest of the pack.  He of course took a submissive pose lying down on his side, one brother had him pinned at the throat while the other humped him.  It was the pinning that bothered me the most.  The owner did nothing - he laughed it off and said they were just playing but I was totally uncomfortable, especially when Gavin was struggling to get up but couldn't.  I ended up pulling both dogs off him and leaving.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am not breed bashing, but when we used to go to the dog park, we always had trouble with a husky too. Poor Gavin. I am glad you left. It is always the owners that seem to need training at the dog parks.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Poor Gavin!! this would have freaked me out too!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

oh, and this dog was humping Sophie's face too. I think she felt so violated. yuck.

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

The exact same thing happened to me and Oliver one time at a dog park.  There was a rottweiler (non-neutered) male.  Who was on Ollie the second we got there and would not leave him alone.  My poor Ollie just stood there, the owner was actually a dog sitter for the dog and had 4 other dogs there with her.  She kept on trying to discourage it but the Rotty was not listening.  This was Ollie's birthday and I wanted him to have a good time in the park, this did not seem to bother Ollie but I did not like it.  After about 10 minutes of us trying to pull the rotty of Ollie, I offered her my leash to keep him away from Ollie and she accepted it - THANK GOD !!!  I told her she should suggest to the owners to get the dog neutered.  We don't go to that dog park anymore !!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

My two guys will hump each other when they're overly excited.  I don't allow it, because it's really not an appropriate behavior and it can lead to other problems.  At our Daycare, the owner (who is also a trainer) also has her staff stop any humping while the dogs are playing.  I've seen her do it when watching my guys on the video.  It can be annoying to other dogs who may not react initially, but when they've had enough of it I would worry about possible reactions.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Vern will do this with Fudge every now and then. I have never seen Fudge do it back. Fudge will usually put a stop to it herself, but if she doesn't, I make him get off. I worry more because he is so darn big and twice her size. When we used to go to the dog park, Fudge would not allow any dog to try this behavior with her.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Good Girl Fudge!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

I would NEVER allow Daisy to be humped, it is a definite sign of dominance, I would pack her up and leave.

Daisy is not submissive nor dominant, but she does not like her personal space encroached and lets other dogs know ( by low fast barking) way before any humping would occur, I have no idea how she would react if it happened but I don't think it would be good. She has a few close dog friends, non of them hump. 

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Good for Daisy. This is the problem, Sophie and Winston do nothing to protect themselves. So I can't tell if they really don't mind or if they are being really submissive and aren't expressing their discontent.