Puppies
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3 month old male mouthing and mounting/humping
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3 month old male mouthing and mounting/humping
Brainstorming…3 month old male German Shepherd. Over the last week or so, he has started to mount/hump and mouth, a majority of times, only me. If removed and corrected verbally, he’ll respond with some barks and try again. It’ll happen occasionally when he plays, but mainly on a walk, and doesn’t seem to matter if he’s in a new place or familiar location. Re-direction works sometimes, but it seems to have not actually extinguished the issue. I can only figure it’s involving excitement and a desire for interaction, as rude as it is.
Any tips or drills for this? Besides re-direction, or removal of all social interaction as a form of correction, or an actual correction (i.e. leashpop, etc)?
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5 Replies
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I would test the idea he’s wanting interaction. I would try to catch him just before he starts the behavior, when he’s thinking about it, and then give a sit command. As soon as he sits I would bust out a tug and play with him for a little bit. If it has already happened, then while he’s doing it I would say “no” and just sort of push him off with my hand or a little bit of leash pressure, but not a pop. As soon as he stops even for just a fraction of a second I would say “yes” and bust out the tug. The idea is that he will start to associate sitting with getting to play, or, more generally, good manners with getting to play. He’ll also learn that being annoying and humping is definitely not the way to play. If he’s wanting interaction then I think finding a way to give him that while using it as an opportunity to teach him how to behave nicely is a good approach.
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Update…Did some re-direct and OB exercises, being cognizant of his puppy-brain thresholds. Didn’t seem to matter much. But, noticed the humpty-humps were occurring more towards when he did or about to do a bowel movement. At the time, he was being treated for testing positive for Giardia. As the treatment progressed, the humping decreased. Go figure….
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Good reminder to always consider medical / health related issues when there is a behavioral problem! Glad it is resolving.
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My boys both hump, usually over over excitement tbh like exited to see someone or get a fav toy, they tried to hump us, we just pushed them off & said no & do the same if they mounted each other.
They still do the motion sometime but it’s air humping…the butt just goes.
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Thanks! He’s 6 months old, today…Humpty humps are just about gone. The occasional flare uop happens, but it’s without much intensity, and easily dealt with.
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