Humping issues!

[ziddy]

Hi, I just bought a 3 year old old tyme bulldog, I have owned boxers before this but my last one died about a year ago and I decided I wanted to get another dog but different breed. I did not want a puppy so I decided on an older dog. Anyway, I found a lovely 3 year old bulldog. He is great in every way apart from jumping up at people when they have something in their hands, counter surfing for food and trying to hump people when you are low down, when I mean low down I mean if you get down to play with him, or you are bending down looking in the kitchen cupboard. He has not been fixed and I was wondering if there is a dog in heat in my street that he can smell.I have only had him a week and I am hoping this is just him being anxious in his new surroundings. I am trying to train him to stop him doing these things by giving him a firm sit command and rewarding when he does or just leaving the room and saying no firmly when he tries to hump people. I have had limited success, though I will keep trying as its still early days. I am just a bit concerned he tries to hump my 10 year old son, as the dog is very heavy and powerful when he does it. Of course they are never alone together so it should not happen but I want him trained to make sure it never gets a chance to happen. Apart from the jumping he is a great dog tbh, never barks or cries, great on the lead and off the lead he gets 3 30 minute walks a day, house trained very food orientated and knows basic commands like sit, paw, stay. Also he has not lay in his bed since he came to my house, he just pulls the cover of and lies on that in the middle of the floor. Anyway any one have similar experience with the mounting and how they stopped it

 

[Manydogs]

My advice would be to have him castrated. Every dog I have had in my lifetime has been "fixed". If he is going to be your pet, then there is no reason not to . Then you can begin training him NOT to hump. Some times it is a dominance thing, and sometimes it is a sexual thing. Either way, it will take a little time, but you can do it! You need to be the dominant one in his eyes, not him .

 

[Cbrugs]

Get him neutered.

 

[ziddy]

My advice would be to have him castrated. Every dog I have had in my lifetime has been "fixed". If he is going to be your pet, then there is no reason not to . Then you can begin training him NOT to hump. Some times it is a dominance thing, and sometimes it is a sexual thing. Either way, it will take a little time, but you can do it! You need to be the dominant one in his eyes, not him .

Thanks, I am planning on doing that. I hope that and training will solve the problem.

 

[anatess]

All my male dogs are not neutered.

I had a female bulldog (pictured on my profile) who humped people and other dogs. She was also going on 3 years old when I adopted her. This was hilarious because she was the only female dog in a 3-dog household.

If your dog smells a female in heat and gets triggered, he will not be trying to hump you, he will bark and whine and try to find a way to get to the female all day long.

Anyway, humping outside of sexual opportunity is a dominance behavior. Your dog needs to be taught that all the humans in his life are a higher order dominance than he is. This is very important because the people he humps will be the people he will not feel the need to obey at all times. So yes, at 3 years old, this will be a much tougher training challenge than if he was a puppy. But the way you describe him, it looks like you are at square ONE on the training department. It's okay. Take this as an opportunity for your family to also train to be a firm dog family too.

 

[ziddy]

All my male dogs are not neutered.

I had a female bulldog (pictured on my profile) who humped people and other dogs. She was also going on 3 years old when I adopted her. This was hilarious because she was the only female dog in a 3-dog household.

If your dog smells a female in heat and gets triggered, he will not be trying to hump you, he will bark and whine and try to find a way to get to the female all day long.

Anyway, humping outside of sexual opportunity is a dominance behavior. Your dog needs to be taught that all the humans in his life are a higher order dominance than he is. This is very important because the people he humps will be the people he will not feel the need to obey at all times. So yes, at 3 years old, this will be a much tougher training challenge than if he was a puppy. But the way you describe him, it looks like you are at square ONE on the training department. It's okay. Take this as an opportunity for your family to also train to be a firm dog family too.

Hi thanks for the reply, honestly he is really well trained apart from jumping up and this humping behavior. He follows all the basic commands of sit, lie down, paw, stay, is great on the lead and great with people/kids and other dogs. It was just the jumping/humping. I had him for only two days when he started doing it so I guess he could have been seeing what he could get away with with me. Anyway its now a week since I got him and he has really improved in the last few days, he no longer jumps up or tries to hump anyone now or at least in the last 3 days. All I did was at first turn my back on him, firmly say no and leave the room for 5-10 minutes. If he was calm when I came back I rewarded him. To be honest this had limited success, in that it would work for a few hours then he would try again, so this technique must be a slow way of training to stop jumping/humping. The thing that really made a difference was that I threw his steel dog bowl on the ground (laminated floor boards) and said off firmly every time he tried to hump me. You do not have to throw the bowl hard , you just need to drop it as it makes a loud noise when it hits the floor. Everytime I did this he instantly stopped humping/jumping then looked all around him in shock, then I instantly tell him to sit, and wait for 20-30 seconds. Everyone in the family is now told to do this, I just keep the bowl on the table after he has ate his food, and when he tries a hump jump, we just do as I said. Since I did this he has never tried to hump or jump at me or my family again and that was 3 days ago, if he does then he will get the "bowl technique". Along with this I also make a point of making him sit every time he gets a treat, his dinner or when putting his harness on when going for a walk. He is very food orientated and he seems to learn really quickly to be honest.