Ignor or 'Reprimand'

[Adrianne Matzkin]

For the first time in her life, Samantha humped a dog - Mickey. I know it is a sign of dominance and trust me, Mickey really needed it. He jumps on her, nibbles on her ears, bites her tail - all in play. I know that puppies play with their moms and littermates like that but Mickey never had a chance to do that since the first 4.5 months he was in a puppymill cage and then a shelter. I guess he is making up for lost time.

He is trying to get her to play - Samantha doesn't really play like a dog - she loves to play ball.
99.9% of the time, she ignors his obnoxious behavior and lets him but twice (once yesterday and just now) Samantha humps him.

I let him play like that until I see that Samantha has had enough. I just give him a distraction to play with which needless to say it really didn't stop him for long. She doesn't growl or snap at him - she just lets him jump all over her. Then the humping started. Both times he finally stopped jumping on her but not immediately.

So - do I stop Samantha? do I stop Mickey? Help! and thanks

[Sue & Willy Babe]

Wilson was trying to do that to his friend Bell I stopped him and told him it was bad manners but at the dog park on Friday, another dog tried that on Wilson and that owner told him to stop, so I guess I would tell Samantha to stop.
Wilson doesn't try to hump very often I think its more out of frustration that this little pup gets the best out of him .

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I absolutely would not stop either one of them. This is something the dogs in a home have to work out for themselves, and they will. Those whose knowledge of dog behavior I respect always encourage the home dog to set the ground rules for the newcomer, be it a foster, a visitor, or a new member of the family. Even if Samantha did growl or snap, I still would not interfere in any way, unless things got to a point where there were injuries being caused. (In this case, the humping is not the same as when one dog does it to another at the dog park to be dominant. I doubt that it is going to translate over to those kinds of situations, in which case the behavior should be stopped.) Samantha herself did not get the lessons from her mom and littermates on proper interaction with other dogs, so this is her way of asserting herself. It would actually be better if she did growl or snap, her message would be clearer and Mickey would "get"it quicker.
Most adult dogs have a tolerance for pushy behavior from puppies that come into their homes, and then at some point, the "puppy license" gets revoked. I have never yet heard of the younger dog being seriously injured, and I have witnessed some pretty serious dog-on-dog corrections. It is necessary that this happen, because you cannot be there every waking moment to run interference, and the dogs need to work out their relationship in order to relax and live happily together.

[Adina P]

I think unless it bugs you and its something you seriously don't want, don't worry about it. I guess it depends on what you believe the humping to mean in the big picture of things. I really don't think it means much and only stop Rosco in the house because it's annoying to me. But if Mickey doesn't seem bothered...I'd just let it go.

[Beth and Gang]

Samantha is definitely a ball driven dog!! She runs with the other dogs to get her ball, but she isn't roll 'em over like Spud and McCabe played at the dog park in Pa.
She is probably establishing some dominance over Mickey, the best way she knows how.
Guinness would swat Mickey with his paw and growl, but he didn't have the same beginning as Mickey and Samantha.( Guinness has had a lot of dog experience, and usually chooses to hang with people over dogs if he has the choice!)
If the behavior is really annoying then stop them, otherwise I would let them work it out in their own way.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Did someone say Spud and McCabe??? Dogpark. Actually that sounds good. How about next Sunday?? Or maybe we can wait until Sam, Mickey, Marissa, and Adrianne get closer to Stow and they will drive yet another 2 hours and meet us the first week of August??? Huh? Did someone say dog park Spud and McCabe? Oh come on Beth..... its time.

Guinness rules with his calm quiet presence. Even my obnoxious puppy knew better than to mess with Guinness. Funny all the dogs followed him.

I agree.... let them work it out unless it is bothering you. You are the pack leader and it's your home.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

I would let them work it out to a point. When we first got Kirby, we had a rough first month and we had to crate him a lot! He was quite aggressive with Dexter and Dex didn't know what to do and would run away crying. It got a million times better (Kirby needed to be fixed - getting that done really helped) but in the end we had to endure a few really harsh incidents which was tough for us.

Even now (with us having perfect harmony in our house), Kirby will hump Dex at least 2-3x a week. We do correct him, "no Kirby - off, no hump Kirby" and we have a hand signal we give him to motion him to get off. He will listen to us quite quickly (and honestly Dex almost seems to enjoy it). We mostly stop this because we don't want him to get in a habit of doing it (especially to other dogs at the dog park) because it clearly doesn't upset Dex in anyway.

If it's not out of hand, I would try to let them work it out...if there is loud growling/squealing I would get involved. Samantha is trying to put him in his place.

I'm really out of it...who's Mickey?? :)

[Adina P]

Mickey is Adrianne's foster doodle--one of the rescued pups from Almost Heaven Kennel and she's keeping him until her daughter moves in to her new home and is settled. One of her daughters will adopt him!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

awwwh - that is wonderful! I was wondering if Sam was getting a sibbling - it's the next best thing :)

[Adrianne Matzkin]

We ARE looking for a sibling - a puppy, chocolate, F1b, HUGE feet, curly soft coat - just like Mickey- without spending $2500 - I need the money for more fosters.

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

oh my goodness he is SO cute!!! You should definitely be able to find a F1B puppy for less money than that (from a breeder who tests)...send me an e-mail and I'll give you some names.

[Adrianne Matzkin]

Very much appreciated!!

[Jacquie Yorke (DRC)]

I just want to be really clear about a few things in regards to fostering because I really don't want anyone to be discouraged from volunteering....

When you foster for an organization such as IDOG or the DRC, the dog is owned by the organization not by the foster. The organization is responsible for all expenses related to that dog. The organization picks up the costs of vetting, HW and flea & tick preventatives and any expenses related to that foster including the costs of feeding that dog however, most of our fosters choose to donate the cost of food unless a dog is on a specified diet for medical reasons.....

Adrianne's situation is a little different. The DRC directed her to the shelter where she filled out all of the paperwork and paid the shelter fees herself. Technically, she adopted Mickey directly from the shelter but with the intention of fostering him and training him on behalf of her daughter until she and her husband are settled in their new home. Had it been a situation where the DRC retained ownership of the dog, all expenses would have been taken care of by the DRC.

This is just to be perfectly clear on exactly what fostering on behalf of an organization really entails.