Humping problem!!

sarahjane · 03-11-2010, 19:26

My dog is a 2 year old female who was neutered at 5 months old before her first season.
However she is getting worse and worse for humping things.
It has become really embarrassing because if anyone comes to the house and sits with their legs crossed she literally 'backs on'!
Now...part of me thinks this could be to do with her anxiety problems but I wondered if there could be a hormonal problem that could be causing the humping AND the seperation anxiety.
I'm not convinced it is a dominance thing as she has got that bad that when she is cleaning herself she gets that excited that she humps her own face!!
I appreciate that a dog humping it's own face is quite amusing, and a few of my friends have said they are jealous of her 'skills'!!!

but it is getting a bit ridiculous!

Any ideas?

Elizabeth13 · 03-11-2010, 19:36

Lol. Sorry, had to have a giggle at that face bit..

Anyway.
You need to really take charge here. She sounds like she gets very excited (whether with anxiety or not) a hell of a lot. You are meant to tell her how high her levels of excitement should go.
She needs boundaries; so when she starts showing signs of getting excited you need to stop her mindset and stop that mood. A firm touch, or perhaps a noise (such as "oi" or clapping your hands together), to distract her from that escalation.

You can go to the Vets and ask them, get her bloods checked etc. but I highly doubt it is a hormonal thing. Humping (either male or female) is usually a dominant/excited issue.

I have known a dog (ours) to hump the other dogs face, but a touch and a "aahh!" stops her and tells her this is unacceptable. She now very, very rarely ever tries to mount.

lilypiglet · 03-11-2010, 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elizabeth13

Lol. Sorry, had to have a giggle at that face bit..

Anyway.
You need to really take charge here. She sounds like she gets very excited (whether with anxiety or not) a hell of a lot. You are meant to tell her how high her levels of excitement should go.
She needs boundaries; so when she starts showing signs of getting excited you need to stop her mindset and stop that mood. A firm touch, or perhaps a noise (such as "oi" or clapping your hands together), to distract her from that escalation.

You can go to the Vets and ask them, get her bloods checked etc. but I highly doubt it is a hormonal thing. Humping (either male or female) is usually a dominant/excited issue.

I have known a dog (ours) to hump the other dogs face, but a touch and a "aahh!" stops her and tells her this is unacceptable. She now very, very rarely ever tries to mount.

Good advice.

Bad behaviour responds very well to the distraction technique.

Good Luck

P.S Please try and get a video of the face-hump, I know it's distressing to you, but I did have to have a little giggle also...

sarahjane · 03-11-2010, 20:00

I must admit that the first time she humped her own face I couldn't distract her for laughing!

I do always tell her 'no' as soon as she starts and then distract her by playing with a toy or something, but she just doesn't seem to get it.....and this has been going on for months!

She still can't help herself when she sees a foot!

Elizabeth13 · 03-11-2010, 20:07

I don't think distracting with a toy would quite work.
I think it sounds like you need to give her a firm touch, definitely stop her WAY before it escalates that far. Any signs of excitement or you know she is about to get excited (a person has knocked on the door/about to go for a walk) you must make her calm and/or wait till she is calm.

sarahjane · 03-11-2010, 20:11

A toy was just an example. I am very firm with her when it comes to the humping but i'm not having much luck.

Panthera · 03-11-2010, 21:18

lol would you have stopped humping if your parents brought out the presents everytime you did it...

sarahjane · 04-11-2010, 07:06

armchair dog - she is a dog so i can hardly sit down with her and talk to her about it. Distraction from negative behaviour and reward for positive is how I have been told by a few behaviourists to deal with it.
I was looking for suggestions, not criticism.

gina2007 · 04-11-2010, 09:07

Yep I had a lil giggle at it, sorry. I do know of another dog who backs up onto feet and sways side to side and stuff... its gross. They got her out of it by whenever she did it, just moving their feet and saying urgh really loud. I have no idea wrt her face though x

Ruffles · 04-11-2010, 17:52

If she is generally a stressy dog, I very much doubt it is anything to do with dominance or similar, she's probably just using it as a way to cope with stress.

Are you working with a behaviourist? If not, it might be an idea to before it becomes that ingrained it becomes a life long problem.

What breed is she?

pets@home · 04-11-2010, 17:57

Dont they say that a dog is only a reflextion of its owner lol ,show her a picture of me that will put her off pmsl

sarahjane · 04-11-2010, 21:35

She sees you most days Nigel and she's still doing it! lol