Hi everyone,
My rescue dog has now been here 4 months and things are generally going okay - except for his humping! I'm struggling to know how to deal with it.
He is 5yrs and neutered, but humping has been an issue since day 1. He is mainly fine and calm at home, apart from in two scenarios, in which his humping is a real issue, especially as he starts getting a bit aggressive if you try to remove him once he's 'underway':
1. When I am on the phone. He becomes alert as soon as he hears the phone ring. If I have enough time, I try to escape the room and shut him in! But sometimes I have to answer right away, then once he hears me talk, he's over to start humping me. Sometimes a simple body block/shift is fine, other times putting my arm out straight as a barrier between him and me works, but it is not always easy to manage this while being on the phone. I find this situation difficult as I am not always able to react quick enough because my attention is taken by the phone or the caller.
2. When visitors come round. He humps them, and if I try to remove him, turns on to me. And gets very mouthy/aggressive if you try to remove him. He bit my friend recently when she tried to get him off, not hard but she had a red mark. Since then (and I have a tiny house with paper thin walls where it isn't really possible or practical to remove him into another room entirely - especially as he tends to bark when shut out), I have been tethering him on a long lead to the kitchen table leg, and I leave him there while my visitors are around. After the initial excitement of their arrival with some howling/barking (I tell them to ignore him completely), he does settle and seems to accept being where he is - as long as he can see us. He is given rewards for being calm then. But I'm not sure this is an ideal way of managing this?
At the moment, my options feel fairly limited. Since he bit my friend, I'm not sure what else to do. It is impossible to manage this behaviour on a 'time-out' programme (ie. once he starts humping, remove him from the room for a few seconds and giving no attention while doing so), because he is extremely strong, gets a good grip, and gets VERY wound up and difficult to remove.
Just some other issues he has - regarding the phone, it does seem to upset him overall for some reason. The landline more so with its traditional ring. If I have ever left it to ring, he howls a lot and gets very worked up. But I get the impression that it is me being on the phone, talking, that seems to be the problem, as he will come over with humping objectives if I make the call, too, and he doesn't actually hear it ring. I do usually put him out of the room if I'm making a call, of course (though he barks whenever shut out from me).
Also, he barks at planes, once it gets to dusk and night! Since we live on a flight path - this is not an easy thing to deal with!
Since receiving help on this forum a while back, he has been sleeping on my bed at night. But is the right thing to do? He has started getting a bit grumbly with my partner when he stays, mainly if he has to move him to get in the bed, and also when my old girl of 13 comes up in the morning, he growls at her getting on the bed (she has to sleep downstairs because she snores so much! But she's allowed up in the morning).
Any ideas????
Really need help on humping behaviour!
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Butterflyist
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:04 am
Re: Really need help on humping behaviour!
Just a few thoughts...
Does he ever hump toys or his bed? If so, you might be able to get him a special 'humpy toy' and redirect him to it - or rather direct him to it if you think he might be about to hump you, and then praise him when he chooses the toy. I think for the phone you're going to work out some management technique, too. If you don't have an answerphone, you could get one and never answer the phone if your dog has access to you. You can let friends & family know that you won't be able to pick up the phone straight away but will ring them back.
Also, make sure that he's getting plenty of physical and mental exercise, as the less excess energy he has, the less he'll take it out on you or your friends.
Tethering him till he's calm when friends come round sounds like the best option to me. The most important thing is to stop the humping because the more he does it, the more it will be a habit - and the more he's in a position where he feels the need to show aggression, the more he'll do that too.
I wonder - could you spend a lot of time talking on the phone when there's no one there, throwing him treats while you're doing so? Eventually, you speaking on the phone will cease to be exciting. I think you'd have to be a good actor, though, as he may well be able to tell that your attention is different when speaking to a real person. And when the phone did ring, you'd have to pick it up as if nothing had happened, rather than reacting with body language that means 'Oh! The phone rang! I must answer it!' (Another reason for the answering machine.)
Personally I'd get him to sleep on a dog bed next to your bed if he's getting a bit grumpy about it at times. This might mean a few difficult nights as if he sneaks on and gets settled he might be difficult to move off again, but he should get the idea. How are you getting him to move when your partner stays over? You should aim to do this by command, not by physically moving him. If you haven't, teach him a good 'off' so you're able to get him off the bed without having to touch him. Then if you want to allow him on the bed, you can ask him to get off, your partner can get in, and then you can invite him on again.
Does he ever hump toys or his bed? If so, you might be able to get him a special 'humpy toy' and redirect him to it - or rather direct him to it if you think he might be about to hump you, and then praise him when he chooses the toy. I think for the phone you're going to work out some management technique, too. If you don't have an answerphone, you could get one and never answer the phone if your dog has access to you. You can let friends & family know that you won't be able to pick up the phone straight away but will ring them back.
Also, make sure that he's getting plenty of physical and mental exercise, as the less excess energy he has, the less he'll take it out on you or your friends.
Tethering him till he's calm when friends come round sounds like the best option to me. The most important thing is to stop the humping because the more he does it, the more it will be a habit - and the more he's in a position where he feels the need to show aggression, the more he'll do that too.
I wonder - could you spend a lot of time talking on the phone when there's no one there, throwing him treats while you're doing so? Eventually, you speaking on the phone will cease to be exciting. I think you'd have to be a good actor, though, as he may well be able to tell that your attention is different when speaking to a real person. And when the phone did ring, you'd have to pick it up as if nothing had happened, rather than reacting with body language that means 'Oh! The phone rang! I must answer it!' (Another reason for the answering machine.)
Personally I'd get him to sleep on a dog bed next to your bed if he's getting a bit grumpy about it at times. This might mean a few difficult nights as if he sneaks on and gets settled he might be difficult to move off again, but he should get the idea. How are you getting him to move when your partner stays over? You should aim to do this by command, not by physically moving him. If you haven't, teach him a good 'off' so you're able to get him off the bed without having to touch him. Then if you want to allow him on the bed, you can ask him to get off, your partner can get in, and then you can invite him on again.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Re: Really need help on humping behaviour!
You need some good management strategies and non confronational ways of dealing with various issues.
So - when guests come over, leash and muzzle him using a basket style muzzle (as dogs can still nip in the fabric ones, but can't pant freely which is dangerous). Get some cheese spread that comes in a tube to use as your reward and basically prevent him humping and reward ANYTHING else. Getting a big stuffy for him to hump is a good idea too, I would definitely do this because though I suspect in part theres an attention seeking element, there is also likely an anxiety based need to do this.
For the phone thing, presuming you have both a mobile and a landline - you can then use your own phone ring tone to trigger a reward and what you need to do is make your phone ring and throw him a BIG handful of rewards as it does so.
Obviously as you are calling yourself you are totally in control of how long the phone rings for, where you are when it does, and you won't be answering it, so theres no rush or panic there.
During this training phase I would ask people to text you or leave a message and wait for you to call them back (then you can go outside and call from a mobile phone again without any rush or panic).
So now phone ringing means treats, and does NOT mean you talking and thus removes the opportunity for mega attention seeking by humping.
The next stage would be to do 'fake' talking on the phone with no one there, so again you are totally in control and you can distract him wtih treats, present him with his own humpy toy without worrying about seeming rude during a conversation.
For the issue with the bed - I think I would crate him beside the bed ideally, if that isn't possible then the next best option is to IMMEDIATELY get OUT of the bed and leave the room the second he starts being growly, the lesson being 'if you are narky about our bed, I will leave' - since he is likely being narky in part because you are his best resource and he does not want to share, this is the last thing he wants, but is not confrontational (as long as you don't have to move him to get out).
I would use the same response if he resource guards you anywhere else too, get up and walk away - don't tell him off or anything, if you must say something use a disappointed 'ohhhh too baaaaad' sort of tone.
Also prepare yourself for any and every incident where he DOESN'T growl and guard you, to start with it might be that the other dog is right across the other side of the room, but reward very well EVERY time he and she are in the same place, without incident, make it REALLY good for her to be around.
He may also be worried that she might jump on or land on him so organising your room so that this is not possible might really help matters.
After that - make sure he is getting the physical and mental exercise he need and that you keep stress levels as low as possible, things like blocking views of busy streets, providing more than one waterbowl, feeding in separate rooms etc can REALLY make a surprising difference even if you thought these things (and they are just examples there could be other things) didn't cause a real problem.
So - when guests come over, leash and muzzle him using a basket style muzzle (as dogs can still nip in the fabric ones, but can't pant freely which is dangerous). Get some cheese spread that comes in a tube to use as your reward and basically prevent him humping and reward ANYTHING else. Getting a big stuffy for him to hump is a good idea too, I would definitely do this because though I suspect in part theres an attention seeking element, there is also likely an anxiety based need to do this.
For the phone thing, presuming you have both a mobile and a landline - you can then use your own phone ring tone to trigger a reward and what you need to do is make your phone ring and throw him a BIG handful of rewards as it does so.
Obviously as you are calling yourself you are totally in control of how long the phone rings for, where you are when it does, and you won't be answering it, so theres no rush or panic there.
During this training phase I would ask people to text you or leave a message and wait for you to call them back (then you can go outside and call from a mobile phone again without any rush or panic).
So now phone ringing means treats, and does NOT mean you talking and thus removes the opportunity for mega attention seeking by humping.
The next stage would be to do 'fake' talking on the phone with no one there, so again you are totally in control and you can distract him wtih treats, present him with his own humpy toy without worrying about seeming rude during a conversation.
For the issue with the bed - I think I would crate him beside the bed ideally, if that isn't possible then the next best option is to IMMEDIATELY get OUT of the bed and leave the room the second he starts being growly, the lesson being 'if you are narky about our bed, I will leave' - since he is likely being narky in part because you are his best resource and he does not want to share, this is the last thing he wants, but is not confrontational (as long as you don't have to move him to get out).
I would use the same response if he resource guards you anywhere else too, get up and walk away - don't tell him off or anything, if you must say something use a disappointed 'ohhhh too baaaaad' sort of tone.
Also prepare yourself for any and every incident where he DOESN'T growl and guard you, to start with it might be that the other dog is right across the other side of the room, but reward very well EVERY time he and she are in the same place, without incident, make it REALLY good for her to be around.
He may also be worried that she might jump on or land on him so organising your room so that this is not possible might really help matters.
After that - make sure he is getting the physical and mental exercise he need and that you keep stress levels as low as possible, things like blocking views of busy streets, providing more than one waterbowl, feeding in separate rooms etc can REALLY make a surprising difference even if you thought these things (and they are just examples there could be other things) didn't cause a real problem.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
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Butterflyist
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2012 3:04 am
Re: Really need help on humping behaviour!
Thank you both so much, some good ideas there to try.
He never humps anything else - he used to try with my other dog (and very, very occasionally still does) but she ends it with one, short snarl and that's that! There has been 2 occasions he has turned to the cushions on the sofa, when he has tried and failed with me/the other dog, but that's it. I'm not sure the toy strategy may work so I will look at the other ideas more so, but will see if I *can* encourage him to gear his energy to a toy. I definitely think his behaviour is more anxiety-related and attention-seeking.
My old girl is generally top dog, and I do have to guard his food from her while they eat - so maybe the growling at her in the morning is partly because he feels at that moment he can get away with it, but I do think he is also worried she might jump on him as she has done that in the past. I may try feeding them separately.
I will get a muzzle for guest occasions, and try all the controlled training with the phone - the ring tones triggering rewards sounds good, as he is very food motivated. It would be a relief to sort this for sure, the amount of times people on the other end have had to hear me wrestling with him is untrue! I've actually just had to tell them my dog is humping me!
A crate in my room may be the way forward for night-time. A friend said I could borrow one to see how it goes, so we will try that.
Will let you know how we get along!
He never humps anything else - he used to try with my other dog (and very, very occasionally still does) but she ends it with one, short snarl and that's that! There has been 2 occasions he has turned to the cushions on the sofa, when he has tried and failed with me/the other dog, but that's it. I'm not sure the toy strategy may work so I will look at the other ideas more so, but will see if I *can* encourage him to gear his energy to a toy. I definitely think his behaviour is more anxiety-related and attention-seeking.
My old girl is generally top dog, and I do have to guard his food from her while they eat - so maybe the growling at her in the morning is partly because he feels at that moment he can get away with it, but I do think he is also worried she might jump on him as she has done that in the past. I may try feeding them separately.
I will get a muzzle for guest occasions, and try all the controlled training with the phone - the ring tones triggering rewards sounds good, as he is very food motivated. It would be a relief to sort this for sure, the amount of times people on the other end have had to hear me wrestling with him is untrue! I've actually just had to tell them my dog is humping me!
A crate in my room may be the way forward for night-time. A friend said I could borrow one to see how it goes, so we will try that.
Will let you know how we get along!
Re: Really need help on humping behaviour!
Glad to have given you some practical stuff - regarding the reducing stress by feeding separately - its funny how we are really quite aware that stress adds up in our OWN lives, for example, stressful day at work and you are more liable to snap at someone at home - but we forget this also applies to our dogs. I definitely think you will see some improvement in splitting them up to feed (and for the training sessions with the phone, shut her somewhere else with something fun to do, that way you can treat-bomb so its super rewarding super fast (treat bomb just means lob a handful on the floor!)
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant