Why is my spayed female dog humping things?

Factual Questions
1

I am not sure if there is a specific answer to this, and Google isn’t helpful tonight. (I’ve seen one very poor answer in Yahoo! Answers, and a few other guess-type answers in the other results. Now I’m frustrated and curious.)

Our dog is 10 months old, female and was spayed in July. She occasionally ‘humped’ her toys when excited/playful/stimulated, and once in a while, her bed. This past week, it’s greatly increased. First, she was making sweet, sweet love to her bed, then yesterday she discovered our arms, and today’s she’s been acting like a porn star.

Why is she doing this if she is spayed? My husband pointed out that spaying wouldn’t remove the sex drive entirely. Is she sexually aroused, or just in excitable, high spirits? It seems to happen in the midst of play like fetch or just silly play with one or other of her humans.

If this is a sexual thing, is she getting anything out of it? She is very adept now at clasping our arms with her paws, in order to get the arm to ‘submit’ to her whims. However, her genital area isn’t making contact. So I’m wondering if this is actually masturbation? Is she reaching any relief?

Is this just an off-shoot of high spirits during a dull, rainy, cold time of the year, where she’s inside the house more? (We are playing with her, and playing lots of fetch, and interacting.)

Is it an expression of dominance on her part?

Should we discipline this? I am thinking that this is not behaviour I would like her to perform with other people that she meets. (She goes to work with my husband, and I do not think humping his clients is appropriate.)

If we should discipline/discourage this, what are firm, kind and humane ways to do so?

Sorry for the rambling; this has really only flared up today.

BONUS question: Recommendations for reliable web-based resources on dog care, training and behaviour to supplement information we get from our vet. I was not impressed with the quality of information that my search initially produced.

2

Sounds like an expression of dominance.

I would think you’d want to break this habit soon. Take her off the humped object and have her sit or lay down for a moment.

3

It is most likely a dominance associated thing, and doesn’t have anything to do with sex drive. Sorry to be so blunt, but females aren’t the ones doing the humping in mating. If she had a strong sex drive, she would stand still with her tail slightly to one side, so as to facillitate mounting by the male.

Mounting behavior by females, especially in cattle, is a dominance thing. As such, you can most certainly discourage it without guilt about supressing her natural urges. You’re the pack leader. She doesn’t get to hump you. She doesn’t get to hump your husband, or any other humans. Personally, I’d let her hump her toys at home if she wanted to. They are toys and it is acceptable for her to be dominant over them.

Discourage her from humping you whenever she tries. Be sure that everyone in the house does the same so that she understands the rules and doesn’t get confused about which humans allow what amount of humping before they get upset.

My 0.02.

Ask your vet for websites they trust. There are a lot of opinions on the web, and while some of them aren’t necessarily wrong, they can be damned strange at times.

4

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to point out good, sane dog-question websites… can anyone tell me the legality of this?

but you’d be best if you teach her what her role is in the pack structure now, I think. “Nothing In Life Is Free” or NILIF is a good place to start a search.

5

Sure. You’re allowed to post a link to other sites as long as they’re not “dirty.” (If there’s nudity or other not-safe-for-work material, you’re supposed to make the link un-clickable.)

6

Thanks for all the responses!

We shall not allow her to hump our arms (or legs, or any part of us) any more. If she wants to express dominance over her bed or her teddy bear, that’s okay with me, but I want her to be aware of her position on our ‘pack’. Clover must listen and obey commands given by us, as they are in her best interest, so I don’t want to erode that.

It’s more understandable that it’s not necessarily a sexual thing–she’s a female dog, and it was certainly not a “do me” kind of thing–it was a “doing” kind of thing. (And quite adept for a spayed girl, too!) I am glad to hear that it’s probably not sexual frustration on her part. (That’s no fun for anyone, and just one of the reasons why she is spayed.) She doesn’t do anything like “present” herself to be mounted, which I’ve heard some cats occasionally do to people.

Recommending websites is a-okay–we do it all the time, don’t we? If someone knows of a website that they’ve found to be reliable, helpful, and so on, I’d love to get a link. It’s not a guarantee that puts the linkee in any position of liability. I love to share my bookmarks, too, that’s all.

Okay, we shall now go forth with curbing this behaviour, and onto a (hopefully) hump-free future!