Question about humping

[Miztiki]

I've always had females so I'm curious about this.

 

The other day I got a sheepdog stuffed animal (named Blue) that's big and floppy and furry. Fynne fell in love with that thing but Boy didn't seem all that interested.

 

A while ago I was playing with Boy on the floor and grabbed Blue to see if he'd play with it. Instead he humped it. Then, while we were wrestling and playing together on the floor, he tried to hump me. I made it clear he had better not ever do that again.

 

For those who don't know, Boy is neutered, at least 5 years old, and I've had him 3 years now. He's a naturally dominant dog but not the bully/cocky type that needs to prove himself. Any dog that tries to dominate him will quickly find itself pinned down on the ground. Boy humped a female in heat at the dog park once that all the dogs were humping. He also had this (submissive) male play buddy, and after playing once he stood there and let this dog hump him. At the time I was told that he's just comfortable in his own skin (and not gay :-) ).

 

That's his only humping/mounting history. He's never attempted to mount another dog other than that one female. He's never mounted Fynne either.

 

So why did he hump Blue? And why did he attempt to hump me? I don't understand why when he's never shown this type of behavior before. I'm not worried about it, I'd just like to understand the reason for the behavior. I like to understand canine behavior as much as I can.

 

I have been incredibly busy since I got to Michigan but things will slow down here real soon. I have so many things to tell you, and pictures and videos to post. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying your dogs!

[SincereArtisan]

Rune only attempted to hump once. A woman was visiting the dogs at our daycare, they were all excited, and Rune came up behind her 'humping' the air. I was shocked.

 

The hypothesis was there was too much activity and excitement, so much in fact that Rune felt the need to express herself in this manner.

[OffTopic]

Our 13 year old kees, Max, has always been a pillow humper.

Don't know why. It's the only thing we've ever seen him hump and he goes through cycles of pillow humping every 3 or 4 months.

No sofa pillow is safe around him then.

[aussiered]

Humping is a dominance behaviour, there's nothing else to it. Boy most likely see's the stuffed dog toy as another real dog and is just trying to prove his dominance.

[Bo Peep]

Usher used to hump the stuffed border collies when he was a pup. I finally had to remove them. He leaves them alone now. I think it was just simply getting excited during playtime and "seemed like the thing to do at the time" Men! I'll never understand them.

[sandra s.]

I have been incredibly busy

 

Could this be the reason? I ask because the very few times Kessie has attempted to hump me were always during end-of-semester last-minute studying sessions when she didn't get the exercise she needed.

After several days of too little exercise and too much boredom, she starts acting like a border collie (like J. Q. Public imagines a border collie, that is). At times like these she can get carried away during play fights and try to hump me simply because she doesn't know what else to do with herself. I don't believe it's always about dominance.

[Dixie_Girl]

Jackson has never humped anything or anyone. Skip has only humped Jackson. I yell, he stops. Toby, when he first got here, tried to hump everyone and everydog. He pretty much had quit there at the end. Cheyenne used jump on the bed and try to hump DH or my leg, but only when she came in heat. I always said that was her Mississippi leg dog came out! I think dogs hump for a variety of reasons, and dominance is certainly one of them. But some is just excitement. And who knows, maybe it just feels good! Or gives them comfort.

[Miztiki]

The dogs have been incredibly busy as well so I don't think it's that Sandra. They've been

 

I think he attempted to hump me because he had just got done humping "Blue" and he was having fun. It's inappropriate because I'm human but it's probably no different than that playmate of his humping him after a running and playing session. That dog most certainly was not showing dominance, any more than Fynne does when growling, biting, and chasing Boy while they're playing. My guess is that he was just expressing himself in a way that was inappropriate with a human because we were having fun playing and he just got done humping Blue.

 

Why he humped Blue though, I don't know. It just made me curious why he'd do that since he's not a humper. Men. Who can understand them?!

[bc4pack]

FWIW, humping tends to be an arousal sign and NO, not necessarily sexual in nature, not a "dominance" thing either. Over arousal (good / bad , a build up of energy/ stress) , regardless of the reason... Some dogs and many bitches will hump; some don't care if they are the 'humpee', some do.

Now if some dogs 'bully' other dogs continously by humping, that's one thing... Humping tends to be more uncomfortable

for us because of the sexual implication WE apply to it... it can be a very natural part of dog language.

[Kathy Chittenden]

Dominance - not!

 

Dogs hump because it feels good. My female Fenn will hump air while waiting her tennis ball to be thrown, she LOVES her tennis balls - LOL!

 

Jean Donaldson has a great article that I found about this behavior.

 

http://www.dogsincanada.com/Default.aspx?t...=64&iID=128

 

Kathy

[Carson Crazies]

I think you're right Miz - I think he was humping the stuffie, and you just happened to be nearby. It was inappropriate, but sounds to me like more of a case of "hey, this is fun... moving down the line...". As for why he humped the stuffie? I dunno... Bree gives her dog bed a nightly boffing (some days she's even a two a day girl!) and I think it's for no other reason than it feels good. *shrugs* It doesn't bother me much anymore except if she tries to do it when company is over. When company comes all humpable items are stashed away.

[Jim2000]

one of the funniest things i have ever witnessed was while i was stopped at a red light. and i looked over and there was this stray dog going to town on this 4 ft stuffed banana. I laughed so hard that the dog stopped what he was doing and just looked at me with a shameful look on his face. to this day i chuckle when i think of it.

[kcdawg]

Well, i dont believe it is entirely a dominance thing.

For instance, a female in heat lives very close and i know this is sexual behavior but this

is what my crazy home was like...

 

Casey was humping Wolfie, my toy poodle was humping my feet and Casey, Casey

was humping the poodle, the poodle tried humping Wolfie and Wolfie was dry humping

or also known as humping the air.

 

I was going insane!!!! Anyways, i know that all had to do with a female but their are a few times

when Casey humps Wolfie and really gets into it, until Wolfie boots him off!

 

Casey goes to town on dogs at the dog park too, and it sure dont look like a dominance thing to me

afterall, Casey has mated in the past and i know what that look is!