frisky business
my male and female are both fixed. during play the male shiba has been resorting to 'humping' our female, or at least attempting to.
what is this about?? how do i discourage this??
my male and female are both fixed. during play the male shiba has been resorting to 'humping' our female, or at least attempting to.
what is this about?? how do i discourage this??
Comments
All our dogs hump during play, girls hump boys, boys hump girls, girls hump girls, boys hump boys... it's kinda crazy.
We just correct it when we see it, or try to redirect it.
Today Kaia humped Hilo's face.
Ninja always tries to hump portia's HEAD during play. She bites his penis in return to make him stop
Brad - LOL, Kaia is silly!
i figured as much that it wasn't a sexual tendency but our female is
way alpha. I guess Kitsune is just trying to level the.. playing
field??
it makes me more perturbed to watch him do that to my little 'girl' than it does for the dog to do it.
brad - your house must be crazy! hahahahah with Kaia!! i love her.
Poor Hilo. He tries endlessly to get her attention and when he finally does, its getting his head humped? Give Hilo a big hug from me.
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I just want to reiterate what Brandon said. Humping is a dominant behavior not a sexual one. The other day Lucy's friend Brodie came over with his parents for a BBQ and Joey was a little uncomfortable adjusting to the situation. Lucy picked up on that and was humping him every chance she got. On some level, I wonder if I should start humping my dogs to let them know that I'm the boss.
LMAO!
Brandon - that is a good point - that is a sure way to show someone who's boss. lol.
Dave - You bring up an interesting point - I wonder how a dog would react to being humped by a human. lol... you go first and let me know.
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If it makes all of you feel better, Hilo was clearly loving the Kaia attention, even if it was in the form oh a head hump. He stopped her by biting her leg anyway.
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On a serious note, sometimes when dogs play they they will play "dominant" or "submissive" even if they are not. If you watch two dogs play (I do this a lot) they will constantly be "playing" a different role during play and it's very fluid. Like Ahi will attack Kona and be the dominant one, then she will lay on her back or side and be the submissive one. Ahi is mos def not submissive, but she takes the submissive role a lot during play. That "role playing" is what builds/shows trust in the pack.
Here is an example:
Brad, that's really interesting. I haven't thought of it as role playing, but I have observed it with Lucy and Joey a lot. I guess that is why I've been having a hard time figuring out who is going to be the dominant one.
From what I've observed, it seem the one who wants to either initiate or continue play when the other isn't showing interest is the one who plays the submissive role. It seems almost like an invitation.
Pack dynamics are fascinating!
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Brad, you'll be the first to know after the deed is done.
Exactly! It is like "no, I wasn't really being dominant, I was playing"... "see, now I am inviting you to do the same!". I agree, its really very interesting to watch... and Ahi is the master at it.
btw - Dave - the posting I made about "making my point" was made at the same time as your post... so it appears I am directing it at your post but really I was not.
thank you thank you. i will be less inclined to want to kick
Kitsune's bum for defiling my little girl when they play next time!
that
completely makes sense though - Tsuki is definitely dominant but during
play she lets Kitsune show his dominance - ONLY during play! any other
time is fair game for Tsuki to snap and shurgle (shiba growl) at
him
No worries Brad, but thanks for clearing that up. It does make a lot of sense.
meanie :P
Errik says, "That's a good answer but that's not the one we wanted. Try again." lmao
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Rui: It guess it was only a matter of time before it started. Lucy frequently tries to hump my arm when we are playing with a tennis ball. I can't tell if she's trying to dominate me or the toy, but either way I nudge her hard enough that she stops. Its actually somewhat funny because she'll shake her head and her eyes will refocus and its almost like she's snapping back to reality from some weird other place that she goes to when she tries to dominate me/the ball. Its not big deal, although if Kuma keeps it up when he's bigger it could be somewhat of a deal. Lucy does it much less frequently now than she used to, so I think what I'm doing is helping.
Leonberger - Dominance rolls are considered pretty "old school" by a lot of dog behaviorists and trainers. Basically it is considered to be something that dogs do to dogs, but humans shouldn't because we don't really have the timing or exact knowledge of when it is appropriate. Improperly done alpha rolls can freak a dog out, scare a dog, and sometimes cause them to react with a bite because you are kind of putting them in a possible fight for their life position. The reason they might feel that way is because when a dog is on their back, everything is exposed (neck, belly) and it makes them vulnerable to attack, thus they would want to fight off those who put them there. If a dog shows you their belly for rubs, that is a completely different thing.
I would suggest a stern "No" when he humps then a redirection to a proper activity, or possibly place him into a down position if you feel physical correction is needed.
Dave - Yeah, it was only a matter of time, I never thought it would be at the age of 11 weeks...It's something that needs to be controlled now, or it can escalate to strange things as he grows.
Brandon - Do you think that doing such roll on a puppy will make him grow to react that explosively? I'll have to look into it again, cause it has been a while, but I guess if I do it form now, he'll get the idea I'm not trying to hurt him in any way, that it is just a correction. Probably the down position is more adequate and still marks the dominance. Of course it always starts with an assertive "No!". My mom raised me on a "3 strike rule" and I tend to do the same. I learned very quickly to not pass the 2nd strike, Kuma is getting there.
well i'm letting my dogs do what they want to each other on this
topic - they are both fixed so i foresee no real harm in it. Our female
is doing it right back to the male now.
I can see it making guests to our home somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of us not really bothering the dogs during play.
so far neither has done it to me or my husband.
hondru - thats faaaantasic. how is ridley btw?
scarlet - i
totally know. last year i spent 4 months without a job and had very
strange hours going on and would stay up for a day straight or so and
the stupidest things would make me laugh until i couldn't breathe!