... your dog tries to hump your leg? Nando very rarely mounts anyone or anything, but his hormones are definitely raging as he is constantly sniffing when on walks (I think there's an in season bitch that takes the same route as us at least in parts) and his 'bits' are in and out a lot.

At the minute every time hes tries it (which is still pretty rare!) I put him in his crate. We've literally never had a dog that tries to do this to any of us but I don't know what the best thing to do other than put him in his crate to show him that this is not acceptable behaviour. He is too big to do it to our legs so it's only ever when we're sat down that he tries it.

is it when you cross your legs? if so dont cross your legs

LOL- I would like to be able to cross my legs without being humped to death.. but no, it is just when we sit on the couch occasionally he will put his front paws on us for a fuss and then occasionally get too carried away. It's really not a 'problem' I just feel a bit mean correcting him for something he is probably just too young to control himself on. Part of it is that we have a recliner sofa and when we stick our legs out in front of us.

age?

Josh I think you are doing it the right way. Zero tolerance on humping from the start is the best way to make sure bad habits don't start. I followed that policy with all my entire males and have never had a serial humper.

What's he like otherwise?  Humping is not necessarily sexual, and the same is true of his 'bits' coming out - both can be sign of stress/anxiety.  Humping feels good so it's a good antidote to being worried!

I've not had a humper (at least, not of me) but if I did have; I would stand up, walk out and shut the door as soon as he tries.  No attention whatsoever (even putting him in his crate is giving him attention of a sort).

Also worth having a think if there's anything that might have worried him (noises outside, neighbours etc).

He's coming up to 11 months old.

Now you mention it, he could be slightly more stressed than usual at the minute as we're getting the garden done. There is a lot of comings and goings and as the whole garden is getting done, the patio area is now mainly rubble and so I suppose all of the familiar scents could be gone and he could be feeling a little bit insecure about that I suppose?

He is not very easily stressed out, and has been brilliantly socialised- both from the breeder and from ourselves. However I suppose because of his age it could be the cause of this occasional humping?

he is still a juvinile. i would not worry too much about it. when he does hump your leg, just get up and do somithing with him. training ect to take his mind of it. enjoy your baby, he wont be one very long!

I had a male that did this through excitement.  If the play got a bit much, he would start humping either other dogs or air-humping.  Could be that he is just really happy about getting your attention?  I think you are doing the correct thing with TO's and removing him from the situation.

A simple "no" or "pack it in" stops the one dog of mine that does it to me occasionally (through excitement, not sexual).

I have one Bearded Collie bitch that does this when she gets excited.  I say silly girl and give her a toy.  Then the behaviour stops.  It is not sexual - she is spayed.

I did think that the time out was the right way to cope with it, but I do second guess myself sometimes! Thanks for all your help.

Josh

i have only ever had it with my pug that passed away,he used to d it after his evening meal,or after a lng afternoon nap,i used to put him outside so i couldnt see !!!!!!!!

My little pom x does it occasionally too my gsd ! She yes she is spayed he is castrated and waits until he is lying down then does it to whichever bit of him she can get to in particular his head ! He just lies there

You do need to distract him when he starts. Telling him off could put him off any future stud work, if you intend to use him in the future, as you are teaching him that it is the wrong behaviour. A toy or a noise, just to take his mind off it, then followed by something nice to do (obviously not the humping ;-) ) is the best way to go.

I operate a time and place rule for humping.  Sometimes it's 'not now thank you', and other times it's 'not there'.  I don't expect they know the actual words but they generally know by my tone to move along...

'Not now' is rewarded by some other more interesting activity - i.e. distraction
'Not there/here' is rewarded by being allowed to continue in a new location.  For instance my youngest has a fleece fetish and if he gets overtired or over excited he comes over all unnecessary and is apt to retreat to bed to hump his fleece.  However, he sometimes likes to carry his fleece around and hump as he goes.  Not allowed   ...so he is asked to go back to bed.  He's pretty clued up and a stern look tends to be enough to send him packing, tripping over his fleece, and giving me 'looks' as he departs :)

If Nando's humping is down to tiredness then you could just pop him on a slip lead, give him a Kong to chew and encourage him to lie down nearby.  Youngsters often get a bit overtired and silly and humping is just another outlet for that.

Incidentally I have 2 entire males and one neutered one - my neutered boy always humps the others just before a walk, he never does it at any other time.  The two bigger boys always manage to look a bit surprised, like he's never done it before, daft pair

I'm not planning to use him for stud. Whilst he is a handsome dog, he's never been shown and hasn't done anything to prove himself as contributing anything to the breed so I don't feel I would breed from him.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I will try distraction. He doesn't hump anything other than occasionally our leg, and even then he sort of gets ready to mount rather than full blown humping so I think just throwing him a toy in the other direction will be fine.

Parry, you may not be wanting to use him (and I applaud you for making the decision) but there are other people out there who may want to know the answer and do intend to use their own dog, so I hope you don't mind my mentioning it.

I have 2 males, one has never tried to hump in all of his almost 10 years, except when he was actually allowed to mate a bitch. The other is nearly 8 months old and has just started to hump. I am distracting him with toys at the moment (tennis balls are a great favourite to chase) but it means I have to have one to hand all the time. :-) He just loves to play fetch. I can then do some extra training (sit, ive, that sort of thing) and he is then ready to settle down. Oh, and I have 2 bitches as well, so just waiting for the real fun to being. One is due in season next month. ;-)

Oh no, I'm all for all sorts of input and I hope that my thread can help others with the same problem. Don't worry at all about mentioning it- it was something I wouldn't have considered and it is good that you mentioned it for anyone looking at this thread with a similar problem.

my boy who is now 13m humps rather a lot when one of the girls is in season... if he does the occasional one at other times its usually to my OH or son when they return home from work... we just push him off and say no firmly although he isnt a serial humper as the one telling off usually suffices.