Imagine taking your dog for a walk in the park, on a beautiful, sunny day where you and your dog are having so much fun. At some point, you meet one of your friends. You both start talking, catching up on life and then suddenly, your dog starts humping your friend’s leg. Embarrassing, right?
Movies or TV sitcoms usually treat the humping of a dog comically with everybody laughing it off, but in real life, it is anything but funny. The dog’s hump game can be really awkward and exasperating for their owners. Read on to find out why your dog seems so attached to your leg.
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Why is My Dog’s Humping Game So Strong?
Dogs are sexual beings, but there are other reasons why your dog wants to hump apart from the obvious reasons. We’ve tried to enumerate all the reasons below to help you understand your dog’s inclination to such tendencies.
Let’s get started without further ado.
Excited and Energetic
Dogs are instinctively happy and energetic creatures. When they get excited, they respond to the situation by mounting.
When your dog feels nervous, which may be due to a variety of situations like staying in an unfamiliar environment, hearing sounds of people fighting, etc., they can start humping your leg, or anything else for that matter.
When they see something that excites them and makes them cheerful, like you taking them out for walks, they may start to hump even then. It is all instinctive.
Dominate
Dogs are pack animals, and as such, they have a natural instinct to establish dominance. Thus, they will give signals such as non- sexual mounting to show that they are trying to communicate with specific people or animals as to who the leader is. However, when your dog humps your leg, it is highly unlikely that he is showing you who’s the boss so you can strike off that possibility.
Playful
Dogs may resort to humping when they want to lock in someone’s attention, be it other dogs’ or human beings. It is more like an invitation to play with them and, to an extension, try to make new friends.
An Expression Of Anxiety
You will often find anxious dogs humping something. Dogs don’t like being lonely and as such, which is why experts advise that you do not leave them alone for long periods of time. As they don’t know how to respond to situations when they’re feeling isolated, they may start to hump. Basically, they just want to do something to preoccupy themselves so that they can banish the loneliness. As a dog owner, you should spend due time with your dog or at least leave him a pleasant distraction while you are away.
Humping Could Be A Sign Of Compulsiveness
Dogs, like human beings, can be OCD and constant humping is usually a symptom of that. Dogs may develop this habit in response to various underlying conditions. Some of these include abuse or separation anxiety isolation, stress and depression, and even weak social interaction. As a dog owner, you can identify this behavior by looking at the movement of your dog. If the mounting seems obsessive and looks almost like second nature, then chances are that they are compulsive.
Dogs Hump Just to Get Comfortable
Your dog may just like humping. They may do it to kill time and unwind in a bid to reduce stress. Times, your dog could hump just for practice for future intimate encounters.
An Expression Of Intimacy And Sexuality
This is the most obvious reason in the list but an important one. Dogs have sexual urges and mounting helps them to quell their sexual urges to an extent. They may use this method to flirt with other canines as well. It is also essential for you to note whether the dog is neutered or unneutered, it will still hump from time to time. Interestingly, even bitches in heat like to hump.
So, Is My Dog’s Constant Humping Anything To Worry About?
As already mentioned, dog humping is entirely natural. However, as a dog owner, you need to be aware and keep observing them as sometimes, there could be other reasons for it.
Humping may sometimes be a sign a urinary tract infections, requiring an urgent appointment with the vet.
Priapism or frequent painful erection is usually another reason for the humping.
As mentioned above, the humping could be attributed to an obsessive-compulsive disorder.
If your dog’s humping is due to any one of the reasons mentioned above, you should schedule an appointment with a vet as soon as possible.
How Can I Curb My Dog’s Humping?
While humping is part of the routine of your canine friend, there are ways to curb it in case it appears to get out of control. The following tips may come in handy.
1. Keep your dog occupied by engaging him in exercise, buying him toys and giving him dog treats. However, you must remember that any of these measures will be effective only if you take them before they start humping. This means that you should leap into action as soon as you notice the first signs of humping.
2. Playing with dogs can also greatly help to curb mounting. If you notice your dog starts to hump other dogs during playtime, try using other games to attract them to you instead. Games like fetch or tug are significantly effective in this case.
3. You can spay or neuter your dog as this will significantly diminish their sex drive. Keep in mind that neutering will not stop it completely, it’ll only reduce the frequency.
4. Training can help curb humping case as well. Just like you teach your dog to sit, lie down or stand, you can also teach him to stop his humping activities. One practical approach here is to command them to stop as soon as you notice they’re about to hump. If they do, reward them with petting or give them a treat. This will help initiate the training process. Though it will take patience, it is the most effective method, in the long run.
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Dogs and Humping
Humping is entirely reasonable, and all dogs do it. There are innumerable other reasons to hump other than a sexual urge. However, if, as a dog owner, you feel that your dog needs to be kept in check, then that’s absolutely okay too.
Conclusion
Remember that it takes time and patience to train your dog. And as a general rule visit the vet in case you suspect an underlying medical condition is causing humping.
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