Help, why is my dog h***ing so much!

Jake recently started this and I dont know why, he is 8 years old lab neutured as a pup. Wylie my female will not tolerate it and I am afraid she may bite him, he even tries me and then last night my parents were over with their shit zu and she is laying on the ground and Jake walks over I could tell the way he was sniffing her, he was trying to figure out how to mount her

i was saying its his new raw diet giving him his testosterone, but now its not funny and I am afraid he may get hurt by wylie

any ideas??

honeybear

 

I've always heard that is a dominance issue when it happens with a neutered dog. Any big changes in his life lately?

 

Hmm, yeah, I've always read about it being a dominance thing too. But we always associate that with them showing their dominance and keeping things in order. I did read somewhere that it can be about putting things back to how they like it, and for satisfaction.

It was saying any change can bring on a bout of humping. I only remembered this when Honey mentioned change. It might not even be something you're aware of. New visitors? Furniture moved or thrown out? Change in routein? New girl on the block in heat? (just something different)

Also, the 'satisfaction' thing applies to me. Floob still humps this great big duck toy he's had since just after I got him. It's nothing sexual at all, never has been. He just likes to do it. He only does it last thing at night, when we settle down. It's asif he's getting the last bit of energy out of him cause he knows noone else is playing. He goes at it for litterally seconds, throwing it around and humping away, then lays down n sleeps. It's almost like a comforter.

 

nothing has changed for him, he would do it every once in awhile and I thought it was him trying to be dominant, like when we are playing with wylie and he wants attention.

he also seems to want more attention from us like tyring to crawl on my husbands lap in a chair

but now he is doing in strange sitations, like the shitzu that is just laying there doing nothing.

 

It sounds more like a demanding thing than a dominance thing.

Is he getting the same exercise and attention as usual? Sometimes frustration makes them act demanding. Also, if he's getting attention from humping (like trying it on with the shitzu when she was laying down, was everyone else just sitting around too until he did this?) then he's getting what he wants, someone paying attention.

 

It's not necessarily a dominance thing. Usually it's more of a play thing, especially with a neutered dog. Bonnie does it to Nala and I usually just try to distract her so she will do something else.

 

maybe something down ther itches? Like he has an infection and that is why he is more needy lately. It could still be a food allergy, but itching somewhere inside

 

I think dogs do this for 4 reasons

1.Territorial....My 'obviously' alpha female has never done it to any of the other dogs, she doesnt need to as they never challenge her, my subordinate did it to the other 3 subordinates, the cushion, the blanket....I dont believe she was trying to be dominant over the cushion or blanket but that she was trying to put her scent on them to let the other dogs know, including the alpha that they were 'hers'.

2.Dominance... Often when a 'new' dog comes in most dogs who have already established themselves as being the alpha dog, (maybe he/she is the only dog in the house) will by nature want to keep that place....and its better than fighting.

3.Habit.... What Ive seen in males that have already got to a female before neutering is they've done it before, they know how it felt and they want to do it again, the fact that they cant finish the job is irrelevant to them.

4.Attention...Its another way to get attention from you.

If you feel you need to stop the behaviour, I would have a spray bottle with water in it handy, it takes the 'attention' they get from you away, a quick squirt and they usually dont even know where its come from.

 

Here is some info from http://www.wagntrain.com/BodyLanguage.htm:

I haven't been to that page before, but it seems to have some good info (which I have read elsewhere, helping to confirm its value). It has pictures of different body language and ways you can communicate with your dog, including "calming signals" (see "On Talking Terms With Dogs : Calming Signals" by Turid Rugaas).

 

I now think he is doing it to get attention, after reading everyones post.
He is really much more active now and healthier, so he wants to play a lot more, he is not a normal lab that likes to play fetch, he gets has ball and wants you to chase him, I did that last night and got tired, so I am sitting on the counter on a barstool and he is barking at me to still play, I ignored him and he jumped up on me trying to h**p my leg, I pushed him off. I think he is doing this with Wylie to get her attention to chase him (which of coarse she wont do)

honeybear