[814]

We have a very nervous poodle. Not sure why he has been this way since we brought him home at 9 weeks of age. He is what we call a Nervous humper. He also humps when he gets excited over any little thing.

He was neutered 3 days shy of 6 months old and he is 2 years old now.

We always get on to him when he starts to hump anything. He mostly humps objects or tries to hump our other dog. A 2 year old Terrier mix who is much larger than him.

The other day our Terrier mix decided she wasn't going to take it anymore. And she is a very good dog, never had a single problem out of her and I really don't blame her for what she did.

He was chasing after our terrier and the next thing I hear is our Terrier growl and I see he was trying to hump her so suddenly she flips him, pins him and has her mouth around his neck.

She didn't bite down but she had him in some sort of old. I told her to drop him and she did. He was fine no worse for wear but I refuse to let them out of my sight together again because he didn't learn his lesson he is still trying to hump her.

Another time which I though kind of served him right he got on top of her head and started humping so she just reach up and bit his "Boy Part". No real damage done but he ran off and nurse that area for a little while.

But still didn't learn his lesson.

Again I get onto him every time he does this but for some reason he just won't stop. He is being treated for anxiety issues (mostly separation) and I was told that his humping could very well be a nervous behavior and not a dominance issue.

Any idea how to get him to stop doing this, because I don't like worrying that one day he is going to try this when I can't be watching and our Terrier won't go easy on him.

Thanks

 

[KPoos]

Humping is a dominant behavior. What your terrier did was take her position back from him. She got fed up with the behavior and did a dominance grab with him to put him back in his place. I think that you might need to get him evaluated to make sure that's what he's trying to do to you but that's what it sounds like to me. You'd have to describe more about your situation like where does he sleep, how does he behave when you walk him, how does he behave around other dogs that he doesn't live with, how do you react to him when he's displaying this behavior for you?

 

[mandi]

Walk, walk walk your little 'humper'! That will take away some of his nervous energy and boredom. Some dogs do it more than others and that is why some just never want a male dog. I have 2 males that sometimes jump on one another-it is usually first thing in the morning when they have all of their pent-up energy. so give walking a try....

 

[814]

To answer your questions:

You'd have to describe more about your situation like where does he sleep?
He sleeps at the foot our bed, has since he was a puppy, trying to transistion him to a bed or his crate.

Terrier sleeps in the closet, she is too big to sleep in the bed with us we would be happy to have her up there if there was room. also the two are separated for a reason at night.

how does he behave when you walk him,
Fine unless he see a small child running after him or he sees a dog that is bigger than him and then he just gets barky. Typically we walk him where there is no one around or early in the morning or late at night. (typically he gets 3 forty five minute walks a day) Not so much now that I can't get out and do it.


how does he behave around other dogs that he doesn't live with:

Depends. If he has known the dog since he was a puppy or since the dog was a puppy fine. If the dog is a larger dog, as long as he met the dog when the dog when he was smaller than him he was fine. Typically he goes off and plays by himself. He only humps when he gets nervous after being chased or something

how do you react to him when he's displaying this behavior for you?

Typically we just remove him from the situation. He wasn't socialized as a puppy due to being very ill and always up at the vet hospital