Hello,

I have an eight year old male labrador, he was castrated at around a year old. He has a good nature however has a tendency to mount other dogs, particularly other labs. It used to be only males but in the last few weeks he has not discriminated against females. I walk him daily, he has lovely long varied walks, either with a ball or through the fields. He will go months without trying to mount and then for a few days every so often will try it daily with different dogs. When I try to recall him when I see a dog approaching, he seems to turn a deaf ear. When I get to him I usually give him a firm no and put him on the lead and take him home.
Apart from the mounting he is generally a submissive dog, has never shown any other type of aggression, doesn't growl or bark at other dogs but I don't seem to get to the root of the problem with the occassional mounting.  I think his recall could do with some working on, is he too old for me to take to training classes? He has always been quite a social dog with other dogs, however he only see's other dogs when he's on a walk.
If anyone has any suggestions, they would gratefully be received. He really is apart from this a lovely dog and my children would love to walk him (they are teenagers) but realistically I wouldn't let them unless I knew the mounting had stopped.

Thanks,

Chris.

You need to teach him the meaning of "No" - he's at risk of being badly mauled if he tries it on the wrong dog or bitch.
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Hello Hethspaw,

Thanks for your reply. This is my concern, and also its not nice for the other dogs and owners. However in every other aspect he is very well behaved, the only time I need to tell him 'no' is when he is about to mount, which at that point due to the level of excitement - he doesn't listen.

Chris

How well is he trained ? Does he do ths when he is off leaf only or does he try it when he is on lead ?

This has nothing to do with aggression, he's doing it because he enjoys it. Rub any dog(or bitch)between the front legs on the chest & they almost 100% will enjoy the process, it's a built in instinctive behaviour. You can see tiny puppies humping each other in the whelping box.

He sounds to me that he needs to find you more rewarding than the mounting, which means training him to want to be with you rather than the other dogs.  It could also be he was castrated before he was fully mature & so is exhibiting puppylike behaviour

Shouting No will not stop him BTW, especially if you have to say it several times & get increasing annoyed with him
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Hi Tommee,

Thanks for your reply. He is generally very responsive to what I and my family ask. We've always kind of said that you only need to tell him something twice for him to learn - but with the mounting all sense seems to be cast aside. Don't get me wrong he doesn't always do it, we've been a lots of walks where he hasn't tried it. He is usually off the lead when he tries to mount, there is one dog (lab) that he has tried to mount while he was leaded, but this was obviously a lot easier to stop. He seems to particularly like other labs and big dogs, not at all interested in smaller dogs.

He does seem to do it more when we go to the local park, although I take a ball and 'flinger' or frisbee with me - which he loves, he will drop the ball/frisbee if he see's a dog that he likes. He seems to be a very social dog (apart from the mounting) and always wags his tail to greet other dogs and have and let them have a sniff. I always praise him when he has done this and walked away without humping.

I think you may be right Tommee, I need to work on trying to get him more interested in what I'm doing during the walk but am not sure how to go about this as I already use flinger etc. As he is a big dog I have always let him guide me how much he wants the ball throwing as if he is overflung he limps which I obviously try to avoid. It makes me think that maybe he is controlling the content of our walks rather than me. Any ideas, would be great?

Thanks again,

Chris

As he is a big dog I have always let him guide me how much he wants the ball throwing as if he is overflung he limps which I obviously try to avoid.

Hip dysplacia, to some degree or other, is rife throughout the breed, I understand 'why' your throwing it but to be honest it's better if you just roll it or adjust to some kind of technique where his movements are putting less persistant exertion on his hips, what to do instead I do not know but he's at an age now where he could end up with it becoming more & more painfull sooner than it would without the 'degree' of exertion running, stopping quite quickly & bending down etc puts on his hips, he aint no spring chicken anymore.
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You need some very high value rewards(ie food he only gets whilst out or in training-cooked chicken, cheese, sausage, liver/pilchard/sardine cake)& you need to teach him to watch you-giving you strong eye contact-away from distractions at first & once he has got the watch, then train outside with distractions on lead-starting at a distance & then slowly get closer, going back a step if he loses focus. Eventually you will have a dog who knows it s far more rewarding to be giving you attention than to go off after other dogs

Apologies for the delay in replying but have been offline. Thank you for your advice Tommee, previously when I have done training like that I have always ended up with using his standard treats, but makes much bettter sense to use something different and much more appealing! Will give it a go - thanks again.

Chris

Hi Hethspaw, thanks for your reply. I'm aware of hip dysplacia which is why I've always let him guide me and generally roll ball underarm to minimise his exertion, while still letting him do what he loves best.