Puppy Humping Constantly!

[Traci -Bexter & Maggie]

OK - not constantly...But Bexter (12 weeks old now) has taken up a new hobby.  He humps my leg A LOT.  He also humps hubby's leg...What is the deal?  I tell him "NO" & try to redirect him with a toy or something.  Sometimes he is so persistent I just put him in his crate for a while to chew some toys because he is scratching my legs up in the process!  This is freaking me out a little.  It was the only downfall (in my mind) to having a boy dog & now my worst fear is coming true.  Does this mean he needs to be neutered?  Is this going to be his way of showing affection???  I certainly hope not because it will be awfully embarrassing if other people see it!  Is this a sign of him trying to be dominant?  He doesn't have any dominance issues otherwise; in fact, he is pretty submissive.  How can this be stopped?  I'll take all the advice I can get on this one!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I would say this is certainly not abnormal for some puppies especially when they're really excited.  I would not let him do it to me though....I'd put a stop to it the moment he starts.  Give a firm No, remove and redirect.  If he keeps coming back, I would not hesitate to put him in the crate to calm down.

[Jess and Pippin]

I've read and been told by our trainer that humping is the dog way of establishing dominance, and is very normal puppy behaviour.  The only person Pippin would try to hump was me, and it was usually after coming back from our morning walk.  He'd behave beautifully on the walk, we'd get home, leash would come off and then he'd grab my leg and hump.  I would use the off command and tell him no.  If he persisted, he would get a time out in his crate (we use the phrase time out to differentiate from nap time).  Each dog is different.  Our other male used to hump my son during play.  We used the same routine with him.  In our house, not acceptable.  I've noticed at the dog park that once a dog starts humping, the energy in the park changes and most dogs become more... aggressive is too strong a word, but you get the idea.  So for us, humping is not allowed.  If the behaviour in the dog park does not involve our dogs, we just move to a different area.  If a dog humps our dog, and the owner does nothing, we tell the other dog off and move to another part of the park.  Depending on your vet, neutering happens at about 6 months of age. 

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Yes, everything I have read and my trainer also told me it is a dominance thing (not sexual).  I have an Australian labradoodle and all puppies (except those kept for breeding) are neutered or spayed at 7 weeks.  So I doubt neutering will help much.  Charlie does it to me usually after a training session or when he gets very excited.  I just calmly tell him "uh uh" (our trainer does not allow the use of "no", and gently redirect him to his favorite toy, or walk outside with him and just walk a little and talk to him.  It usually works great and helps to create a bond between the two of you.

P.S. - If you are freaking out, he will probably sense your anxiety over this and possibly that could be a reward for him to keep trying to do it.

Good luck - puppies are so much fun, but yes trying sometimes!

[Cathy w/Shiloh~Cody]

My male dog did the same thing with me, toys, towels, etc, and when I spoke to my vet he suggested neutering him

and we did at 4.5 months. Within a week or two after surgery he stopped this behaviour completely.

He also has never peed like a male dog-he squats. Dog had no issues with being neutered young.

I recommend it. he did have to wear a collar for awhile after surgery.

[Lynda Kamrath]

Both of my male dogs were neutered early and they still occasionally hump each other, but never people.  At the dog park, they have occasionally started humping behavior and someone squirts them with some water.  That seems to stop it.  I do think it is a dominance thing rather than sexual.

[Camus]

Traci, Camus started yesterday! He is 9 weeks and 4 days. We hope that neutering him will solve the problem at least partially. I think we are going to neuter him as soon as our vet says Ok.

[Rose Ann and Amante]

I had Amante neutered and he still does that I just simply turn my back and ignore him.  It is becoming better and less frequent. Someone told me, I do not remember who, any attention whether good or bad is attention! I hate the scratching up my leg part too!

[Barbie]

Zeus has never humped humans, but when I gave him Hercules' old giant stuffed frog and bears yesterday, he's turned into the stuffie molester. I think it's hilarious! At least he's wearing himself out.

My sister's dog used to have a bad habit of humping humans - I mean constantly. It was so annoying. Even after being neutered, he still did it. Well, one day, he found a stuffed whale (3x his size) in the daughter's bedroom. Needless to say, that became his new toy. He never humped another human again - only that whale. Have you tried giving Bexter a stuffie that's much bigger than him? Maybe it'll help break the human humping.