# Humping when people Hug - Why?



## pinksand (Dec 11, 2013)

Charlie is a recreational humper. He’s not obsessive about it, but there are certain situations when he’ll hump. It’s tricky because so many people have misconceptions about the behavior and there are some situations that I honestly just don’t know how to explain. The two things I hear the most are “isn’t he neutered?” and “he’s trying to show his dominance!” Well yes, he is neutered and I know there are also some situations where dominance may be involved in the behavior, however, I don’t see this as being the case with him. Charlie humps to instigate play with other dogs, I know how to explain this one and it’s very clear because unless the dog says “no” it almost always results in the dog playing with him (he doesn’t really integrate humping into his play style once they’re engaged in play, it’s just an attention getter that has been reinforced by his dog friends). 

There are two situations I’m not sure how to explain though… 

1.	He loves to hump his old dog bed. He doesn’t hump his new beds or any toys, but when he comes down in the basement with me he’ll always drag out his old bed and kind of semi-mount it. He doesn’t really have much hip action, just kind of wrestles with it in a suggestive way. What do you think is motivating him in this case? Maybe comfort or pleasure? I don’t really care because we don’t often have guests down there, I just don’t know how to explain it under the rare circumstances that we do. 
2.	If someone hugs me, he will stop whatever he’s doing and run over and hump them. He could appear to be dead asleep and a friend will hug me goodbye and he’ll leap up from the dead. He’s done this when other people hug as well, but particularly with me. He has also humped me when I’ve held babies or children. He doesn’t seem to care if other people are carrying children, just me. He has also humped my MIL when she carries her dog (her dog isn’t very friendly and on the ground he and Charlie have learned to be indifferent towards each other). Does he think hugging is like us mounting each other and he just wants to join in?

My husband and I have been working on having Charlie sit/stay while we hug and then releasing and treating him after we’ve hugged for some time. So far we haven’t had success when we don’t have a treat on hand but we haven’t given it much time yet. Is there anything else we can do to discourage it when we hug guests or when I’m holding a friend’s baby? I’m mostly curious about his motivation because I don’t really know what to tell people when they start with the dominance or neutered discussion. I don’t believe it has anything to do with either of those topics, but feel like I need to provide an alternative.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

I don't know about those specific situations, but generally speaking humping is just an excitement behaviour. Males and females both intact and neutered do it, and it certainly has nothing to do with dominance.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

ireth0 said:


> I don't know about those specific situations, but generally speaking humping is just an excitement behaviour. Males and females both intact and neutered do it, and it certainly has nothing to do with dominance.


So much this!

I would simply do some redirection training. Interrupt the behavior, say 'Off', direct to a toy or his bed or whatever.. Just something that tells him it's acceptable to be excited but he needs to do it *this way* instead of *that way*. 

With his bed... if it doesn't bother you I'd probably leave him alone.. LOL.


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## pinksand (Dec 11, 2013)

ireth0 said:


> I don't know about those specific situations, but generally speaking humping is just an excitement behaviour. Males and females both intact and neutered do it, and it certainly has nothing to do with dominance.


Yeah, that's pretty much the response I've given. I just find that this response comes off as fluffy and isn't taken seriously, particularly when so many people firmly believe in all the dominance hype they hear. I don't necessarily want to go into a full dominance theory discussion with everyone who mentions it and I guess I just want to be able to provide a stronger alternative response for his motivation without having to go into all of that.

ETA - Also, hugging or carrying a small child doesn't necessarily seem more exciting than the kids running around or friends laughing loudly or moving quickly. I'm curious why hugging is such a specific trigger for the behavior when it doesn't necessarily seem particularly exciting. The hug can be very subtle and quick and he'll have the same response.


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## Hankscorpio (May 15, 2012)

All i can say is be very careful with this behavior. Some dogs that seem to tolerate it can really lash out once some invisible line is crossed.
I have a group of neighbors that will occasionally bring our dogs together for playtime. One chiuhuaua, Rufus, was super humpy like this. At first my Indy was like "look at this funny little guy humping me." But it finally crossed a line and indy and Rufus *hate* each other. They want to kill eachother and I don't think Rufus stands a chance against a dog 5 times his siZe,


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## pinksand (Dec 11, 2013)

Hankscorpio said:


> All i can say is be very careful with this behavior. Some dogs that seem to tolerate it can really lash out once some invisible line is crossed.
> I have a group of neighbors that will occasionally bring our dogs together for playtime. One chiuhuaua, Rufus, was super humpy like this. At first my Indy was like "look at this funny little guy humping me." But it finally crossed a line and indy and Rufus *hate* each other. They want to kill eachother and I don't think Rufus stands a chance against a dog 5 times his siZe,


Yeah, I actually always intervene for this reason and also because not every owner approves of their dog being humped. If the dog doesn't say "no" right away (to which he will back off), I will get involved and tell him off or physically remove him. I don't bring him to the dog park for this reason. I worry that this behavior will get him into trouble. We have bi-weekly play dates with a neighborhood group of dogs. He doesn't do it with every dog, and if a dog tells him no once, he usually won't ever try again. Usually he'll only do it when it has been an effective move in the past.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

pinksand said:


> ETA - Also, hugging or carrying a small child doesn't necessarily seem more exciting than the kids running around or friends laughing loudly or moving quickly. I'm curious why hugging is such a specific trigger for the behavior when it doesn't necessarily seem particularly exciting. The hug can be very subtle and quick and he'll have the same response.


No one will ever know why. One of my dogs tries to excitement hump my other dogs whenever he sees a squirrel on a walk. Not rabbits, not crows, not outdoor cats, not other dogs.... just squirrels. Why are squirrels so special? I'll never know. They just are.

If you want a more official/less fluffy term to explain it to people, call it a "displacement behavior." He's just displacing/channeling his excitement into this normal behavior in an abnormal context. Some dogs bark, some dogs grab a toy, some dogs snark. This is just the thing he does.


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

I'm going to say this is anxiety caused humping.


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## Foresthund (Jul 17, 2013)

pinksand said:


> Yeah, that's pretty much the response I've given. I just find that this response comes off as fluffy and isn't taken seriously, particularly when so many people firmly believe in all the dominance hype they hear. I don't necessarily want to go into a full dominance theory discussion with everyone who mentions it and I guess I just want to be able to provide a stronger alternative response for his motivation without having to go into all of that.
> 
> ETA - Also, hugging or carrying a small child doesn't necessarily seem more exciting than the kids running around or friends laughing loudly or moving quickly. I'm curious why hugging is such a specific trigger for the behavior when it doesn't necessarily seem particularly exciting. The hug can be very subtle and quick and he'll have the same response.


Well there is a lot of people that think all mounting even the more focused and determined type is out of excitement and never sexual arousal. Dogs become more mechanical creatures in this regard because you feel more comfortable not thinking about your babies in this regard. Which I don't believe is true,but yeah mindless humping is often just out of excitement. Something that is in most cases. 

I also agree with being careful,the three dogs I had have had like 0 toleration of being humped and can lead to fights. I even heard of dogs out right mauling another for mounting them.


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## Hector4 (Sep 16, 2013)

#2 scenario humping I'm going to say it's control driven.


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Ryker used to do the same thing, he doesn't do it as much now that he's a little older. He would start humping SO if we hugged. It was pretty funny when we're laying down and cuddling and then Ryker started humping him lol. I would just say "off" and redirect. I think it's just because they get excited.


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