Dog Training Q and A! 12/17/2020: How can I get my dog to stop humping other dogs in order to exert his "dominance?"

This is a bonus episode: A recording of a live Q and A. Join Annie Grossman for a live Q and A most Thursdays. Sign up for the next one at http://schoolforthedogs.com/qanda or join in the School For The Dogs app at http://schoolforthedogs.com/community Have a question? Visit AnnieGrossman.com/ask or upload a recording at anchor.fm/dogs . In this episode, Annie talks about humping: Why dogs do it, how to get them to not do it, and why everyone should just chill out about it. --- Partial Transcript: Annie: I was going to talk just briefly about humping. Got a question: How do I get my malel neutered dog to stop trying to hump other male dogs to assert his dominance. So let let’s talk about that. The simplest answer to the question is you should work on getting your dog’s attention. You can manage a lot of behaviors if you have the ability to get your dog to come to you, to pay attention to you when you need your dog to do so. And you can do that by practicing getting your dog’s attention in less distracting situations. It’s a process of using classical conditioning to your advantage. I have a podcast episode where I talk about teaching come and drop it using classical conditioning. And, same idea. You want your dog to know that when you say whatever the specific word is, or blow whistle or whatever, that it is worth their while to stop whatever they are doing and to turn their attention to you. So, often with Come, people do this with a whistle, whether it’s an actual whistle or just whistling with your lips, because that’s a noise that’s very specific and could be meaningful. And it’s an easy thing to teach because all you need to do is whistle and then drop some great things at your feet. Drop some treats. And you just need to be really consistent about that. What’s nice about teaching behaviors in this way is, certainly in the beginning, you’re really not asking anything of your dog. You’re just teaching your dog to make the connection between stuff dropped on the ground. I’m sorry, between the sound and stuff dropped on the ground, stuff that is delicious. And I liken it to — I mean, there are so many, so many things that you can liken it to, but it’s kind of like throwing a sale, right? The sale isn’t happening because you are going to the store, but the store having the sale makes you go there because you’ve been conditioned to understand what a sale is. So my suggestion is work on teaching really good recall. It could also be like a break cue. At School Yard at School for the Dogs , we teach dogs that, when we say break, that means they need to stop what they’re doing and turn their attention to us. But also, I don’t know why your dog is having so many opportunities to hump other male dogs, but certainly as the controller of your dog’s social life, you could also limit access to other male dogs unless you’re really ready to be practicing that recall or that break. And then work up to situations where your dog is maybe in a dog park or less controlled situations. Full Transcript available at SchoolfortheDogs.com/Podcast Get full access to Don't Be a Dick to Your Dog at dogtraining.substack.com/subscribe