I recently had a small gathering at my house and was horrified when my dog decided to show a particular infatuation for one of my house guests. Yes, he had fixated not on another dog, but an unsuspecting human guest, whom he became obsessed with humping. It may not always be necessary to stop a dog from humping, but in this case it most definitely was!
Dogs hump humans, dogs hump other dogs, dogs hump pillows, toys, blankets, children, air…..I’ve pretty much heard it all. It’s joked about in conversation, but when it is actually occurring, and it is your dog that’s in action, it can quickly become an embarrassing, and uncomfortable, situation!
Why Does My Dog Hump Everything?
- Sexual Behavior: Although dog humping is not always sexual in nature, it certainly can be. It is also a very natural, and expected behavior, albeit not always a welcome one.
- Overexcitement: Suppose your dog knows you are about to present him with a favorite toy, or he hasn’t been well socialized with other dogs and you take him to a dog park for the very first time. Situations like this can sometimes cause a dog to become overexcited and those emotions are displayed through humping. Oftentimes this is the cause of a dog humping a guest who comes to visit, or a child who is at play.
- Stress: For the dog who tends to hump everything, from objects, to nothing but air……most likely it is an outlet for stress.
- Social Status: Some dogs may hump other dogs to display dominance, in contrast, a more submissive dog may hump to find his place, or figure out his rank among other dogs. Either way, some dogs don’t like to be humped, and dog owners should beware as this is where the behavior can cause dogs to fight.
- Compulsive Behavior: If your dog humps once or twice per day, this is normal behavior, and you can dismiss it as such. But if your dog displays the behavior to excess, and to the point you feel it effects his happiness and overall quality of life, then steps should be taken to curtail it.
- Medical Issue: If your dog humps often, licks or bites at himself too much, or rubs against objects, it may be a sign of a medical issue. Possible medical conditions could be a urinary tract infection, urinary incontinence, priapism, or skin allergies.
How Can I Stop My Dog From Humping?
Remember, it is a natural behavior for a dog and is not always a bad thing. If your dog is only humping occasionally, and not a person, or harassing a particular animal, it’s okay, and you can choose to leave him be. But, if it becomes a bothersome behavior, or even compulsive, you will want to take a closer look and determine the cause in order to correct it.
The most ideal scenario is to stop this behavior in a dog as soon as it starts. However, if you are beyond that point, there are a few things you can do.
- Neutering/spaying: Humping is a behavior shared by both male and female dogs, and can sometimes be minimized once a dog is neutered or spayed. However, it does not make the behavior completely go away.
- Distract your dog: When the behavior begins, redirect your dog to a more appropriate behavior. Anything will do, give him a chew toy, throw a ball, have him perform a trick, give him some exercise, whatever activities you normally do with your dog.
- Use a command: It is okay to tell your dog “No!”, and to pull him away. If your dog knows the word “leave it”, you can use that. You can also use “sit” or “down”, or any other command that ensures he cannot continue with what he was doing. In the case of my dog’s one-time humping behavior with our unsuspecting house guest, I chose to temporarily put a leash on my dog so that I could gently tug him away as I gave a command. This way I didn’t have to hover over my guest, and luckily, after a few redirects, my dog seemed to quickly lose interest.
- Remove your dog from the situation: If your dog is relentlessly returning to his behavior even after your attempts to get him to stop, then try removing him from the situation completely. If you are indoors, move him to another room. Let him return after a few minutes and see if the behavior stops, repeating the process if needed. If you are in a setting with other dogs, such as a dog park, you may need to leave for the day as this is a behavior that can start fights with other dogs. In addition, I have seen other dog owners become highly upset when another dog mounts their dog, although most understand this is typical dog behavior that can happen in such settings.
- Find the source of stress: If you suspect that stress may be the cause, attempt to pinpoint the source so you can reduce, or eliminate it from your dog’s life. Look for things such as conflicts between animals in your household, a new animal in the household, a family member harshly punishing your dog, a drastic change in routine, a move to a new home, separation anxiety, etc.
- Do not punish your dog: Getting angry, yelling, or harshly punishing your dog in any way will never work in your favor. These methods will only confuse your dog, put him under additional stress, and will not be effective in correcting the behavior.
For a dog who has developed compulsive humping behavior, or who gets aggressive when you try to stop him from mounting other people or dogs, I would suggest you obtain the help of a certified animal behaviorist, or dog trainer with expertise in this area.
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hey this is a really helpful website for anyone who has a dog and you have a really nice design which makes reading everything very easy.
I never really knew you could stop a dog from humping everything. I just kind of thought it was something you just hope you didnt see.
The advice you give is very practical though and you do a good job explaining why a dog wants to hump everything.
Thank you so much for the info.
Hi Dylan,
Ideally it would be nice to never have to deal with this issue……but dogs will be dogs! Thanks for your comment. 🙂
I completely agree with this 100%!! It all comes down to training at an early age. I absolutely hate it when I go to the dog park and the then some other dog starts humping my dog. My dog then quickly gets annoyed and attacks the dog. To top it all off, the owner thinks its normal and then yells at me like it’s my fault his dog got attacked. I don’t even go to dog parks unless they’re empty.
Hi James, I can see where you would be frustrated, although humping is a natural dog behavior some dogs just don’t respond to it very well (can’t say I blame them, lol). Dog owners should be carefully monitoring their dogs at the dog park, and in particular when there are behaviors that have potential to start fights, but unfortunately I know this isn’t always the case. Going when it is less crowded does seem to cut back on issues.
I found this article to be helpful. The layout is super cute and easy on the eyes as well. I have 2 pits 1 female and 1 fixed male. My female is forever humping my male. Like seriously all the time. I have tried serveral different ways to try to get her to stop with no sucess. I am going to try the tips you suggested the next time she does. Thanks for the information!
Thanks Barbra, I’m glad you found this helpful and hopefully it will aid in your dog’s incessant humping!
Thanks for the help!
We just got a 1 yr old beagle who was fixed at the beginning of the month, and apparently her hormones are still on a roller coaster, because she humps me every chance she gets (never my husband though, which makes me a little angry :P)! It gets me so frustrated that, I admit, I’ve yelled trying to get her to stop.
I’ll definitely try using some of your tips going forward (along with hoping that the hormones die down after a while)!
Hi Kallie,
Oh no, seems your husband got the lucky end of the deal. Let me know how things work out! 🙂
I used to do dog minding and a thoughtless owner left his mini pinscher female and basset hound – also female with us for two weeks. As he left he tossed in the information that the mini pinscher was coming into heat and might be a bit ‘affectionate’. Well the min pin constantly rode the basset like a tiny jockey. At first we just thought it was quite funny but then it became constant from the moment she woke till she got too tired to do it anymore. The basset was copping the pestering all day long. Couple times the basset turned and told her off but it did not deter her for long. That and putting her butt in the basset’s face at every opportunity. I think it was extremely rude of this guy to leave his two unfixed dogs with us and I had never seen anything like it. I felt so sorry for the basset but did not want to make a big deal of it as the poor dogs had already been shunted from pillar to post being moved around amongst different carers as this guy was in the middle of marriage break up and could not be home all the time to take care of his dogs. I really think all the moving around added to the stress for these two dogs as they also messed in the house overnight (they were both used to a doggy door at the usual carers place – she was away and could not take them). It was a very difficult and trying two weeks. I don’t think in that instance it would have made much difference whatever we did to deter her. She was extremely determined. I think the little dog would have a happier life if she were fixed.
Yikes! What a tough 2 weeks, and I’m sure not what you expected to be getting yourself into! No doubt not being fixed, stress from being moved from place to place, and lack of training all played a part. I sure hope the owner eventually took responsibility by getting the dogs fixed and the issue resolved! Poor pups, neither one of them could be happy like that.
I have two Jack Russell’s, both 8 years old and sisters from the same litter. Daisy has just had her season and gone through the humping cushions phase at the end, then stopped. Poppy hasn’t had a season, not for over five years now, but, she has begun humping our 1 year old Tom cats at every opportunity! They just allow her to, don’t attempt to get her off them at all! We had our last JR “done” and it didn’t stop her doing it, if anything she was worse! But with her it was human legs
Wow, it’s surprising that the cats allow it! Dog humping can be a tough thing to stop in some dogs since it’s such a natural behavior for them. Great example of how they hump anything…cushions, cats and human legs!
How would you feel if someone reprimanded you for humping.
I feel that you haven’t read the article in its entirety. It states that humping is a natural behavior for a dog and it is fine to leave him be, UNLESS the dog is harassing a particular animal, a person, or the dog is doing it out of stress and it becomes compulsive. Reprimanding a dog in every instance is not recommended.
sad that there are ads below for shock training collars. If i wouldn’t use it on a child, I wouldn’t use it on my pet.
My dog is 5 and he’s been neutered at early age. He likes to hump me….the only female in the house…..and only sometimes. is he picking up on my hormones?
I just got a pit terrier from a rescue. We’ve only had her 2 days so I know that’s not long but she won’t stop humping specifically my mom because she’s too weak to make her stop. My sister and I were strong enough to make her stop so she doesn’t try with us. My dad came to visit to introduce his dog and she immediately mounted him starting a fight. We had to keep her on a leash the whole visit because she wouldn’t leave him alone. She also tried jumping my dad. We tell her “no”, we tell her “sit”, we leash her, and pull her away. She was fixed a week ago and I know she has had puppies.