What Age Do Puppies Start Humping? Why and How To Stop It

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Why Do Puppies Hump
How To Stop Puppies From Humping
FAQs
Conclusion

What Age Do Puppies Start Humping: Puppies start humping from the tender age of 4 weeks. At this stage, the humping is a result of excitement and is completely natural. After the age of 4 weeks – 8 weeks, they begin to hump often to show authority or dominance over things, fellow pets, or people too. When they grow to become mature dogs, they hump over other dogs thus, responding to their sexual hormones. In this article, you would discover other reasons why puppies hump, how to reduce it, and much more. If you’re a dog owner, you wouldn’t want to miss reading it for anything!

Let’s begin by examining some hidden reasons behind a dog hump.

Why Do Puppies Hump

Humping can be caused due to several reasons. So, this section of this write-up would be highlighting details of humping and what they may signal. So, below are enlisted, some common reasons why puppies hump.

To Initiate Play Time

Puppies may begin to hump to show you that they are ready to play and that they want you to join them. They start by laying their paws over you and would not allow you to face any other direction aside from theirs. Aside from trying to hump on humans, they also hump on their toys when they play with them. They hump with so much excitement signalling that they are ready to play or that they are already having fun.

While humping, you need to watch out if this humping is just a sign of stress. You need to watch out for their body language during play to find out if they are already stressed because this too may be expressed through humping.

Response To Sexual Hormones

One of the most common reasons why puppies hump is their response to sexual maturity. When you notice your puppy has its tail up during humping or starts to pant excessively during humping, then the humping may be sexually motivated. Puppies which are about 5 -8 weeks old are often fond of humping. This is because they are their sexual hormones begin to develop fast and in response to that, may begin to hump often.

To Show Authority

When a puppy notice that you’re not giving it attention as you used to, it may begin to hump. This humping, in this case, is to signal you to show more attention to it. They may hump and engage in little barks and even bite you when it becomes too obvious that you are not making it a priority.

This humping strategy doesn’t only occur with humans, puppies may do that to other puppies when they find out that the other dog is not giving it enough attention. They often use lay their paws on the other dog or bite to display this.

Sign Of Excitement

Puppies are often fond of showing their excitement by humping. Since they are just growing, they have not yet developed a means to show their excitement, so they do this through humping. For instance, when your puppy catches sight of you bringing its favourite treats, most of the time, it would hump and even stay in the air for seconds to show excitement.

If your puppy begins to hump more frequently than before, it could mean something else. Let’s consider some ways to stop puppies from humping. The next subheading discusses that.

How To Stop Puppies From Humping

It is important that in trying to stop your puppies from humping, you do not try to beat or punish them in one way or the other. Humping is natural. It is advised that you just distract or train your mind to stop humping excessively unless when necessary. Here are some recommended ways to stop your puppies from humping:

Distract Your Puppy

A puppy that is frequently humping on every pet, person, or toy it sees can be embarrassing at times. So, one way to prevent your puppy from humping on everything it sees is by redirecting its attention to something else. For instance, while going on a walk with your dog, you could carry its favourite ball along with you. So that when it is about to hump on someone, you could throw the ball to a distance and play catch with it.

If this is done often, your puppy would lose interest in humping on unnecessary things within a matter of time. It would only hump on things when it needs to signal you on something.

Pay Attention To Your Dog Anxiety

Anxiety can cause stress. Stress, in turn, can cause your dog to hump often. So to curb frequent humping from your dog, you can address your dog’s stress level. To reduce stress on your dog, you can seek opportunities where you and your dog can relax. You can visit your dog park, or you can get a new friend with your dog. The essence of this is to create a relaxing environment for your dog and in the long run, would reduce humping from your dog.

Provide Hump Toys

A big stuffed toy is suitable for this. If your dog hump excessive than necessary, you can reduce that by purchasing a hump toy that is soft and fluffy for your dog. You can train your dog in such a way that it would see the toy as a humping material.

FAQs

Is it normal for a 3-month-old puppy to hump?

Yes. It is normal for a 3-month-old puppy to hump. Puppies at this age would start to hump to show excitement or anxiety.

Should I let my 5-month-old puppy hump things?

Yes. If your puppy has a toy, you can let it hump on those toy. If you notice that it loves humping on you, you can train it to stop it.

Should I let my puppy hump my dog?

Well, a dog shouldn’t hump another dog unless for sexual reasons. This is because it often leads to fights over authority.

Should I let my 12-week-old puppy hump?

Yes. You can let your 12-week-old puppy hump. Humping for a puppy helps it to adapt to the environment and helps it identify who it should be comfortable with.

Conclusion

This article has been able to show you that a dog hump is not always out of excitement. It can be due to different factors as you’ve read. No doubt, you have learned one or two things from reading this today. Do well to share this with other pet owners that might find this helpful.