Help! A dog on my group walk won’t stop humping!

We’ve all been there. They just won’t leave that other dog, or you, alone for a moment and as amusing as it was to start with, a dog that just won’t stop humping isn’t funny anymore and it’s spoiling your group walk.

Let’s look at why they do it and, more importantly, how to stop it from happening on your walks.

Who Humps?

Let’s start by debunking some myths about dogs humping.

MYTH; Only neutered male dogs hump

MYTH; Only dominant dogs hump

MYTH; It’s always sexual

All breeds, and sexes and both neutered and neutered dogs can be humpers, and it’s rarely a sexual act. Given the right circumstances, any dog can be a humper.

Why are they humping if it’s not a sexual act?

It’s usually one of two reasons: anxiety/excitement or learned behaviour/attention seeking.

Learned Behaviour

Learned behaviour is when a dog does something and gets a particular reaction from them doing it which they find rewarding, so they repeat the behaviour.

Mounting another dog is a natural behaviour to begin with but once they realise that they either get a reaction from the other dog, or one from a human, they will repeat the behaviour in the hope that the rewarding reaction is repeated.

For example, a young male dog humps another dog on a walk and that dog wriggles away and start running around. The young male dog loves running around so each time the other dog stops, he humps her and she starts running again. So the younger dog has learned that humping equals playtime.

Another example would be when a dog starts to hump and a human reacts by intervening, either telling them to stop, or touching them and removing them physically from the situation.

For many dogs any reaction from a human is a positive one, being spoken to and touched, even if it’s to be told off and pulled away, is rewarding for the dog so it becomes a behaviour that the dog repeats in order to elicit the same response.

Excitement

Another explanation for repeated humping is anxiety and excitement, with both emotions creating similar adrenaline spikes.

Dogs will often have their own personal ‘go to’ move when they feel excited or anxious. Some dogs go quiet, some run around, some get grumpy, some grab a ball or toy, some start sniffing the ground and some will hump.

Humping becomes a release for their energy and becomes almost an act of comfort.

How to stop humping on a group walk

Firstly, assess whether you think the dog is anxious, excited or if you feel it’s more of a learned behaviour.

Distinguishing between a dog humping due to anxiety and one doing it for attention can be challenging since both behaviours can have overlapping signs. However, paying close attention to the context, triggers, and the dog’s overall behaviour can help you differentiate between the two:

1. Context: Observe when the humping occurs. Dogs that hump out of anxiety might do so in situations that make them uncomfortable or stressed, such as during thunderstorms, when meeting new people or dogs, or when faced with unfamiliar environments. On the other hand, if the dog humps primarily when seeking attention, it may do so when it wants you to interact with it or when it perceives that humping leads to a positive response.
2. Triggers: Identify what triggers the humping behaviour. Anxious dogs might hump in response to specific stimuli that make them nervous or fearful. Attention-seeking dogs, on the other hand, may hump when they’re not getting the attention they desire or when they see that humping leads to a reaction from you.
3. Body Language: Pay attention to the dog’s overall body language. Anxious dogs may exhibit signs of stress, such as pacing, panting, yawning, or attempting to escape from the situation. Dogs seeking attention might exhibit more playful body language, such as wagging their tail, making eye contact, or approaching you directly.

Once we’ve identified which of the two reasons for humping, we can start to address it and reduce it.

Learned behaviour

A twofold approach is required for learned behaviour. Firstly, we need to manage situations so that the dog can’t practice the behaviour, and secondly, if the dog does start humping then we need to manage our reaction.

As a professional dog walker we can consider if the dog might be more suited to another group of dogs who may not react the same way to their humping behaviour as our current group.

Alternatively, keeping the dog on a lead or long line during the walk will give us the opportunity to manage the behaviour and remove the dog from any situation where they may be tempted to start humping.

If we intervene, gently leading the dog away from temptation with the longline and without saying anything to the dog, we remove all the rewarding behaviour that the dog has been seeking.

Always let the owners know what you’re doing as they might be grateful for some tips on how to handle it themselves.

Anxiety

If the dog is humping due to anxiety or excitement then changing the dog’s environment will help. Either put them in with a calmer group or change them to a solo walk where they may feel happier anyway.

A solo walk gives you the opportunity to keep them calm and manage any interactions with other dogs, again using a long line or leash and sticking to calmer areas for walking in, at least at first.

Should the dog redirect their humping onto you in the absence of other dogs, this would indicate that it’s something about the walk that is the exciting or anxiety producing factor, and not the presence of other dogs.

In this instance, we need to find the trigger for the anxiety. Could it be the journey in the car? Could it be that they’ve been left too long before the walk and worked themselves up? Do they act the same way with their owners?

If it’s unclear to you then it would be wise to suggest to the owner to have a session or two with a canine behaviourist to try and get to the bottom of it.