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puppy mounting

Posted October 5th, 2008 by laurenkq

Hi--great site! I have a 15 week old field English Setter pup, Teague. He is a delight--mostly calm, affectionate, happy to play with other dogs, easy to walk in our woods and fields off leash etc. We are clicker training--new for me--and have done one puppy kindergarten class. Our only big issue is this: he mounts people, apparently when tired, nervous, or uncertain. The day we brought him home, at 7 weeks, he was understandably anxious and began mounting my 5 year old daughter in a frenzy. That subsided as soon as he settled in, but the behavior surfaces in the following situations: when we adults are in the kitchen with him and he wants attention or can't figure out what to do (we ignore him; we praise/click/treat when he stops; if he repeats, we get a toy or put him in crate with a kong); it also happens toward the end of a walk or play session--perhaps he is tired or uncertain--he will mount female friends and occasionally children. In those situations I encourage them to ignore it, then I usually re-leash him once he stops, and try to redirect. However, sometimes they--not surprisingly--react by touching him/pushing at him/giggling etc. He is a lucky dog in that we homeschool our kids so he is with someone most of the time (though he does get occasional stretches at home crated while we do errands and does fine). He gets lots of exercise--multiple walks with us, playing outside with family, and even some time hanging out in yard with his friend our cat. He gets a lot of downtime in his crate too or napping in the kitchen. So far all of his food is given as treats or in kongs; we perhaps over-manage him at this point to avoid "bad" habits. I just don't know if we should simply continue as we are and assume eventually he won't mount? Seems like it hasn't increased in frequency, but it is still pretty predictable. Oh, and I am a vet, and feel like I should have a better handle on this! Thanks for any advice...

Lauren

Comments

re: puppy mounting

Aidan's picture
On October 6th, 2008 Aidan says:

Hi Lauren, great observations!

I suggest you deal with this exactly as you would a "jumping up" problem, teach an alternative behavior, a really simple alternative behavior. I suggest 'sit' because it is incompatible with mounting, and something he needs to learn anyway. It's always a great default behavior for "when in doubt".

With pups who jump up I recommend teaching 'sit' using the cue of folded arms. Folded arms encourages people to ignore pup and sends a pretty clear body language signal to pup that it isn't play time. The same advice could be used with pups who mount when stressed or tired.

Once he knows exactly what to do he doesn't have to guess any more. Given that this behavior started so young it's probably something that will come up from time to time so educate those around you not to reinforce the behavior by pushing, giggling, running etc

Regards,
Aidan
http://www.positivepetzine.com

puppy mounting

On October 7th, 2008 laurenkq says:

Thanks, Aidan. It makes total sense to view mounting like jumping. He does sit well, both on cue and as an alternative attention-seeker. I like the folded-arms signal and it won't be too hard to transition from the right arm raise I was using. I appreciate the help.

Lauren

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