Female dog humping

[shivvy]

Is it normal for a female dog in her first season to get excited and try to hump?

[woofgang]

yes. Distract her with something else that is calm, not exciting, training exercise or a walk

[shivvy]

Thanks woofgang. Will it pass when she is no longer in season? She will be getting spayed in a few months time.

[hippyhoppy]

Cow's do this too. It's called 'bulling' and it's when they're ready to breed. Maybe it's a similar thing...

[woofgang]

the hormonal trigger will (usually) subside but it can also be a dominance behaviour, a habit or triggered if she gets a payback for doing it eg distraction with a treat. If its a dominance thing then generally teaching her that she isn't the boss and can't do it will help it subside. In the mean time, try distraction rather than taking notice if you know what I mean and give her attention and praise when she is doing something you want her to do like lying quietly.
Our 3 month old (boy) puppy had a phase of it, we stopped it by distraction and making gently clear to him that he's not the boss Dog Whisperer style.
For us,the advantage of his gentle pack leadership thing is that we have two litter brothers; one needs a really firm hand but his softer brother gets quite distressed and anxious by firm correction of his brother. Doing the "stand big and block exercise" calmly deals with our little naughty one and seems to reassure his brother rather than worry him.
As they are going to be big lads when adult I want to establish the boundaries now!

[Bigeye74]

My bitch takes every opportunety to start humping. The main trigger is my wife and I play fighting. Another one is when I do start doing situps in the gym.