Incessant people humping in neutered male

[T HALL]

Hello,

Our nearly 2yo red setter male has a horrible habit of humping people. He understands it’s not allowed in the home, but others and visitors are fair game outside if I’m not there soon enough to interject the behaviour. He’s well exercised and I think he mostly does it to people who smell nice and because it feels good and he’s very happy to see them! It’s definitely a result of overstimulation, as if we have a lot of people in our garden/children etc. his humping attempts go into overdrive and he is very persistent. He can only be distracted (with games or treats for coming away on command) or managed for so long before it becomes a bit miserable doing this and repeated time outs don’t work, he just takes up where he left off when he returns with more enthusiasm, so ends up being removed from the situation for the whole time. He’s been know ignore recall and run off a long distance to hump a leg! I’ve ruled out anything with the vet. Please help!

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums!

Neutering has often been portrayed as being a cure-all surgery, magically causing undesirable behaviors to melt as ice cream under the sun. However, this is far from being true. In general, neutering will only impact behaviors that are, for the most part, hormonally-driven, meaning behaviors that are triggered by the hormone testosterone.

With the hormones out of the way, neutered dogs who still mount are often doing so out of overstimulation, as a way to express their happiness or as a way to cope with stress, as an attention-seeking behavior (who could ever ignore a dog that mounts!), or it may stem from medical problems. 

It sounds like you have ruled out everything medical with the help of your vet, and that he's being exercised enough and has enough attention during the day, and since he does this to guests,  I agree with you that it sounds like he's likely overstimulated, super happy and maybe even a tad bit stressed if there's too much going on. Basically, it often boils down to this: if your dog is unsure on how to behave in a certain situation, or if he’s overly excited about the arrival of guests, mounting can help relieve his tension.

I think you're on the right track, but need to tweak things a bit by using more management and consistency. Here are some general tips:

-Prevent Rehearsal of Mounting Behavior

One of the most important tips when dealing with dogs who mount people/dogs is to prevent rehearsal of the problematic behavior. Dogs are very routine-oriented beings and when they rehearse behaviors over and over, they get stuck into their habits and practice makes perfect causing it to become their default way for them to want to interact with guests.

Things become even more difficult when dogs are allowed to rehearse behaviors sometimes yes and sometimes no, because they get intermittent reinforcement (which is the science behind why people get addicted playing at casinos, they never know when they'll win). Mounting is a self-rewarding behavior on its own so any time he gets to perform it, he's being rewarded. 

In general, with mounting behaviors, the earlier the behavior is tackled, the better the outcome. A dog who has rehearsed the humping behavior for years is going to be more difficult to tackle compared to a dog who has just started. So you'll need to factor this in. If your setter has mounted for over a year, it will take more effort and persistence to tackle it. When it comes to undesirable dog behavior, it's much easier to nip things in the bud. 

-Be Consistent With Management

To prevent rehearsals, we use strict management. That means we take steps to prevent the dog from rehearsing the mounting. This can entail, keeping him on leash at a distance away from the guests, keeping him in a separated area (crate, exercise pen, behind a baby gate), tethering him (there are outdoor tie-outs) and tell guests to not approach him (this is temporary, until he's better trained). 

This may need some testing because, if he sees the guests and can't get to them, that may lead to relentless frustration barking, so in some cases, not seeing them works better, especially if there are kids running around back and forth.

Providing the dog with something valuable to chew when confined can help them better cope with the separation, while giving them something to do.  If your dog is not used to being confined in a crate or exercise pen, you will need to work on that and that can take time, so you may need to use other options first.

Keeping him on leash may be a good option considering that he'll still be able to take part in the family gathering, but he won't be able to approach guests and start to hump.

However, even here we may need to use caution: some dogs may get frustrated and start humping who they are leashed to or may start biting the leash (a chain leash is less appealing to bite if that's the case). There are leashes thar are hands free and can be clipped to a belt. 

Keep some treats in your pocket or treat bag and occasionally ask for sits and steps of attention heeling https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/  and reward those every now and then. This helps prevent him from feeling frustrated (since he's no longer free to go around as he pleases), creates positive associations with you, while also teaching him some self-control in presence of distractions.

-Don't Fall into the Redirection Trap

Redirection is often recommended, but there's a caveat that is often not mentioned. We risk falling into a redirection trap due to the phenomenon of behavior chains. In other words, let's say a dog mounts, and we then call him to us and give him treats to stop him. In this case, we risk that we insert an undesirable behavior into a behavior chain. Behavior chains are simply sequences of behaviors. 

In simple words, the dog learns to get a double whammy or rewards, one he gets to hump (which as mentioned is self-rewarding on its own) and two he's rewarded for rushing towards you. Soon the dog thinks: every time I mount, I then get called and get treats, so the mounting behavior repeats and gets stronger because of this double reinforcement at play. Some dogs may also get a kick out of it as it soon turns into a game where the dog purposely mounts and then looks at you in hopes of being called and then getting treats. 

To break this chain, it can help to insert more behaviors in the chain, like when he mounts, you call him, then ask for a sit and then ask to shake, and then ask for a hand target, before giving the treats. This is done in hopes that with all these additional behaviors inserted, the dog forgets he was humping prior, but some dogs can be super smart in learning chains, even the longer ones. 

So my go-to  method in these cases, is doing everything possible to calling the dog away, *before* he has a chance to hump, once we recognize his intent. This can be a bit of a challenge, because you need a speedy fast response from the dog and very close monitoring of the most subtle "pre-mounting signs." But it helps a lot, also because a dog is more difficult to pay attention to us once they have grasped somebody's legs. 

-Provide Alternate Activities

Due to reinforcing nature of mounting, it would therefore be important to prevent the behavior from happening in the first place and offering alternate activities that surpass the reinforcement provided by the mounting. This training takes time, so ideally, prevent rehearsal of the problem behavior in the meanwhile through management, while you work in the background on the desirable behavior you’d like your dog to perform when guests come over.

What behaviors can be trained? There are several behaviors we can train our dog to interact with guests in better ways.

For instance, we can train them to target the guest's hands with his nose in exchange for a tossed treat. Here is the guide on targeting: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

We can play "round robin recalls" where we have guests in a circle taking turns calling your dog, asking for a sit and then tossing a treat, rinse and repeating several times to drain that hyper excited energy. 

I can't emphasize enough the importance of going high value with the treats when working around strong distractions. I am talking tripe, baked liver, roasted chicken, whatever he drools buckets for. We need to compete over the mounting's self-reinforcement nature and its strong, established rehearsal history. 

-Work Under Threshold

Now, we can't obviously train these behaviors with a variety of guests around and kids running amock. Your setter would likely be way too over threshold to listen. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

So start training hand targets, recalls and sits in a low distraction area using medium-value treats and family members,  and build up from there, gradually and systematically. Once he's reliable in responding, you would need to enlist the help of one to two friends to get started. Keep your dog on leash and practice on approaching them. Have your guests ask for a hand target or a sit, and tell them to toss the treats on the ground treasure-hunt style. Rinse and repeat several times. 

If you notice an intent to mount, instruct them to turn their back around and walk away, or you walk with your dog away. Give him a minute cool down time. This teaches your dog that his behavior doesn't yield any attention/interaction. But then as you return, and you keep giving him opportunities to make it right by attending to you or your guests' cues, you allow the idea that, if he interacts appropriately, he gets attention, interaction and treats, to sink in more and more. 

Then practice with more guests, a variety of guests until you establish a new way to interact that doesn't involve mounting. Then start practicing on a longer leash (from 4 feet to 6), then on a long line (10 feet) until you build enough reliability that you can start working off leash.

Of course, you won't always have guests willing to ask for sits or hand targets, so you also want to practice also more on recalls and leave its.

Recall is the happy response you want and that you have been working on, but likely in too high-level distractions where he's unable to respond. Leave it is more of a "stop doing what you are doing" and come towards me. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/recall/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

-Dogs Who Mount Need More Impulse Control 

If your dog is too excited around guests,  he may benefit from learning better impulse control. Here are some impulse control exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

 If your dog is slightly anxious, take steps to reduce his anxiety. Ask your guests to talk in a calm tone of voice and use subtle movements. Create positive associations with having guests in your home. Reduce the number of stressors from your dog's environment.

If there are kids running around in the yard, that can be too much for many dogs. It's best to do a little training when things are better under control (like kids standing quietly) and then put the dog in another area to relax.

Calming aids like DAP collars and sprays, calming supplements can help too (ask your vet's advice for these) if there's some stress at play.

Giving the dog a break from the guests allows us to relax too because it's close to impossible to attend to guests and a dog who needs so much close monitoring all the time. Not to mention, dogs get mentally exhausted at some point with so much going on and when they get tired, they get cranky and that can cause them to mount even more.

You can basically strategically time your training with when your guests are engaged in calmer activities (like chit-chatting versus playing with a ball) and once you're happy with how your dog is interacting, you can praise him lavishly,  and then take him back to a quiet area to get some respite with something desirable  and safe to chew. 

Warning: when dogs mount, they may sometimes react aggressively, if we approach them and try to pull them off. On top of this, such removals can cause scratches to the person's skin if the dog has grasped them.  It is best to give them a cue or toss a treat to let them disengage. 

-Make Sure Physical and Mental Energy are Drained

When guests come over all the excitement (sometimes nervous energy) needs to go somewhere. I know you mentioned you exercise him, but mental stimulation (brain games) can help drain a good portion of that too.

You may need some experimenting and see how more exercise, training and mental stimulation prior to the guests' arrival impacts him best. You need the right balance as too little energy expenditure can increase mounting, but too much can make them cranky and that increases mounting too. 

I hope this helps, keep us posted on how things go! 

Happy training!

Adrienne 

Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.