# Why would my female puppy hump my leg? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668 "2003-09-25T01:20:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/1 "2003-09-25T01:20:40Z")
I have a cute-but-annoying female puppy who has started humping my leg recently. I am curious why, since I thought only male dogs did this and only to simulate the thrusting motion. If she’s doing the “other side” of this, so to speak, is she actually feeling anything or is she just practicing? (And yes, I plan to have her fixed.) ---
**Author:** ![Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horrifying_Howler_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/2 "2003-09-25T01:43:25Z")
Could be a dominance issue. Could be she is just playing; I have seen puppies as young as a couple of weeks old play hump each other. If you haven’t already, after she has her shots, I would arrange for her to have some socialization time with other puppies. What breed of dog is she? ---
**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/3 "2003-09-25T01:47:13Z")
Female dogs definitely _do_ hump…to establish dominance. I don’t know if your puppy is old enough to start doing that sort of thing, or if there’s another explanation, but if it’s dominance behavior she is basically saying “I’m the boss of you!” If you let that sort of thing continue, she’ll feel no qualms about enforcing her will when she wants to, even to the point of biting to “correct” you. That can be a very dangerous situation with dogs that get big enough. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/4 "2003-09-25T02:24:36Z")
Suppose it is a dominance issue. In general, how does one establish dominance over a pet dog? Surely you don’t hump it back… ---
**Author:** ![Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/df788c/32.png) [@Horrifying\_Howler\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horrifying_Howler_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/5 "2003-09-25T02:48:33Z")
A young puppy in most cases just needs basic obedience training to convince it you are a pretty smart character who should be the boss of things. Excellent, **excellent** dog training book [Don’t Shoot The Dog](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553380397/104-0130809-6185517?v=glance). Everyone should read this book. If I had the money I would give it to everyone who adopted a dog from my rescue. I have never had a dog who I couldn’t convince I was the boss. I have never hit a dog to train it, all training I do is positive. It works with little yippy dogs, and it works with 100 pound Malamutes (the most dominant dogs I have ever worked with are Alaskan Malamutes, they will walk all over you). Most dominance issues can be solved quickly with some basic training sit, stay type training. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/6 "2003-09-25T02:48:50Z")
Because she likes you. “She really, really likes you.” Ain’t sex funny? I agree with the dominance thing. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/7 "2003-09-25T20:43:13Z")
Sorry I’m just getting back to this now. I agree with the dominance idea too, and I agree that she needs training (She nips us a lot). We’re also going to try her out at sort of “puppy kindergarten” where she can socialize. She’s a mixture of black Lab and (we were told) border collie. She’s still little (and I hope stays that way) and adorable, but also a terror. I confess to smacking her to housetrain her (which has succeeded) but also if she just won’t calm down and keeps nipping. Not hard smacks, just slaps to wake her up and get her attention. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Venom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Lady\_Venom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Venom)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/8 "2003-09-25T23:27:42Z")
You smacked her to housetrain her??? _bites lip_ ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/9 "2003-09-26T03:44:48Z")
Because she can. (i.e., you let her.) ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/10 "2003-09-26T08:28:28Z")
Maybe a visit to [**Big Gay Al**](http://www.geocities.com/d300g/southpark104.html) would be helpful… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-my-female-puppy-hump-my-leg/203668/11 "2003-09-26T15:12:31Z")
It’s a hormonal thing (sort of like why do men have nipples??) I had a female puppy who humped my leg, I looked it up in a book and it said it was hormonal - something to do with male and females puppies all in the same womb and there being a mix of male and female hormones floating about, she stopped it after a few weeks. Nothing to worry about