Doggy Myth Busters 1 – Humping

A new series of blog articles about common sayings in the dog world: myths or truth?

Driving behavior – Dominance or something else?

You’ve probably heard them somewhere, comments like this:

“Your dog humps the other dog because he’s dominant!”

It’s a persistent myth, that of the world conquering humping dog 😉
Today we are going to take a closer look at this, and explain where this behavior comes from. In the past, it was stated that a dog that humps other dogs performs dominant behavior. We now know that when a dog does not display that behavior from reproductive motives, the cause can be found in stress. Stress releases, among other things, testosterone, a sex hormone, and the presence of that hormone can cause a dog to exhibit this behavior.

In short, there are two reasons why a dog might show humping behaviour:

• There is a nice smelling bitch (in heat, almost in heat or just in heat)
• The dog is stressed

The first, of course, is completely self-explanatory. Humping in this situation is completely natural, and although not always desirable, it is very logical. If you do not want a litter, it is sufficient not to leave the male and female together during the bitch’s heat. Females can also hump each other during this period!

The second is a bit more complicated. When a dog experiences stress, a number of hormones are released in the body, including cortisol, (nor)adrenaline and, yes, testosterone. This also happens with bitches. The latter, testosterone, is a sex hormone, and can therefore cause behaviors associated with reproduction. Humping for instance. Many owners find it super embarrassing when their dog humps another dog, and then punish the dog for this behavior. However, what you do with that is to give an extra negative charge to a situation that is already very exciting for the dog. So you only give the dog more stress, and that is why punishment in such situations does not help at all. It is best to get the dog out of the situation, and try to prevent your dog from getting into a similar situation again in the future.

Finally, the humping itself can give the dog a nice feeling due to the release of endorphines, and that can be a reason for the dog to repeat the behavior. This is often seen in dogs that hump blankets, stuffed animals and pillows in the house. This behavior is also often initially caused by stress, but can become a habit. Our Labrador Juno does this sometimes. When we got her I didn’t have the knowledge I have now, and I let the humping of stuffed animals continue. It has become a habit for her, and I notice she still does it sometimes after she’s had a busy day. These days I calmly take her out of the situation with a bone or stuffed Kong or something like that, and put the stuffed animal in question away.

So what to do when you notice humping:

• Do: distract and / or remove your dog from the situation, and then offer calmness and rest
• Don’t: Punish your dog for the behavior. Punishment worsens stress, and thus behavior.