Wondering if anyone can advise me what, if anything I should be doing in the following situation.
My Bichon puppy is now almost 7 months old. Once a month I take him to pets at home where thay have "puppy parties" when the shop closes, they lock the doors and then all the puppies are let off their leads to play and have a run around the store.

Tonight my boy would not stop trying to hump one of the female puppies. He just would not leave her alone......it didn't get nasty and occanionally she would turn and tell him off but then just jump on his back encouring him to play and run.............they did this for a while until once again he kept trying to mount her. He didn't try this with any of the other pups. Should we of been telling him to stop.......keeping them apart, or just let them get on with it. The little girl is only 14 weeks old. Any advice on this appreciated.

I am no expert, but I wouldn't just let him get away with it. I am sick to death of dogs humping my poor girl and I think if their owners had done more to stop it at a younger age then maybe they wouldn't have such a bad habit. I would put him on his lead when he starts doing it and distract him with a toy- mainly to break his train of thought. Obviously he is meant to be socialising so you don't want to make it a negative experience, but it really isn't nice for the other dogs. He may well grow out of it too, but why wait and see when you could gently show him it's not acceptable now. HTH.

I did put him back on his lead once and he was good as gold then, just walked around, had a quick sniff at any passing puppies etc. Soon as he was let off though it started again.  If I call him he comes back for a few seconds then ran off to her again. Me and the girls owner were talking and she wasn't sure what to do either so she suggested just leaving them as he did listen if the other dog turned and told him to back off.

little passionate man bless...best to just pop him on the lead as it can upset the owner of humped dog.
Stopping them from  doing any unwanted behaviors is the main thing you want him to learn. Whether it be your leg or cushion even.
I used to have to drag my boy off other males & females as they can get a right lock hold not nice for the other dog.

My Snoop had a metal frenzy over a 12 stone golden lab and would not stop for nothing! :-)

> My Snoop had a metal frenzy over a 12 stone golden lab and would not stop for nothing!

Oh my word!!! A 12 stone golden lab -wow!

yes I did feel very sorry for the love of Snoops life.
I did tell the lady owner about how grossly over weight her dog was but used to just giggle about it :-(

> I did tell the lady owner about how grossly over weight her dog was but used to just giggle about it

Thats' awful :( It really makes me cross to see fat pets. I am very vigilent with my dogs weight and get criticised for being too strict with treats (or lack of treats), far to many people put thier pets health at risk by stuffing them with food :(

Sorry to go off topic here.

The suggestion for distracting your dog with a toy sounds good :) Humping can be through through play, especially when they get too exited, so calming him down with a time out on lead may also do the trick. When my oldie got too exited playing with my pup he would hump him (both males, the oldie was neutered), I would just stop play untill he had calmed down.

that lab would weigh around 76kg??? i have to say maybe a slight exagerration! the heaviest i have ever seen was 55kg (8 and a half stone) and he was HUGE! very very overweight, owners used to buy him his own friday night chinese takeaway and he would have his own easter eggs :O ! they managed to get him down to 40kg, very well done to them.

OK so I don't know his exact weight maybe 10 stone...she told me that her vet had kept having goes at the owner.
I'm just saying he wasn't double the size of a normal lab.. he was 4 x the normal size of a lab.
poor thing walked funny and kept flopping down to sit as couldn't really manage the hill.

poor boy :(

What advice are you getting from the person running the puppy party? I would be wary of letting them all run free together a 7 month old pup and a 14 week old are very different. A lot of problems can be caused by uncontrolled play

None actually. To be honest I think I have more idea than they do. I only take him as at first it seemed like a nice idea.......where puppies could just run and play. The age and size difference is becomming a bit too much though. We have a tiny pomeranian there and also a 7 month old labrador.......who is naturally very boisterous. I may not take him anymore. The less opportunity he has to hump things and get over excited at this age may be for the best?

i have to say the thought of a bunch of puppies running around a pets at home scares me! my boy would have wrecked the place!

My friend has a 6 month old pup that is absolutely obsessed with humping anything at all and has been since he was very young. We were hoping he'd grow out of it, but there's no sign of that and it is getting to be a problem. We were considering the judicious use of a water pistol--he's not keen on water and it would certainly break his train of thought. I'd be interested in hearing what you all think--would it work, is it appropriate, am I being mean...?