We've been thinking about getting our black lab castrated recently.

He's currently 19weeks old. Which I know is too early. But after reading another post in the forum i'm not sure what to do now.
He's a very randy pup ... will 'hump' every bitch he comes near. He 'humps' teddies and even my daughter! He's been like this or a while now.

While we dont have any other dogs in our house ... we visit my partners parents house for weekends ... who also have a black lab, who is a 2 year old bitch. Our pup has a field day with her every time we stay. She isn't neauterd and they aren't looking to breed her either.

Advise and thoughts please?!

Opinions vary greatly on when to neuter - and even if to neuter at all.  At the moment his hormones will be running riot.  If he were mine I would allow him to grow up physically and mentally before I came to any decision.

Debs

Also humping is not always about sex, after all human babies and toddlers also m*strub*te and it is not sexual per se.  I know more spayed bitches that hump than any other dogs.  In dogs it is often about assertiveness in adults and over excitement in puppies.  I have had 4 week old pups do it.

I won't advise on neutering as it's a personal decision, but I will suggest teaching your puppy an off command. My dogs learn that off means get off what you're on whether it's the sofa or another dog. While I let my two get on with things in their own house as they must sort out their own pecking order I don't feel any dog should have to put up with being mounted by strange dogs when it's trying to have a walk (and it's a good way for him to get nipped a lot) Your daughter shouldn't have to put up with it either. Puppies do get excited and goodness knows mine thought he was a jockey - he tried to ride everything. But if he starts up I tell him off and he stops. (Better still is if I see him eye up another dogs rear end I can tell he's thinking about it - then he gets a warning) If he doesn't comply immediately I go clip his lead on and remove him from the situation (at home I'd send him out of the room). His littermate lived in the neighbourhood and was left unchecked. When he came on the field people would actually leave so I'm glad I taught him some manners. It is normal behaviour but I think it is also controllable.

Again, I won't advise on neutering, but if you are doing it soley to stop your dog humping, it almost certainly won't work. My friend has a 4 year old Dalmation that is neutered and it humps everything is sight!

He might still just grow out of it, but it certainly won't hurt to teach him a command such as 'off' or 'stop' as Lori has suggested.

Hi
I would suggest that the humping is becoming a learned behaviour and is not overtly sexual.  Therefore you need to gain control and teach what (if anything!) you are prepared to allow him to hump.  In my house people (and especially children), other dogs etc are OUT OF BOUNDS.  Fortunately, I don't have the problem at all now, but when my male was c. 10-12 months he was allowed a hump cushion and that was it.  :-)  Eventually they CAN learn to control and manage their hormones.  However, at 19 weeks your pup is SO young and is needing direction from you as to what is socially acceptable behaviour and what isn't.

I am suprised that the lab bitch is not telling him to 'get lost' or words to that effect............assuming that she is not in season that is.

Focus on all aspects of your training...not just the humping......if your pup is looking to you for direction in other areas, then it will be more natural for him to accept direction in this.

My old dog is 14 yrs now, we got him when he was 4. He was an awful 'humper', visitors legs, our legs, the kids, nothing was safe - he would even drag the cushions off the sofa & hump them. We had him castrated when he was 7, but that alone didn't stop him humping. We discovered that his humping was mostly a dominant thing and the rest of the time just for 'fun'.
At the time we were stupid enough to think that this behaviour was funny and never really did much about it at first, infact I'm ashamed to say we actualy encouraged it. It was his 'party trick', if we pointed at something and said 'humpy humpy', sure enough he would go hell-for-leather on it.
But by simply by stopping him when he tried to hump things we sorted it out. Occasionally (even at his ripe old age) if he gets really exited, ie. the kids are running around like loonies shouting & screaming, he still will try and hump his bedding.
At your pups age, it shouldn't be to hard to get him out of this habbit. As other have said, it's not neccessarily down to sex drive or domminance, exitement can be enough. But it is best to start to curb this now.

Oh dear our 9 week old pup loves humping and we just kill ourselves laughing as he is so little it is very funny. Best start telling him to stop before it becomes too much of a habit! :)