I have 3 dogs. A neutered Great Dane (Huck), a neutered German Shepherd (Zeb), and a soon-to-be neutered (in 2wks) boxer (Rigatoni). Their ages are 2-1/2, 1-1/2, & a little over 1 respectively.
All three dogs get along fine. They play hard and rough and get two walks a day (one off leash so they can run off SOME energy). There has never been any jealousy among them.
Every week they each get one day at a doggy daycare just for socialization. They all love going.
Yesterday was Huck’s turn. When I brought him home there was the usual over-excitement from the other two dogs. They jump around him and bark and carry on. Usually, after the first five minutes, they have all calmed down. Yesterday, Rigatoni flipped his wig! He kept smelling Huck all over, whining, and tried to mount him! He has never mounted or humped anything before. He followed Huck around and was in his face all evening. Huck was lounging on the couch and Rigatoni was making a pest out of himself - licking Huck’s face and crying. I finally made Rigs sit on the loveseat so poor Huck could have some peace. Rigatoni then stared at him until he (Rigatoni) fell asleep. When he’d wake up, he’d stare at Huck again. It was like he was obsessed with Huck. Huck went upstairs to lay on his bed. Suddenly I heard all kinds of commotion. Sure enough, Rigatoni followed him upstairs and was on the bed with him smelling and licking. Huck got irritated and barked and growled. Rigatoni was whining and crying.
It wasn’t as bad this morning but Rigatoni was still displaying some of the same behaviors. Any ideas on what is going on? My husband thinks that maybe Huck was close to a female dog that was in heat and had her scent on him. It’s the only thing I can think of too.
How old is Rigatoni? Dogs hump other dogs and anything else available to display dominance or just because dogs do strange things. If Rigatoni is old enough to neuter the humping be a sign of recent hormone changes. It could also be something he saw at daycare. It’s not weird at all, weird dog behavior would be something like refusing to eat a piece of cheese. Discourage him, forcefully if necessary, and see what happens after the operation.
This sounds most probable, and the way to deal with it would be a good long shampoo bath. If the “problem” went away, that would confirm it. Still, the younger dog needs some training since you may run into someone with a dog in heat, and you want your dog to behave a little more appropriate than trying to hump everything in the general vacinity.
Sounds like Rigatoni is past time to have the trouble puffs removed. He’ll probably calm down nicely once his hormones settle down–and yeah, sounds like someone brought an on heat dog to the day care, which is quite the party foul. Might want to alert the day care to keep an eye out because nobody needs a litter of surprise muttpups or even blood spot mess to clean up.
Rigatoni turned 1 at the end of June. He was scheduled to be neutered right around his birthday (nice gift!) but it was rescheduled for Aug 18 because someone working at the clinic had COVID or was exposed.
I know that dogs mount and hump to show dominance. This was the first time he displayed this behavior. Neither of the other two dogs has ever humped.
It was a little better yesterday. I only caught him a couple of times giving poor Huck the once-over. I’m going to wash Huck down. Hopefully, all will be well after that.