Hump or not to hump

[Kyoko]

http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/dog-behavior-training-5-reasons-hu...

My friend who works at the local animal shelter posted this on the Facebook.

So I thought I would share. What do you think?

I don't have any humper right now, but my old Butter used to hump when he was younger.

He bit the corner of the sofa open, and grossly humped there. eeeewww.

 I had to throw away my sofa!!

[Kyoko]

LOL!!!

[Kyoko]

LOL!! That's so funny!!!

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Luna is very submissive and shy - she rolls on her back for almost any dog she meets.  She has never humped another dog (and only once humped a toy.. it was very weird) but won't allow herself to be humped.  She sits down and bares her teeth (no sound) to show that she does not approve.

My neighbor's dog Sammy however is the opposite - she "guards" her human with barking, growling etc. sometimes and will hump her friends.  Luna figured out that she's now larger than Sammy (they've known each other since puppyhood) and will not allow Sammy to hump her.  Sammy doesn't even try anymore with Luna, but she does with some of their smaller friends.

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

My older dog only humps when Stan and they plays for an extended amount of time and the excitement is high, otherwise he so super laid back and stays pretty much out of the way.  He doesn't hump strange dogs and he doesn't hump dogs that come stay with us for a visit.  Just when he's overly stimulated when playing.  He's not the "pack leader" instead lets Stan get his meal first, lets Stan take toys away from him with no guarding at all, no growling or "dominant" behavior.  When they play he lays down and lets Stan roll and lay all over him until he's "done" then he just gets up and walks away.

A weird hierarchy at our house but it works for us. 

[Adina P]

Rosco is a major humper. He humped Thule all the time and he does it several times a day to Boca. In fact, when we brought Rosco out to see Thule after she was hit by the car, his way of saying goodbye was to paw at her and try to hump her.

[Kyoko]

I saw the youtube video that showed a male dog who lost his female companion doing the same thing.

He draged her body around, attempted to make her stand up and humped...http://youtu.be/-X5KNjEIbYA here I found it. I did not understand and thought it was strange. I guess they may feel overwhelming feelings and tries to release it...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When other dogs visit and play in our house, Gordie gets very excited and tries to hump.  Gordie doesn't actually know how to play but when he watches the others play, he sooooo badly wants to join in.

[GBK]

Buddy is my humper dog...  We cannot have dog beds or anything he can fold up and get on top of.  He does express his cooped up energy this way.  No couch pillow is safe when he is "in the mood"!

As a puppy, I taught Kona to lay down if Buddy got on top of her to hump, it put's a stop to that immediately.  However, Kona will climb on Buddy to hump him.  It is only for a half dozen little thrusts, but I think she is happy she has made her point to him, whatever that may be :)  He could easily just stand up (she does it when he is sitting or laying) but he never does.

Buddy has a type at the dog park, lab, golden, rottie. They are either young or old, he is opportunistic, I think he thinks they will either be too naïve (young) or not able to get away from him (old) and he tries to dominate those he can.  If they tell him get off with a snap or serious growl, he won't try it again, but if he get's away with it I don't have a pleasant time trying to shoo him myself.  He will get put on a lead and timed out.

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

Bexter has humped Maggie a couple of times, although she is the more dominant of the two.  She is always out the door first, gets petted and fed first, etc.  The few times Bexter has humped her, it seems like he was extremely excited because they had been playing.

Maggie, on the other hand, humps Bexter a lot, but I mostly think it seems to be close to the time when she's getting ready go to into heat cycle.  It kind of gives me a heads up to watch her more closely. 

[Pat and Traveler]

Trav has never humped any dog or person, but he does want to get personal with his blanket, if it's held up in the air.  lol 

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

LOL!

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I think this is a fascinating topic. I have two boys that never humped any other dog, just each other.

Monty was neutered at 6 months. Before then, he tried to hump me once and never did it again. Later on he found "love" in his white fluffy crate pad that we stored in the basement. After he had his dinner, he would go stand by the door to the basement. And yes, I did let him go down there and even turned the light on for him. Don't laugh. It was his routine. He would growl at a dog attempting to hump him.

Auggie had an early neuter while he was still at the breeder. He is very playful and usually there is a dog at each of the dog parks that wants to hump Auggie. But Auggie does not hump back.

When Monty and Auggie play, it usually ends up in humping (and it happens mostly in the evening...who knows why). They play for a while, then Monty starts barking in a very high pitched voice and I know what's going to happen next. But they do take turns, so I guess it's okay. When Auggie is humping Monty, he usually also bites down on the back of Monty's neck, so I need to supervise if Monty is not able to loosen Auggie's grip.

As for dominance, I *think* Auggie feels he is the alpha dog. He steals whichever toy Monty is playing with and Monty lets him. There were maybe 3 times when Monty told Auggie to bug off and leave him alone. It was a very distinct growl and Auggie immediately got the message.