So since last week, we've been taking Chibi to local dog parks where he instantaneously picked up a new habit - humping. And as the title here implies, it's just about every dog he meets - he goes around sniffs their rear ends and then jumps up and starts humping away. Male, female, intact or not - it doesn't seem to matter.
If he manages to get the other dog into a wrestling match, this kind of slows down a bit, probably because they're too busy tumbling over each other for him to get a good hump in. But if it's a chasing game, he'll chase the other dog until he catches it, and then its hump time.
He hasn't humped anything or anyone other than dogs. And now it's not just the dog park, it's most dogs he meets on walks - sniff sniff, mount, hump.
I realize from other threads that humping is normal behaviour and all that, but this seems a bit much and frankly a bit annoying. Among other things, my young teenage daughter finds this behaviour quite embarrassing and socially awkward and wants nothing to do with him at a dog park if this is going to be happening. And of course, some other dog owners don't like it because they see it as dominant aggression from my 4-month old puppy (and I'm not going to change their minds).
Hopefully this will get better when he's castrated, but that's still 2 months off, although I recognize that some dogs don't stop this after castration - it's a habit they just continue.
So, short of social isolation, what - if anything - can I do to stop this behaviour in the meantime and prevent it from becoming a habit?
It's just pure excitement on his part in being able to play with the other dogs or meet them on walks. It may subside the more often he goes and gets used to it. You may need to kind of wear him out a bit in the house first before taking him out.
INU humped pillows until after he was neutered. Rarely if ever he does he do it anymore. Occassionally, he will mount but not hump our girl Penny for a second or two. Penny humps him more often and even raises he leg to urinate sometimes (confused sexual identity, LOL). All in all, we have no humping problems with other dogs at the park. If another dogs tries to hump Penny she corrects them real fast.
You might want to try distraction when he starts the unwanted behavior. I sometimes keep a dog toy squeaker in my pocket and divert my dogs attention. Just be aware you'll get the other dogs attention too. Redirect Chibi to do something else- such as fetch, sit, etc.
And most important use positive reinforcement. Don't scold, berate and especially hit the dog.
Last week while walking my guys another dog started barking at them. This dogs owner in fustration after telling her dog to stop slapped him in his face multiple times with her hand. Thats what you want to do? Agitate an agititated dog.
Well, he usually gets about a 30 minute walk before we get to the dog park. I could extend that I suppose, but that seems a decent bit of pre-park exercise for a 4-month old puppy.
As for distracting him - I have gotten his attention with various things, but other dogs are usually way more exciting than anything I can usually offer. I've pulled him off the other dog without scolding or anything, which he doesn't seem to argue with, but again, once he's released - back to humpville.
That would be sad, because he really seems interested and excited (in a more platonic sense) about meeting and playing with other dogs. I think giving up after a week is a bit premature.
ETA: It's also not just dog parks now. It's pretty much any dog he meets, so if he's not dog park material because of this, he's not material for any kind of dog interaction.
He may indeed become that. I would find environments that are more carefully controlled to work with him on this behavior. Although excited and over the top greetings can be common at this age, this is a good time to knuckle down in some puppy classes and supervised play groups so he learns better manners around other dogs. Self control and impulse control take some time to develop, but be should get there with time (and classes!)
Masakado Shiba Inu www.masakadoshiba.wordpress.com "Common sense isn't so common"
This is an excitement thing. Four months is a little young to be taking any puppy to the dog park, in my opinion. VERY dangerous things can happen to both physically and emotionally damage a young dog.
So my advice for the dog park issues is to stop going there. He is obviously not able to handle the excitement in a way that you feel is acceptable. So you need to work up to that type of situation.
On walks, he needs to be leashed if he is not already. This way you can control how and when he interacts with other dogs. Bring really awesome smelly treats that he only gets on walks. When he sees another dog, turn around and walk away. Once he is calm, give him a treat. Rinse and repeat. Only allow interactions once he is calm. Chibi will eventually figure out that he is only allowed to interact with another dog when he is calm.
Casey, with Bella and Nola, hanging out in the mountains of Virginia. I Wander, I Ride
@Asterix - Just curious if Chibi got better at the dog parks with respects to his humping? If so, what steps did you take? Did it get better after his neutering?
Leo "JD" Hu | Cream Shiba Inu | DOB: 8/19/2011 | Southern California - LA/OC
I don't really think neutering has anything to do with humping. I've known pleanty of dogs, of both sexes neutered at varying ages that humped all of the time. My boy who is nearly 2 and intact rarely does it, and i haven't seen it in a few months. With your pup being so young you should keep him out of the dog park. An older dog may correct him and do some damage. A lot of dogs don't like it, and as your seeing, the owners don't either. Frustration like this from both the dog and the owner can trigger an attack, I've seen it happen. This happening on the leash is even more of an issuse, because if a tangle up happens and he does it, the other dog could read it as an attack. Some one on one playdates may be your best bet, so you can work with him.
In our case, neutering basically cured the problem. Or at least if it wasn't the cause of the problem going away, the neutering happened right before the behaviour pretty much died out.
We basically quit taking him to the dog park until he got neutered (although I understand he was still rather, um, friendly at doggy day care) so that he didn't turn the humping behaviour into a dog park habit. I also kept him away from other dogs for the most part on leash.
Once he'd been neutered and de-coned, we gradually introduced him back to other dogs and the dog park. There was still some humping, but it gradually went away.
He will still hump occasionally, but I think now it's sort of the final escalation of "please please play with me." In other words, he'll resort to it when all his other attempts to engage play have failed. And then it's usually pretty easy to stop and redirect him to something else (like chasing a ball)
