Dog Mounting - More Than One Reason Why They Do It

By Craig McPherson

Dogs and bitches can both have this problem and it can start from an early age.

Once the dog starts mounting, it needs to be corrected immediately, otherwise this problem will become a habit for the dog. Once the habit has developed it is hard for them to stop.

Puppies at the age of 6 weeks can start this mounting behaviour, they usually do it as a sign of dominance over its submissive victim. What I mean by this is that the pup will play fight as normal and if it is confronted by a situation where the pup can hold the victim it may start humping.

This humping is the way the dog expresses itself as over powering the object it has in place.

Bitches will mount other dogs to express sexual excitement (maybe she is in heat).

However, bitches will also mount as a sign of dominance, this can happen if you have a few dogs, and the female is the Alpha female. The female may mount the Beta male to show her authority in the pack order.

Once a pack order is established, the top dogs still need to remind the dogs of lower status, who is the boss every so often. The initial pack order routine creates the most violent and common problems, but once that order is established within a pack then it is not necessary to use much force to keep that order intact.

If the dogs mounting is due mainly to sexual urges, castration can sometimes help, but it may take a while for the changes to happen. If the male has had this problem for some time before castration, then it may have become a habit.

The best way to stop this is to catch the dog mounting its victim and hose it down, but do not do this on a very cold day and not on a young pup. A water pistol may also be a handy tool.

Once the water hits the dog shout "no" in a firm voice. This command is only needed once as long as the dog retreats, keep the hose on the dog for a few seconds longer then return to normal as if nothing happened.

Do not make any fuss over your dog, for a least half an hour after it has mounted.

If the water technique is not suitable for your style of training, then use the same technique as the water method, but tell the victim to push the dog down as the master gives the command 'NO'.

Dog obedience lessons are the best ways to stop most common behavioural problems. Find yourself a good dog trainer, and learn yourself from the trainer on how to incorporate certain behavioural methods into your dog's training program.

When you first go to a dog-training lesson, it is a good idea to take a list of all the questions or behavioural problems you may wish to ask your trainer about.

Under no circumstances should you let the dog do this as a joke or otherwise it can be rather embarrassing for visitors to come to your yard and your dog starts mounting their legs.

If you can foresee this happening then distract the dog with something else to avoid this behaviour.

Dog behavioural training is certainly the best solution and http://here-is-your.info/dog-training/ explains it in easy to follow steps.