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Originally Posted by machi  I did get him checked by the vet and he gave him a 10 out of 10 for health so an urinary infection or genital infection was ruled out (he has been doing this since I first got him at 9 weeks). He has millions of toys (well more like 25) that we alternate each week. He also gets obedience and he is a genius at it! ( we know sit, stay, wait, lie down, turn and sit, give paw, play dead- he is the fastest learner I ever had) He gets 3 walks a day one of which is at least 1 hour ( i was worried about this yet the vet said that he might be hyperactive since he does not get tired at all) I never push him more than he wants and he always lets me know if he is tired. He also gets the necessary sleep. In addition I am stimulating him mentally by giving him puzzles and he loves it. So from a point of view of activity and exercise he is quite set. I do take it away and hide it, yet he still finds it and if not he ends another victim ( i do take it away every time in a calm assertive manner and then he air humps for quite some while and looks at me with the most guilty expression) He does not hump anything else but fluffs. Hmm I hope he will grow out of it with some help from mommy and won't harm himself! Thank you for all the replies!!! |
Sounds like you are doing wonderfully good things to give him an interesting and challenging life and to teach him how to behave like a proper little house-companion. Just keep up directing him away from humping and tossing a ball or getting him otherwise busy playing hard and he will eventually stop humping - unless he's got some unknown condition driving this behavior. He's only 15 weeks old so you haven't been training him not to do this very long as he's probably just been humping since he was half that age and at this age, he forgets frequently. He's a baby. When he grow more, he'll retain the training longer and longer. It can take months to train OCD-like behavior out of a driven dog so just keep up the diverting/distracting activities and your other wonderful activities with him and he should eventually learn not to even try it as you will always, always, always intervene. And they read us when we intervene - he knows you don't like what he's doing from your scent and body attitude so that alone should help deter him when he is older.
Don't give up and just let him hump. Take away his plush at present. When he's air-humping, just divert and distract and one day, you will see breakthrough when he's old enough to really have a good pathway in his brain that successfully diverts the humping behavior. Plus, with all the obedience training, he will strive hard to want to please you and that, too, will help stop unwanted behaviors. But training obsessive acts from a driven dog takes a long, long time when they are old enough to actually learn and not forget frequently, as a puppy does. You two will get there if you are persistent, gentle and don't make a big deal out of diverting him into another activity. And when he's old enough, neutering will help further. Good luck with your little boy!