My 1 year old Poodle has an embarassing habit, any tips?

Question

Okay sorry for writing a novel but I felt I needed to give you a clear picture of the situation so you can help me.

First off both my dogs are fixed. Zack the poodle was fixed at age 6 months and Sasha the Jack Russell Terrier mix was fixed at age 5 months.

Zack has been a little humpy lately. He used to be very humpy but in the last 3 months he hasn't humped once.

All the sudden he is doing it again. His humping used to be toward a human let, the bed post, the couch, a pillow. And well Sasha but she would always but him in his place.

Well now he has suddenly started back up he is on top of Sasha. On her back, on her head, flipping her on her tummy. Constantly trying to hump her. When he did this before she would fight him off, and when he started back up she would fight him off. Now when he tries (by the way he mostly humps the air) she just lays there and ignores him and chews her bone, or she just gets up and walks away without acknowleding him. I've gotten onto him several times for it in the past few days. He's been doing this more and more over the last 2 weeks. But he is starting to cut it out again

I'm wondering if it could be weather related (I know that is a stretch) but its been over a month since we had rain and now we are getting all this rain from tropical depression Fay and I was thinking maybe he sensed it and now that its raining (its been at its worse when it was raining) he is bored and has too much energy to expel but we can't go out and walk and play so he is finding other ways to expell that energy. I know its a stretch

Or is he just being a brat. Since we've been in the new apartment things have been great between them since they came in together (instead of the whole I was here first so I'm in charge kind of thing)

Could he be trying to prove dominance? I mean we have established with them that we are the alpha not them. But of the two dogs he is always trying to out do her. And yes she has a more dominant nature than him.

He is a very hyper dog and it seems like when they are playing he gets overexcited maybe over stimulated and he jumps her. And when we play with him if he gets excited he then still goes and jumps her.

Any tips for curbing this behavior?

(Again sorry for writing a novel, I felt I needed to give as much info on the situation as possible)

Answer 1

My 9 month female lab mix does the same exact thing... a little stranger though, since she's a female.  She only does it to her dog bed though so, it is a little more under control...  I wish I could help you but I don't have an answer for my "confused" dog...

Answer 2

Actually the problem is likely dominance.  Humping is almost always a dominance issue.  This is why you will see males humping males and females humping females.  

Our 5 month old golden was having this issue and the vet recommended a "pillow friend".  While you are dominant in the relationship with the pet, the pet still feels the need to be dominant over another (its a personality thing).  That could be another pet, the couch, a random stranger visiting (very embarrassing) in our case we gave him a pillow to go to town on.  Walmart carries "pet pillows" about $15 that worked great for us.  

He doesn't hump anything else and even the pillow humping has become fairly rare over time.  The vet said an easy way to tell if the humping is sexual is to look at the dog.  If its a male, they will have an erection during the humping if its of the sexual nature.  If its a female the humping is dominance only (think about it logically...they don't hump sexually)

EDIT:  He is probably only humping the one dog because that is his dominant object.  As referred above, our dog used a pillow instead.  Once he has found an object to dominate, it should satisfy his dominant need.  Thus is why we were reccomended to purchase the pillow.  It can easily be stored in a indiscriminent location and put away with company over to avoid the embarassment.  You can punish him for humping but he will likely just be confused as it is a natural behavior.  We found it less frustrating to channel the energy to what we considered an appropriate time and place.

Answer 3

writing novels is actually best. the problem is not dominance. the dog can possibly sense another dogs' heat. in the area u live. he is probly feeling very.... humpy, but all u can really do is spray "scat" or training spray on the things u DONT want him 2 hump. i.e. ur clothes, & ur bedpost, etc. he probly wont continue this on thru his life, its probly just a puppy thing hes going thru, sum do. but it will probly fade around the time of 2-3 years, if not 1-2 yrs.  

Answer 4

Some dogs just hump. Boy dogs and girl dogs do it. Keep telling him no. Push him off of her when he does it. Keep a close eye on them and correct him as soon as he starts to go for it, you will recognize the motions in the seconds before he actually does it sooon if you dont already.

It is also easier to prevent some behavior then try to correct it in the process. Like pillow and clothes.. keep them out of reach. Couches and bedposts (i cant help but laugh at that one) you can spray with chewing deterrent, it may work or put a scat mat near them.

As for the humans..i had to deal with this one too. Certain people there was no stopping it, he had to be in another room. But I kept working with him humping other things (mostly every dog he saw) and for a while he wore a leash when people came over so that I had controll.

He also had designated humpy toys...well if it was his he could go for it.

**add..he still does it to ther dogs but its when they start playing and he gets all excited. I just have to keep telling him no.

Answer 5

could be the change of moving, you said he's in a new apt?  Any type of change can reverse behavorial challenges that you thought you had overcome.  You can try spraying him with a water bottle, He can't associate the "punishment" with you though, so don't let him see you.  Do it from around a corner, etc.  If he only gets "punished" when you're around then he'll continue to do it.  So make sure you aren't visible to him and spray him when he does it.  He must associate the punishment with the action.

Yes Humping is also a way to establish dominance.  He must understand that you and your roommate are the "pack leaders" there are several exercised that you can do to reinstill this.  You may email me for more info.