# 7 month old dog will not stop trying to hump me.. Mouthing a lot as well.



## doga (Nov 28, 2013)

I made a similar thread about this before.. but now it's slightly different as my dog is obsessed with humping -me- and will bite and mouth my arms or grab onto my clothing if he can't do that. It's driving me crazy.

We just adopted him the week of Thanksgiving - he's a 7 and a half month old golden retriever. His previous owner was a woman and her son - they had to rehome due to a very sad situation which resulted in them not having time to give him attention.

What do I do to get him to stop? He very rarely tries to hump inanimate objects any more (we didn't really try to stop him, just ignored him and he stopped doing it). I've tried to ignore him when he tries to hump me, and he'll stop after usually 10-15 seconds.. but he'll mouth my arms or tear at my sleeves instead. My husband said that mouthing and humping were both signs of it being sexual.. but I've just stood there and completely ignored him while he holds onto me, and he'll stop really quickly and start biting my arms/sleeves instead.. which I cannot ignore since he's literally dragging me or ripping holes in my clothes. I have a sweatshirt that I wear whenever I'm home now, since he's already ripped it in several places. But because he stops humping me so quick it makes me think he just wants my attention and tries to bite me instead to get it.

Also something to note.. is that he doesn't really try to hump my husband. He's tried once or twice, and my husband has given him a stern 'No' and pushed him off. He'll also listen if my husband tells him to stop when he is bothering me. The only time I'm safe is when I'm near my hubby, otherwise he sees me as fair game. I don't know what to do.. I really like this dog and I want to give him a loving home, but it's exhausting fighting off his advances all the time.. 

Also.. he's jumping (edit: would like to stop that as well - since he thinks if someone is sitting, he can be in their face, but that is lower priority I guess) in my lap right now as I finish typing this and trying to grab onto my arm to hump me.. oh and he just licked my cheek.. Sigh.. But after 5 seconds he went and took a drink of water, so I'm spared again.

tl;dr: What can do I to get this lovely and otherwise sweet mongrel to stop humping and mouthing me?


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## doga (Nov 28, 2013)

Also.. Why do all the training videos seem to show a dog that is already so calm? It seems like they either use a dog that does NOT even do the bad behaviors.. or a dog that is a mild case. I want to see videos of how to get a 65-70lb bulldozer of a dog to stop!


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

A few ideas:
- Some people say they can tell when their dog is thinking about humping. If you can see his intentions, stop him before he starts. Direct him to a toy or have a brief training session or send him to his bed. Do your best to prevent the behavior.
- If he starts (humping or mouthing), walk away. Use doors or gates to prevent him from following you. Stop all interaction and remove yourself from the area completely.
- Mouthing may take time to stop. Retrievers are mouthy dogs; the first poodle breeders I visited had a young dog who held my hand in her mouth the entire time I was there. Continue bite inhibition work.
- For jumping, teach him that wonderful things happen to doggies who keep their feet on the ground. There's a kikopup video.
- He may react to your husband better out of fear or intimidation; not that your husband is intentionally scaring him, just that your husband is probably bigger, louder, and more forceful than you are. My husband and I are different with Katie, and she tends to act differently towards us. I think it's common.
- Not sure about why the dogs in the videos are never raving lunatics, but I wish they would. I wish the videos had troubleshooting tips, too. 

I'm sure others will be along with more (and hopefully more helpful) suggestions.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Humping isn't something that will go away if you ignore it, as it's self rewarding. It can also be an indicator that the dog is stressed and just doesn't know what to do with himself. This can happen in stressful situations where the dog is over-stimulated or if you've just taken away something the dog enjoyed. I would make a note of every time the dog does it, to see what precedes it. Maybe he only does it when excited? After a training session? When something specific is happening around him?


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## Brit (Nov 16, 2013)

Your dog doesn't know how to communicate with you... he just trying to communicate with you the only ways he knows how. First... ignore, ignore, ignore. He needs to learn that humping will not get interaction with you. Second, use your knee and push him off your leg when he humps... no need to correct him verbally because often this can be misunderstood by your dog as attention. Third, engage your dog more on your terms... more play, more positive attention... over time he will learn that nice calm behavior will lead to happy play with mom and dad.


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