# 4 month old puppy humps a lot???



## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

My friends Dalmatian puppy Guiness, is about 4 months old and humps A LOT. And i mean a lot, i popped around this afternoon and Guiness would not leave my dog alone, constantly humping all the time. Mine did get a bit sick of it after a while and barked a couple of times, that stopped Guiness for all but 2 minutes. He does it to her 5 year old son too.

If he doesn't get his own way he starts nipping. Its becoming a real problem. 

He was never socialised as a young pup and my friend only had him at 12 weeks. After having a proper chat to her today i heard how this poor puppy's start in life was. They were kept in an outside shed and when they went to pick Guiness up he was the last one and was only with his Dad in there :frown: she said it was clean and comfy etc like what shooters kepep their dogs in i guess. Not the point in my eyes :frown:

So he had no socialisation what so ever,, was fed on the very very basic food and not given enough love.


Anyway whatever his poor start he is now with them and they love him to bits, feed him well and walk him etc but they don't really understand about training only the basics.

They are having him castrated at 6 months. But i believe this problem will take more than this.

What can they do??? I have said about keeping on a line, training leave command etc but is there anything else??

Oh and P.S:

He is not at all interested in the female dog that see's him regulary and goes on walks with! Not at all bothered!


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## lauz_1982 (Dec 14, 2009)

Acacia86 said:


> My friends Dalmatian puppy Guiness, is about 4 months old and humps A LOT. And i mean a lot, i popped around this afternoon and Guiness would not leave my dog alone, constantly humping all the time. Mine did get a bit sick of it after a while and barked a couple of times, that stopped Guiness for all but 2 minutes. He does it to her 5 year old son too.
> 
> If he doesn't get his own way he starts nipping. Its becoming a real problem.
> 
> ...


Mac started humping very early and although it was never other dogs it was his teddy bears and my stepson he was always after! lol! We taught him the 'leave it' command and Mac's default position to lie down. I'll explain. He's a typical collie and tends to get very over excited. If he's doing something he shouldn't he gets told 'leave it, come here, lie down and wait'. Using a clicker and doing training with him regularly meant he was quick to pick these up. When he is calm enough (I decide when and not him so if he gets up again before he's 'released' he gets told to lie down again) he gets told to 'go get a toy' - he runs into his crate and comes out with a toy to play with and he's totally forgotten about the humping!

I know that way may not work for every dog but just wanted to share what works with mine. It means they would need to teach a few commands first. Clicker training is great and that and the rewards make it a nice quick way to train.

We are getting Mac neutered soon but to be honest it's not because of the humping as he rarely does it anymore.

Hope things improve for your friend.

Laura


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## Bearpaw (Dec 10, 2009)

Its a very common thing!! and perfectly normal too. Get him an old teddy or cushion and just leave him to it.If he is bothering other dogs doing it,then pop him in another room with his teddy/cushion and when he calms down let him back in.I would ask your friend to make sure he doesnt do it to her son,tell him down and ask the boy to walk away and not let him do it.
When the other dogs are fed up with him doing it,they will tell him off!!
He should grow out of it


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## Ducky (Nov 23, 2008)

puppies do seem to go through humping phases. kody was a right little humper between 2 and 4months. he still does it occasionally, but not very much.


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

Yeah i explained its natural and common etc but i have to say i personally have never seen a dog so determined and god he doesn't give up!!

He is not interested in doing it to toys only her son and dogs!! She doesn't let him do it to her son, and puts him in kitchen shut away when he does it. But she said ''its like he waits for him (her son) to come home from school and then he lets rip'' no toys do it for him!!

My old Lab as a pup was never really interested in humping. Not bothered with it all. My current dog does it occasionally with a female he sees.


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## lifeizsweet (Jun 7, 2009)

Bramble was terrible when he was little!! He had a winnie the pooh hot water bottle cover and well... we'd be sat watching telly and bramble would decide the world needed watch his attempts to have his wicked way with old Winnie!! hahah. he did grow out of it though. Now it's just the lady dogs that chatch his eye.


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## dalpup (Mar 9, 2010)

We have a Dal too who is just under 5mnths, he was humping his cushion but seems to have calmed down, we just distracted him with something else, like a toy or getting him to do a little training for treats and it seems to have passed now (for now LOL).

One point though, I have been advised by a few Dal owners that its best to delay Nuetering them until they are about 15mnths as they are a breed who can be stone formers which means its best to delay nuetering to let their bits and pieces grow fully so that if they do grow up to be a stone former then the stones will hopefully pass easier in their urine, if they get done earlier the tubes can be a bit smaller than normal making passing the stones more difficult.


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

dalpup said:


> We have a Dal too who is just under 5mnths, he was humping his cushion but seems to have calmed down, we just distracted him with something else, like a toy or getting him to do a little training for treats and it seems to have passed now (for now LOL).
> 
> One point though, I have been advised by a few Dal owners that its best to delay Nuetering them until they are about 15mnths as they are a breed who can be stone formers which means its best to delay nuetering to let their bits and pieces grow fully so that if they do grow up to be a stone former then the stones will hopefully pass easier in their urine, if they get done earlier the tubes can be a bit smaller than normal making passing the stones more difficult.


Yeah i told her that, but between she is adament that he is being done at 6 months. :frown:

I hope that he calms the humping right down and then perhaps she will re-think it.


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## girlyhouse (Apr 16, 2010)

my young pup did this the other week ( oh was super shocked lol) but she is a girl!!!! is that normal too???:scared:


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## davehyde (Jul 13, 2009)

those little blue sweets aren't really dog treats :lol::lol:


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

girlyhouse said:


> my young pup did this the other week ( oh was super shocked lol) but she is a girl!!!! is that normal too???:scared:


Yes it is normal for a girl to do it too! They might not do it as often but its not rare!



davehyde said:


> those little blue sweets aren't really dog treats :lol::lol:


LOL!!! :thumbup:


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## dalpup (Mar 9, 2010)

I know its hard, Buster has his moments where I think its going to be a long wait to get him the snip, he has stopped the humping but has moments of other behaviours, just being over excitable really. We are starting to use treats to enforce every command, things like "drop" for all the things he picks up, which is pretty much everything we dont want him to  and "leave" to get him to not do something or pick something up. 

She could try that with pup, have treats ready (I keep some on me in a pocket) and show him a treat to get him to stop and tell him leave and give a treat when he does. Its taken a while with us but he is getting there


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

dalpup said:


> I know its hard, Buster has his moments where I think its going to be a long wait to get him the snip, he has stopped the humping but has moments of other behaviours, just being over excitable really. We are starting to use treats to enforce every command, things like "drop" for all the things he picks up, which is pretty much everything we dont want him to  and "leave" to get him to not do something or pick something up.
> 
> She could try that with pup, have treats ready (I keep some on me in a pocket) and show him a treat to get him to stop and tell him leave and give a treat when he does. Its taken a while with us but he is getting there


Generally i think he is ok, but to be honest he didn't have the socialisation he needed as a young pup and this is now showing. So i have told her they will need to make doubly sure that they really work hard to raise him as a 'good citizen'


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## Matrix/Logan (May 7, 2009)

Blade does it to the other 2 whenever they get wrestling and playing, they just tell him off by growling when they have had enough or i say NO and he stops! I think it is just a thing they do sometimes when excited?! Logan did it to my nieces trainers when he was little   but that was the only times he evr did it, when she visited!! LOL


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## Horse and Hound (May 12, 2010)

Rupert drags his puppy bed out of his crate and humps that. He also humps his winnie the pooh teddy, and my big sylvester cat teddy.

The bloke who I spoke to about dog training says he will grow out of it though. It does make us laugh but we just ignore him and leave him too it. He's only 13 weeks old.


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## lauz_1982 (Dec 14, 2009)

Horse and Hound said:


> Rupert drags his puppy bed out of his crate and humps that. He also humps his winnie the pooh teddy, and my big sylvester cat teddy.
> 
> The bloke who I spoke to about dog training says he will grow out of it though. It does make us laugh but we just ignore him and leave him too it. He's only 13 weeks old.


:lol: Randy Rupert!


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## yorkiegal (May 30, 2010)

Baxter is 4 months old and tries to hump dogs on the field, although he has a tendency to try and hump their head and hasn't quite worked out where everything goes yet. The only time it is a problem is at home when he tries to hump my arm. When I push him off he gets angry and barks and nips at me. Usually 5 mins of banishment from the room calms him down. I've tried distracting him with other toys and also bought him a big gorilla to hump instead but once he's in the mood, only my arm will do.


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

Oh Bearpaw. I hope I'm not reincarnated as one of your cushions in my next life. LOL


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## Freyja (Jun 28, 2008)

Willow came home at 10 weeks old and the first thing he did when meeting my other dogs was to go round and hump each of my bitches. Unfortunately the one bitch that I thought would tell him off Tegan was coming into season so just stood there and let him do it.


I now have 3 bitches in season and although my 3 older males are not interested they never are as they know they are not allowed even though 2 are stud dogs (They are not allowed with the bitches at all they are seperate but know they are there) Willow thinks all his birthdays have come in one go.

Could be a new designer breed irish setter x iggie what on earth could it be called:lol::lol::lol:. Don't worry he's not allowed near her either.


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## tripod (Feb 14, 2010)

Love the name Guiness for a Dalmatian 

Humping excessively is a real sign of over arousal and distress at not being able to calm himself - its conflict.
Is there any chance that your friend will get him to a puppy class/training class asap for work on self control, especially around other dogs and to boost his socialisation.

Some good stuff here on humping: 
My Male Pitbull Has a Humping Problem » Good Dog Blog
and here:
Humping is Normal, Yet Rude and Lewd | Dog Star Daily

Def look at some impulse control exercises and maintaining calm, especially in social situations.


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## Nellybelly (Jul 20, 2009)

girlyhouse said:


> my young pup did this the other week ( oh was super shocked lol) but she is a girl!!!! is that normal too???:scared:


My girl used to do this, then she outgrew out. About a week after being spayed at 11 months she started mad humping again, but when the hormones settled she stopped thankfully!


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## ploddingon (Jun 15, 2010)

Bobby used to hump things more or less from when we first got him at 8 weeks.
I used to just say STOP, and get a toy for him to play fetch with, and now he doesn't do it at all.


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## woodwitch (Jun 1, 2010)

Ozzy was humping his teddy at 6 weeks. I was told this doesn't mean anything, but it was embarrassing to have to explain to the kids what Ozzy was doing when he was "wiggling his bum"!

He now has an open relationship with his bear - the bear agrees it's fine if Ozzy wants to hump his bed and his cushion too!

When we took him round to meet my brothers dog, an absolutely gorgeous border terrier, they immediately started trying to mount eachother. My brother said it's a way for male dogs to show how manly they are, but I don't know if this is true or not!


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