got a dog, hes a handfull

[Tindalos]

well i adopted a dog from some friends who stop taking care of it. i have the resources and time and money for this Pomeranian. but how do i stop this dog humping my crap?

 

[Cirith Ungol]

What exactly does it do? To what? In what way? For how long or how often?

 

[pitbulllady]

well i adopted a dog from some friends who stop taking care of it. i have the resources and time and money for this Pomeranian. but how do i stop this dog humping my crap?

What exactly do you mean by "humping my crap"?
If you mean that the dog is mounting you, this is a dominance issue, NOT a sexual one. This is one of the ways that Alpha dogs, including those that have been spayed/neutered, express their superiority and pack leadership, by mounting and "humping" subordinates. To stop this behavior, YOU have to let the dog know that YOU are the pack leader, not him and this will require rigorous obedience training , among other things. Many Toy dogs are Alphas because they've been ALLOWED to become one, and have been allowed to take over. People find it cute or amusing when little dogs growl or act possessive or when they are "spoiled" and give into the dog rather than the other way around, so many little dogs have strong dominance issues. People tolerate and encourage behaviors in small dogs that would not be put up with in large dogs at all, so this dog probably had the Alpha position at your friend's, and now it's trying to show YOU that you are just another peon in the pack hiearchy.

pitbulllady

 

[hassman789]

My dog used to always mount my leg when it was a puppy. But I always knocked him off (not enough to hurt) and he grew out of it. I have this really big pillow and he would always "play with it. But I noticed he dosn't anymore. until I found the pillow in the middle of the room a week ago, it looked like it had been "fluffed". But I dont know how to stop them from doing that. I've heard that when they are nutered they don't do that as much (not sure if its true) is the dog nutered?

Oh and one of my dogs goes crazy with the humping on my other dog. whenever we play tug of war or somthing he HAS to hump the dog thats pulling the rope. but they settle it themselves with a little rough housing!

 

[Green Mantis]

Try having a Good Squirt gun or Spritz type water bottle with a good strong spritz. When he comes up to you, let him have it! Don't let him see you with it first though. They hate water being sprayed on them.

 

[Crysta]

To stop that behaviour just knick him on the side, not hard, but enough to get his attention every time he does it, and when thats done make him sit and tell him to stay. If he continues with the behaviour, repeat.

Keep that up, eventually he will learn it is unacceptable, also make sure you give him walks as they become very excitable with nothing to do. Make him sit before you pet him. Make him sit before you go outside, remeber to walk out the door first, and keep in control, and make him sit before you feed him.

 

[Galapoheros]

From personal observation, I don't agree that it's only a "dominance" issue. I remember going over to my cousin's house when I was a kid. They had a small toy poodle, Gee Gee, lol, I think that's what they named it. He said, "Hey, watch this." The little poodle was on his leg and he let it go, haha! Then the poodle would act like it was drunk, wobble and fall over and pass out! Perverted but obviously a sexual stimulus thing. And the poodle was neutered! ...not dominance. But when I was in school, I had a roommate that had two Chihuahuas that would do the mounting thing with each other, using it as dominance behavior, they were both male and would growl at each other when they did that. It seemed weird to me. I wouldn't only consider it dominance behavior depending on the situation, something to figure out.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

Of course it's a handful! What else would you expect from a hound of Tindalos?

 

[pitbulllady]

From personal observation, I don't agree that it's only a "dominance" issue. I remember going over to my cousin's house when I was a kid. They had a small toy poodle, Gee Gee, lol, I think that's what they named it. He said, "Hey, watch this." The little poodle was on his leg and he let it go, haha! Then the poodle would act like it was drunk, wobble and fall over and pass out! Perverted but obviously a sexual stimulus thing. And the poodle was neutered! ...not dominance. But when I was in school, I had a roommate that had two Chihuahuas that would do the mounting thing with each other, using it as dominance behavior, they were both male and would growl at each other when they did that. It seemed weird to me. I wouldn't only consider it dominance behavior depending on the situation, something to figure out.

It was STILL a dominance issue, one which had been encouraged by training on the part of the owners who thought it was "cute". If the dog had been neutered, there was no sexual urge there. Even spayed female dogs will do this to indicate dominance, and with a name like "Gee Gee", this Poodle was probably female, too, and being a kid, you didn't realize it.

pitbulllady

 

[Galapoheros]

Well, it does make me think. I'm open to changing my mind and I would like you try if you want. Right now, I agree that it can be and probably is dominance behavior most of the time, but I just can't go so far as to believe it's always a dominance thing, there is speculation after that even from the most experienced, there has to be. It may feel good to them in some physical way we don't know about, how does anybody know for sure? I just read neutered male dogs still sometimes have sex with un-spade females from somebody self-claiming to be an expert. Do you see this with some of your dogs? How do we know that they don't get any sexual sensation from doing that even if the sex organs are gone? Neutered, spade, I think there might be some hardwiring there, not so much involving hormones. It might be said that you need those hormones to influence the hardwiring, do they absolutely?, maybe not?, maybe they do get sensation, sure looked like Gee Gee did! Who can know absolutely, 100% that it's not "sometimes" sexual in nature somehow, hmm, gets into a gray area for me, no fine line. But I can even see how it could be said that it's not sexual simply because they don't have their parts anymore, that it's just a behavior and "if" there is sensation, it's left over, so if there is drive, it's just to get sensation and not to have sex, but animals have sex for sensation(?) Interesting to think about, we want to pin it down when it comes to sex and behavior. I just realized, I'm about to meet a retired urologist at the beach tomorrow, he would be able to answer some of the questions I'm asking myself, might not fit in with dogs though!

 

[Shell]

A human urologist's knowledge, wouldn't fit in with dogs, no. Within usually 6-8 weeks of neutering a dog, the hormones and "drive" are GONE (I was a vet tech for 7 years, so not just something I read somewhere.) It's not a matter of just snipping something and they keep the hormones (like when a vasectomy is performed on a human male) the testicles are removed, and the hormones go with them.

I have owned labradors my entire life, co-owning show and stud dogs. When we finish the breeding careers of our studs, they are neutered. Never did one of my boys continue to hump anyone or anything, in fact even when intact they knew that behaviour was unacceptable anywhere but the breeding pen.

On the other hand I have seen spayed females humping everything in sight, due to dominance and lack of discipline. In my experience this dominant behaviour is far more common in small dogs and is a result of lack of proper training and socializing. Usually because bad behaviour is often viewed as "cute" or "funny" when the culprit is little. Not to say large breeds don't exhibit this behaviour when not trained properly, they will, but usually larger breeds aren't viewed as being cute when acting out (the worst I have even seen was a spayed golden retriever, her owners were nice people but had never owned a dog, and she was in control.)

Anyway, when it comes down to it, what I'm saying is that (as usual) I agree 100% with pitbulllday. None of this is something I simply "believe", but that I know from a lifetime of working with dogs, and the medical training and experience of being a vet tech.

 

[pitbulllady]

I second what Shell said; you can't apply dog sexual behavior to human sexual behavior. Human sex drive isn't just driven by hormones, but by things that dogs can't comprehend, like culture, the media, etc. Women who have had complete hysterectomies still enjoy active sex lives, for instance, while female dogs that are spayed have absolutely no desire to mate at all, ever. Even men who have had to have their testicles removed, due to cancer, injuries, whatever, can take hormone replacements and still have an active sex life. Only in very rare instances, though, is inappropriate mounting and "humping" in dogs due to sex drive. It is nearly always an issue with dominance, and THAT usually does stem from improper upbringing and training.

pitbulllady

 

[Tindalos]

sorry for the late reply to this forum been very busy, Cirith Ungol has sent a couple of PMs on how to handle the situation, i followed the advice was very successful. thanks again. but a little brief history of the dog. the owners bought the dog replacing another pom that died and because it wasn't the same dog, they neglected the dog. These are some family friends, they knew what they where doing wasnt right but they weren't going to change but they are done with dogs, so that is good.

the dog is two years old, Pomeranian, from what i was told its pure breed and has papers but they were too lazy to grab em. the dog sat outside chained to tree during the summer in southern Utah, and in the winter locked up in a pet taxi, and let outside only to use the restroom.
it was rarely fed or watered.

they asked if i would be interested in taking him in and I did so. i don't know what im doing but i do have the time, resources, and money to care for the dog. And im willing to learn. I do know that taking it to the vet is a must and will be doing very soon.

But in the few days i have had it, it has stopped mounting my stuff and has been house trained ( but im still on guard about that), and has been very obedient. thanks again for all the help.

but finally before i go to vet i want to know what to ask for. I have few questions about this dog. first off since it has been chained so long it has caused some damage. when he eat he makes a gagging noise, so because of that i have been feeding him small portions through the day instead of having a open bowl of food as i see constantly in other dog owners home(for some reason that doesn't seem right, is it?), there are some scabs around the neck,as the prev. owner used a choker. finally part of the leash got tangled in the hair, as it has been there so long fur grew around it and they cut the hair and accidentally cutting a part of the tail. the dog on occasion has begun to chew on the wounded tail, until i intervene. is this proper? any other questions i should ask the vet?

thanks again for all the help.

 

[Tindalos]

Of course it's a handful! What else would you expect from a hound of Tindalos?

hah, i actually sprayed horchata all over my computer screen reading that.

 

[pitbulllady]

Poor little dog! All too often people get a dog to replace one that has died, only to find out that the new dog is NOT a clone of the old dog, but an individual, and they resent the animal for being that. It's a lot like the "middle child syndrome", where parents idolize their oldest child and treat the one after that as a poor inferior version.

You will need to see the vet about the tail injury, but the choking could be more than just injury from the choke collar(which should NEVER, EVER be used for ANYTHING other than training a dog and should not even be left ON the dog when the training session is over), but could be genetic. Many Toy dogs suffer from issues with their esophagus and/or trachea due to their small size and may have difficulty swallowing or with gagging, or have periodic trouble breathing properly, especially when they are excited, causing them to make a loud honking noise sort of like a goose.

pitbulllady

 

[kingrattus]

Digi does it for Sexual reasons. She'll go over to her bed, or will wake up from sleeping on her bed & get down to having fun. She'll lick herself until she get the humping motion & then she'll go crazy with licking & her front legs for a little while.

Shes not a dominate dog by far, is fixed, & I really have had no reason to stop her. She only does it on her bed & doesn't do it with strangers in the house. OK not 100% true, if you grab her tail (its so fluffy its hard to resist grabbing it) she'll do everything she can to get her hind leg over it to start humping her tail.

Silly dog :barf:

 

[Cirith Ungol]

Digi does it for Sexual reasons. She'll go over to her bed, or will wake up from sleeping on her bed & get down to having fun. She'll lick herself until she get the humping motion & then she'll go crazy with licking & her front legs for a little while.

Shes not a dominate dog by far, is fixed, & I really have had no reason to stop her. She only does it on her bed & doesn't do it with strangers in the house. OK not 100% true, if you grab her tail (its so fluffy its hard to resist grabbing it) she'll do everything she can to get her hind leg over it to start humping her tail.

Silly dog :barf:

That sounds odd. A female dog would not hump something for sexual reasons. I'm confused. Sounds more like a tick of some sort.

 

[kingrattus]

That sounds odd. A female dog would not hump something for sexual reasons. I'm confused. Sounds more like a tick of some sort.

A trick?
I guarantee you I didn't teach her that!!

I have no idea how long shes been doing it, but I first caught her doing it when she was about 1.5yrs old. She use to only do it in private, but then after a while she did it on her bed while I was in the same room or near by. I was grossed out by i & use to leave the room, but I could still hear her going at it.

I've seen a couple dominate female dogs hump for dominance, & Digi hasn't done anything like that to the cat or me, & has never tried it for me to scold/correct her.

I've tried to get it on video, but the second the camera is turned on, she slows down, stops, then comes over to get her photo taken. She loves to get her photo taken... so no vid as of yet.

 

[Cirith Ungol]

A trick?
I guarantee you I didn't teach her that!!

I have no idea how long shes been doing it, but I first caught her doing it when she was about 1.5yrs old. She use to only do it in private, but then after a while she did it on her bed while I was in the same room or near by. I was grossed out by i & use to leave the room, but I could still hear her going at it.

I've seen a couple dominate female dogs hump for dominance, & Digi hasn't done anything like that to the cat or me, & has never tried it for me to scold/correct her.

I've tried to get it on video, but the second the camera is turned on, she slows down, stops, then comes over to get her photo taken. She loves to get her photo taken... so no vid as of yet.

Sorry of the spelling mistake, I meant "tic".
Humping her own tail (if I understood you correctly) serves no purpose, neither sexually or socially (like trying to rearrange pecking order with... others). Seems more like something that needs addressing, a fixation that's better to stop or it might just get worse. How much do you walk and challenge the dog over a week?

What else do you do when you take a photo? Do you talk to the dog or offer some sort of mental, verbal or physical reward?

 

[Sunset]

get the dog fixed.