Puppy humping too much?

[Cynthia Whitfield]

Hi All. My name is Cynthia, and this is my first post although I have been reading some of the discussions and forums occasionally over the past few weeks. We have a labrodoodle named Simba.I have a question.

Simba is six months old, was fixed at seven weeks, but he humps things a lot -- his toys and blankets, etc., and he tries to hump us too. He also nips at us a lot, especially my son  Jalen, who is developmentally disabled and doesn't understand why we tell Simbo no. 

Is this normal? Anybody have any advice?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Humping in dogs is a dominance behavior, not a sexual behavior, and it occurs in females as well as males. Being desexed has nothing to do with it. 

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Hi Cynthia, that is an aggravating problem that nobody cares for.  We do not have that issue but I wanted to share with you that the most important word that I have ever taught any of my dogs is  a sharp "EH-EH!"  They know it from across the yard or across the room, when I give it a stern sound they look around and respond immediately.  I don't know why it is so effective but it is and if you have not taught Simba that, maybe it would be a good place to start.  We did it by putting the dog in a down position, laying a piece of kibble just out of reach and as they would push their nose close to it we cover it with out hand and give a stern eh-eh and wait for them to back off, uncover and repeat.  After I do that a few times I bring them to an up position and give the a treat.  Generally after a few lessons (five minutes or so at a time) they know that sound and back right off.  I can't promise this to be a fix but hope it will help.  BTW...I know I am showing you this as an exercise with treats but once learned it works in several situations.

[Sally S Miles]

Your pup thinks he is in charge, most do it to some degree, this is too much - but it sounds like he thinks he is up on the totem.   Back up to basic training. Learn the 'eh-eh' (I taught my grandkids to 'make that ugly sound in your throat') because it works.   If you need it, get back-up in the form of another noise maker/distraction. 

Nipping is following along with the other - they run hand in hand.  Training, training and I wear them out.  Maybe he is frustrated, bored, or just plain wanting to be top dog - it is a dominance behavior - but you have to teach him his place in the pack.  

How old is your son? Do you ever tell him no? Can he learn to tell Simba 'no'?

[Cynthia Whitfield]

My son is 20 years old, but is developmentally about 2-6 years old depending on the activity/task.  When he was in a special needs class at school, they put all the children with the most  severe disabilities in one room -- even though they had various diagnosis.  Kids were always acting up and melting down, and had to be told no a lot.  I found out after that fact that my son was targeted  by one boy who was very aggressive.  Jalen still has the scar from when this kid pushed him off the top of the slide.  Anyway, I had to take him out of school because he started to refuse to be put on the bus or in the car for school. When he was physically dragged onto the bus, he got to school and hid under the table crying. 

I finally took him out of school to homeschool when he was 10, and he's been homeschooled ever since.  We got the dog because we had heard these dogs make good companions for people with intellectual disabilities. But Jalen is really scarred of the word no -- his doctor/child psychologist agreed that he

probably has post  traumatic stress disorder from his experience at school.  I keep explaining to him that we are not angry, we just are trying Simba learn to "be good" as he would say. I usually find another way of telling Jalen no --- i.e. not right now, that might hurt you, etc. , but it doesn't translate as well to the dog.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Cynthia: I commend you. I know your days are not easy, with all you have on your plate.
Can I suggest picking another word to replace "no". It makes no difference what the word is or what it's normal meaning is, just as long as Simba associates it with our meaning of no. This way , your son need not associate that word with any bad experiences he may have had. The tone of your voice lets Simba know he is being corrected. Of course...your son may pick up on that as well.

[Cynthia Whitfield]

Yes, we tried the eh-eh and my son can tell from the tone of our voice it's another way of saying no. I just didn't anticipate he would have so much trouble with us saying no to the dog. I guess I should have. He gets angry when we're in public and someone says no sharply to their kids. He turns from I this happy kid into an upset one immediately, He is usually loving and sweet, and he is well loved in the community.

We all love Simba - he's very cute and funny, and my other two sons who do not have disabilities do fine with him most of the time. Jalen really loves Simba and plays with him, and is never rough,but Simba thinks he's a litter mate it appears! I guess! Anyway, all that humping seems over the top.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

What about trying "stop". Maybe that would work.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I have a 27 year old son with Down Syndrome, and although we don't deal with the same issues as you, I do understand.  I think the most important thing that you can do to deal with this is to keep things as calm as possible.  There is no need to raise your voice with the puppy....they actually learn better without all that excitement anyway.  My experience is that they usually hump when they get excited about something...it's an outlet for the puppy.  One of my guys used to hump whenever he was playing with another dog or when the grandkids were playing with him.  He was always in an excited state of mind when he did this.  To stop it you need to immediately remove what is stimulating him....at the first signs of humping I would crate the pup...calmly with no raised voice.  He will learn that this behavior is not acceptable.  The same is true with the nipping.  Keep play times calm....you need to manage the excitement.  At the first signs of a nip, play time is over and the dog gets crated or put in a "down/stay".  I don't know what you've done so far for training, but at six months you should be well into some sort of obedience work.  Teaching a reliable "down/stay" will be such a huge benefit for you.  My son also hates it when we correct our dogs, and so we've learned how to do it in a "non-excited" way.  I have given up on teaching our son to be part of the training....he's just not confident enough to do it well and the dogs sense this.  Please keep me posted and if I can help in any way let me know.  I'll send you a "friend request".

[Jen & Hudson]

I agree with this. Hudson humps when he's overexcited and nips when he's overtired. Both are quickly remedied by a time-out in his crate. Both are exacerbated by me not remaining calm when I redirect him.

[Cynthia Whitfield]

Thanks for the friend request. Is that used to contact you separately? I'm new at posting here.

I really like your advice on trying to correct in a very casual way. The books I've been reading and the instructor in his class keep saying you have to be firm, and that you need to a loud yelp when they nip too hard. My son will not complain no matter what the pup does, and he gets upset if we do!

Unfortunately, like you, I've found I've had to change my plan of getting Jalen to learn how to help train the puppy. Now I'm a bit confused because we can't have the whole family get on board for consistent training because Jalen sort of undoes it. For example, we all learned to ignore Simba when he jumps up (and he can jump high), but Jalen just keeps trying to pet him. Of course I redirect them, but I can see that Simba has figured out that Jalen isn't assertive, and that i Jalen will take anything he dishes out. Today it progressed to Simba jumping and nipping Jalen while in mid-air.

This will be quite the challenge. We've always just had cats and Jalen's limitations wasn't a problem.Oh well, I know I have to keep trying.

[Wendy and Myla]

What about the words "Calm Down"?  Would that work for Jalen??  I feel for you - this would definitely be a challenge!  Simba will definitely calm down as far as the nipping and sharp teeth but I'm sure you have to figure out a way to show that Jalen is above him in the pack!  Good luck!!!

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

What a tough job you have! I agree that you should probably find a different way of saying no. Also, I would get some formal training started with Simba. My older doodle didn't get "fixed" until he was 5 months old. Before that, he tried to hump my once. Never happened since. My younger one got neutered at 7 weeks, just like your Simba. Never tried to hump anything and anyone. But they do take turns humping each other when they play. It's not a dominance issue with them, it's the excitement. Hope you can find a solution to your problem so that Simba can be a great companion to your son. It does get easier as they get older.