I have a 7 1/2 week old male golden Retriever. We have had goldens before but I am a little puzzled by the behavior of this one. He has started to hump us. He knows what "no" means when it comes to chewing and other behaviors, but doesn't always stop this on the "no" command. We plan on having him fixed, but of course that won't be for awhile. Is this normal at such a young age? It seems pretty early to me.

I've seen it in 3 and 4 month old dogs of all shapes sizes and breeds, and I've even seen a female do it LOL. Neutering didn't do a thing to cure it. From what I understand, a dog humping your leg is the dog trying to be dominant. Ed has articles that tell you how to raise a puppy to minimize/eliminate dominance issues so go read all the groundwork and dominant dog articles on the site.

Hi. My 8 week old puppy tried that to me when we first got him. I have been working consistently to be his pack leader. I haven't noticed him doing the behavior lately. He is just bitey on everyone and everything. But, he's only 10 weeks old. He's starting to learn the sit command. If I see any behavior that's unacceptable, I say "No" and I make him hold a sit. Then I pet him. I do it over and over all day long.

Enjoy.

Thanks for your reply, Ive been reading my butt off.

Thanks for your reply, I'm going to try that. I have a question about you trying to be his pack leader. Are following the advice on this site to the letter or partially. I work a 24 hour shift, therefore can't follow to the letter.

Hi Dan,

I'm voraciously reading as you are to gain information as well. Just letting you know that as I read from an earlier reply, it seems to me if you follow ground work (to the letter) of asserting yourself as the pack leader in ALL areas of your dog's life, then this behavior will cease...my female GSD used to mount my wife (go ahead, laugh it up) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> when we would hug and since I've taken control of our dog/owner relationship, it has immediately stopped and she is a different dog for the better! I can't tell you how much truly understanding a dog's psychology has helped me in training her...and I really am looking forward to progressing with her in every possible way...as I am sure you will be too! Best of luck!

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Thanks for your reply, I'm going to try that. I have a question about you trying to be his pack leader. Are following the advice on this site to the letter or partially. I work a 24 hour shift, therefore can't follow to the letter.

I think that not every dog owner needs to follow the steps to the letter simply because some dogs don't have all the issues that the "official steps" deal with, but its very dependant on the type of dog and the level of dominance and what type of signs the dog is showing. For example... i'm not supposed to let my dog sleep on my bed, but I have no problems with my dog, he isn't dominant, he isn't aggressive, he d*** well knows I'm the one he needs to respect and listen to, so if he wants to sleep on the foot of my bed then he's more than welcome to - but he usually hops off my bed after 20 minutes cuz he gets annoyed at my tossing & turning <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> I've never been strict on him sitting when I open the door and me going thru it first either, I just tell him to stay if I don't want him going thru the door, but if I want him to go out, it's easier for me to let him go out n close the door behind us instead of me going out and waiting for him to go out then closing the door - call it laziness if you want <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> HOWEVER, my next dog I am sure will be a harder more dominant and aggressive dog if I let it "get outta hand", so for that dog I will find it more important to follow more/all of the steps and be stricter on the dogs upbringing because there'll probably be a huge difference in temprements between my current GSD and my new Dutch Shepherd.