November 15, 2011

Our 11 month old embarrasses me by humping me or even family members. How do we deal with this?

Full Question:
Hi there...

Love your website and everything you do and also as a customer please keep it up...

I have a problem with my 11 months German shepherd, he is embarrassing me by humping on my leg or jump and hump on me or even sometimes with other family members especially while we are out for a walk in the beach or other places. Please let me know the correct direction on how to deal with it :(
Cindy
Cindy Cindy's Answer:
First of all, I want to thank you for the kind words and for your business. We truly appreciate it.

Your dog is now a teenager and he’s going to push the envelope sometimes with behavior that’s completely normal, but not really something you want to allow.

I would give him a default behavior to practice when he’s out on walks and you encounter someone else. I would ask him to SIT and give you eye contact. I would also ask others to not look at, talk to or touch him so he can maintain his composure in these situations. I’d mark and reward with a high value treat and work to keep his attention on you. Use the leash to block him from any deviation from what you want.

Same thing in any other scenario. Keep a leash on him ALL the time. I would simply block any jumping around or attempts by him to jump up on you. You know he’s going to have to jump up first to do the humping behavior so it’s best to interrupt it before it starts.

If you are letting him run around loose, you have no way to control him so keep him leashed and remind him of the rules.

Once he’s better on leash, you could go to an ecollar for interrupting the behavior. I see that you have an ecollar and the video. Just make sure you work this on leash for a while first, and even if you do go to the ecollar let him wear the leash as well until he’s clearly understanding what you expect.

I hope this helps,
Cindy Rhodes

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Expert Dog Trainer Cindy Rhodes
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