While humping may be natural so is stealing food given the chance - both unacceptable in my book and both not allowed. Do you teach your dog to steal in order to stop it? of course not so how very bizarre to do this with humping. just tell it NO in no uncertain terms and the dog soon learns, just as it does with stealing your dinner and other unwanted behaviour. I have two 60kgs and 10 & 8kgs boys here all of whom never hump and when they did were soon told I wasn't going to allow it.

__________________

Flynn - Kali - Britches - Bruce - T-Bo - Marty



"For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack"

Well, with all due respect, it's this kind of approach to owning dogs that I absolutely hate and see most problems with. The view that humans are superior and dogs (or any animal) are inferior, and must do as we say at all times (and if they don't they are going to know about it) causes a lot of problems. I tell people just to relax, take a deep breath, and think about it logically. Behaviour is not constantly controlled by a desire to annoy the owner, or gain control over the owner- a lot of behaviour is involuntary and is performed through pure reaction to the environment.

If a dog steals food, I would happily teach them to 'Take it' and 'Leave it', and do the same as in the humping scenario. Controlling their behaviour on cues, even the behaviour we deem is bad, is a very efficient way of teaching dogs.

And why should humping be so inappropriate, anyway? People react to it like a dog should never ever do it, as if it were a cardinal sin or something!

IMO, constantly telling your dog 'No' creates more problems than its worth. The behaviours cease to stop a lot of the time, and shouting or intimidating a dog until they stop is used throughout the majority of a dog's life. Ergo, the method is only a suppressor on the behaviour, not a cue. And all the while the dog is not learning anything new.

So Malmum, the method is not bizarre at all and is supported by a track record of many successful cases. Not only do we improve our relationship with our dogs, we teach them something new and constructive.

For me it would depend on what the dog was humping. A dog humping its bed or a toy wouldn't be a big deal to me, a dog humping people or other dogs is a problem. None of mine have been major humpers and I found redirecting them to do something else when they did start worked well enough with them.