[BruceUK]

Alfie is nearly 8 months now, and he's always been super excited about being with other dogs. We went away for a couple of days and left him with a home boarding family. They told us when we picked him up that he's a lovely dog when he's alone with them, but that when other dogs are around he was constantly trying to hump them. They have an older chocolate lab, and apparently she told him off constantly for about 3 hours then eventually gave up, so they had to separate them in the end just to give her some peace.

We've pretty successfully trained him to stop doing it with people, but there are limited opportunities with other dogs, and I don't really know how to go about trying to really, he's so excited it's just about impossible to get his attention.

He's getting neutered on Friday, not because of this but can we expect that to help? Is there anything we can do training-wise, or is it simply a question of waiting for him to grow out of it?

 

[Loki Love]

He's getting neutered on Friday, not because of this but can we expect that to help? Is there anything we can do training-wise, or is it simply a question of waiting for him to grow out of it?

Neutering may help, but I wouldn't rely on it completely. Training wise - you need to do what you did with people. When you see him humping, you stop him from doing it so he learns it's an inappropriate behaviour (plain rude actually!). He may try it on the wrong dog one day and really end up suffering because of it :/

 

[odiesmom]

Neutering will probably help but its more a show of dominance than anything.

 

[Loki Love]

Neutering will probably help but its more a show of dominance than anything.

Actually, that's somewhat of a myth. This is a great article that breaks it all down : http://dogtrainer.quickanddirtytips.com/humping-mounting.aspx

 

[EdDTS]

Neutering will probably help some, but don't expect it to be magic and fix everything.
I have an intact dog and he never has humped anything if I didn't say it was okay.
If he humps another dog, grab him by the collar and pull him to the side off then relax. Don't just say OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF for 3 hours like the boarding people were doing.
Now this part is where timing comes in, I noticed with my own dog, when he is getting the urge to hump he'll start sniffing and get real focused on the male/female and his back legs begin to twitch a bit, and the second I see that twitch I say HEY! in a firm serious voice.
You need to learn what your dog does in the seconds before he goes to hump another dog, and before he does it, do a verbal correction. If your dog understands NO then use NO. If your dog understands WOOOOMBAJAZZ then by all means. I never used NO with my dog, just HEY! because it always got his attention.
You'll probably make a few mistakes, but just pull your dog off and relax, and try to learn your dogs signals that he's about to hump.

There is also excited humping, my dog has had a couple of these in the past, primarily with males, over dominance. Just pull him off, relax him and the other dog, and once they have both reached a calm, not excited state, let them go meet each other. This waiting for calm, energy lets them know that being excited doesn't get them anywhere. It also will keep your dog calm enough so you can read those signals your dog gives before he humps and you can give a verbal correction. Remember after a certain point, a dog is so excited and fixated he doesn't hear verbal corrections anymore, so you have to make sure you keep him in a more calm, relaxed state.
It's kinda late for me, so I apologize if I don't sound 100% on the ball like I usually am. If you need anything clarified let me know.
Good luck!

 

[BruceUK]

Thanks all. Certainly not expecting the neutering to be a magic bullet, but figured the reduction in testosterone would have to have some effect! We certainly don't let him get away with it, so we'll keep it up. Distraction and redirection are all well and good but we don't get so many chances to train it as everything else so I guess it'll be a job for the long haul.

The boarders weren't the ones telling him off, it was the other dogs, but he's not reading the signals as yet. This is his first time boarding and the only time he's off the lead with other dogs so it's not been a problem before, maybe simply because we haven't let him get that over excited around them.

 

[hanksimon]

He has learned to hump... sounds like he humps both male and female dogs ? Do not expect that to change after neutering. Instead, anticipate it.
1. Teach him a very good Sit.
2. When you see that he has that 'amorous' look in his eye, tell him Sit. repeat if needed.
3. Once he starts humping, you have to remove him , and ask him to Sit.

 

[BruceUK]

Thanks for the advice, it is generally what we're doing but the restrain, wait for relaxation part was new. On a walk with his 'girlfriend' today we went through the process a dozen or so times whenever they both got over excited and it seemed to gradually settle them both. We'll keep working on it along with all the other self-restraint exercises we do.

It's any dog, and is born of excitement I think, if he gets too hyped up by a guest at home he'll do the same thing. Other dogs are just about the most exciting thing on the planet.

 

[volito]

Good advise above all I can add is: keep at it it sounds like the dog is getting to arroused "excited by his enviroment" and causing the humping which is his way to deal with it ! keep at it teach him a new behavior to deal with excitement and trianing to help control his impulses....example get a toy when guest come .....keep training so gog can control his impulses around distarctions....keep socialising...

copulation, aroused, excitement from play, controlling another dog is reasons why a dog humps...