Seeing your dog humping another dog or an inanimate object might be embarrassing for you, yet for many dogs it's their favourite pastime. Humping, or 'mounting' as it is officially known, is a common activity for our canine companions.

There are numerous reasons why dogs like to hump. Read on to find out which reason might be the explanation for why your pet is humping.

Sometimes it's normal

In some cases, humping can be a sign of normal behaviour. Mounting typically starts as play behaviour in young undesexed puppies. Normal play involves stalking, chasing, wrestling and even humping. Dogs that trust each other and get along will often take turns to mount one another. In this situation humping shows that the dogs have a healthy relationship.

Sometimes it's not normal...

Of course, there comes a point when mounting things is not normal and means should be taken to get them out of this habbit. Reasons for abnormal humping behaviour could be due to a number of reasons:

Poor socialisation as a puppy

Humping can develop from poor socialisation as a young dog, which leads to being ignorant of normal canine behaviour. As a dog grows, if the mounting behaviour has been accepted and reinforced then the humping will most likely continue.

Anxiety

Another common cause for mounting is self-soothing secondary to anxiety. Just like a child may suck their thumb, a dog make hump another pet, person, inanimate object or even the air before they relax and settle.

Hormones

It can also have a sexual basis. Driven by hormones and sexual arousal some dogs will mount each other. After desexing this behaviour can be blunted, although in some cases a habit may have already formed and training will be required to resolve the issue.

Dominance

Other reasons for humping in older animals include dominance, as a way of showing excitement or anxiety. Some dogs will hump to demonstrate their dominant position over another dog.

Over-excitement

However, the most common reason for humping is over-excitement. Dogs may be anxious in novel situations like visiting a new park, or when a visitor arrives at their home. Arousal or excitement may occur when the dog meets a new person or is given a new toy to play with.

In these situations, the mounting is considered a displacement behaviour as the dog has so much emotional conflict stemming from the excitement or anxiety that it doesn't know how to process it, and finds the only outlet it knows which is humping. If the dog's arousal or anxiety is not curbed then the mounting behaviour will continue.

How to stop your dog from humping

Pet behaviourists recommend monitoring the behaviour when the dog is young - if only during play or prior to desexing, it could be normal. However if it is still occurring after desexing, you should consider training them out of this activity, particularly if it's occurring frequently or becoming obsessive.

Speaking with a professional will also help to identify your dog's triggers for the behaviour. Training involves counter-conditioning which means that as soon as your dog starts to mount to quickly recall them and request another behaviour like 'sitting' which you can then reward.

If this training is reinforced every time your dog humps then the humping behaviour will quickly diminish - just like your embarrassment!