Dogs That Hump

Humping is one behaviour that many owners find extremely embarrassing and frustrating. Some dogs will hump anything they can get their paws on, whilst others prefer to be a little more selective and pray on the legs of your friends and family.

There is a lot of information out there on how to deal and eradicate this behaviour, with castration being one of them. I for one do not condone this as a solution. Whilst the production of testosterone falls dramatically after castration, it is still present to some degree and just because the animal is no longer able to reproduce, it does not remove the desire. This procedure also assumes that the humping is sexually driven, when this is not always the case. For some dogs humping is their go to behaviour if they’re feeling overexcited or overwhelmed by their environment, in which case castration would not have any impact and could make matter worse if that behaviour is anxiety driven!

Dogs need to be shown that humping their owners, visitors, furniture, toys, or other dogs, is not acceptable and I'm going to share with you a very simple, yet effective way to deal with this.

Next time your dog is humping, without saying a word, simple walk up to him, take him by the collar or put a slip lead over his head and lead him in another room, away from everyone else, and leave him their until he has calmed down. Once he has calmed down, you can let him back into the room and repeat if necessary. Dogs are social animals and do not want to be away from the rest of the household, so by putting him in ‘time out,’ he gets to make the connection between behaviour and outcome.

This simple, yet highly effective action, enables the dog to understand that there is a negative consequence to his actions, without the use of shouting, hitting, medication, gadgets and most important of all, without surgery!

I’m not saying that you should never castrate your dog, as there are some health benefits if you do not intend to breed. However, what I can’t condone is castration being used as a means of changing a dogs unwanted behaviour.

Behaviour needs to be changed in the mind, not in the nether regions!

If you wish to know more about canine behaviour and how I can help you, then please click on the following link: https://www.houndsnharmony.co.uk/canine-behaviour