We have a two year old bitch and recently brought home a male puppy, who is now 10 weeks old. They play together just fine, and the bitch has done a great job of being patient when he's a complete brat and then putting him in his place when he crosses the line. On the whole I've left them to establish their own relationship and have only had to break things up once or twice when I thought he might get accidentally hurt.

Over the last few days, he has started trying to mount her whenever she lays down. They're the same breed and she is about three times the size of him, and so it normally goes that he climbs on her back, spends about 10 seconds thrusting his groin somewhere around the middle of her spine, and then she turns around and either pushes him off or rolls over.

I checked a couple of websites and they all seemed to suggest that this was a normal part of the routine of establishing a hierarchy, and we should leave it alone. She doesn't seem to mind it, but what I don't want is for him to grow into a dog that will mount anything that stands still long enough. So should I leave him to growl sweet nothings into her ear, or should I break it up before he forms the habit and I have to prise him off the vicar's leg? I'm not worried about accidental matings, and he will be fixed once the time comes.

He's neither displaying s@xual behaviour nor trying to sort out a pecking order so you can relax :)  All pups do this on something or other, it's just another form of showing excitement and bitches do it as often as males :)

In a very short time he'll naturally stop doing this to her as at some point she will tell him off - should he start turning his attention to toys, cushions etc then simply distract him to prevent it becoming habit forming.  The vicar's legs are safe ;)

regards, Teri

Sorry, not constructive advice, but it did make the small child in me chuckle.

I have an 18 week old puppy bitch who has formed a similar "loving bond" with a cuddly rabbit toy.

The last bitch puppy I had formed the same loving bond with an Eeyore teddy about six times the size of her.  They are still very good "friends" to this day.

My dog puppy on the other hand is not the slightest bit interested....... hhhmmmm. :)

Our boy who is now 7 months has always tried to hump our girl if he saw the oppourtunity lol
As our girl is spade we can let him get on with it and she can teach him the rules of bondage and when enough is enough lol