he gets humpy with me or fiancee. he also started humping a friend of mine who stopped by today. it's usually when he's super-excited and needs to burn off his energy. but he does it when we're already exercising.

He is leashed whenever outside of the crate. The exception is that we play games (hide and seek, etc) in the house and will let him off leash for that (maybe 15 minute sessions once or twice a day). Also, from time to time I will restrict his access to one room (bedroom) and play with him off leash but he's never left alone off leash.

In the case of the bite I had just let him out of the crate and we were both sitting on the floor near the crate. He literally ran out the door and to her face and bit it. Took about one second from the time the crate door was unlatched. Maybe it was normal play for him but not something I want to encourage.

When he is aggressive I either ignore him completely (turn back) or try a loud 'no' or something similar, or I try to remove him from the location or crate him if he won't calm down.

The humping is to me or my fiancee. He has also humped a friend in front of our house. Since he's almost always on leash I use the leash to pull him away from me and tell him 'no. He usually will try a couple more times and then he tires or gives up. I also will try to distract him with doing a sit or down for treats and that sometimes makes him forget about the humping.

His sire is a chech import police dog. I don't know much about the mother. He has high prey and food drives.

Ah, puppyhood. I don't care for it myself.

My GSD pup was very humpy when he was young, as well. He'd often mount a particular bed (that to this day he acts weird about, clawing it gently in an almost seductive manner) and sometimes people. (The people were discouraged, the bed was only if he started getting rough with it (chewed off a small corner.) I remember a puppy we got when I was a kid, and I do recall as a puppy it was also very humpy- him especially with a large stuffed animal.

In human developmental speak, Freud believed in the psychosexual stages of development, where infants and children become aware of different erogenous zones on their bodies. I wonder if puppies go through the same type of stages?? (If you believe Freud wasn't just a fruit-cake Or perhaps it has nothing to do with pleasure but with figuring out their rank? Or maybe it's just animalistic exploration; a natural expression of their "animalness?"

Perhaps just ignore that previous paragraph, it may just be my early morning craziness!

Hi Jerry,

Congratulations on the new pup, he sounds like a handful. To your post about him darting out the crate and biting your fiancee, I would train your pup to not dart out of the crate and be calm. I have a pup myself and from day 1, she had to be calm before exiting the crate. It took some time and patience, but what I did was when she was quiet and calm, I walked to her crate and unlatched the door, but kept it closed. At first she got very excited and pawed at the door and such, but I kept the door closed (but not latched) by pushing on it. When she calmed down then, I slowly opened the door. Nonetheless, the moment she tried to step and dart out, I closed the door again.

Incrementally, I was able to open the door more and more until it was completely open and she sat or laid calmly inside. Then, I say something like "ok" and she steps out and stops because I have my foot right at the edge of the crate. She must stop there because I need to put her collar(s) and leash on (I always remove all collars when my dog is crated). She waits for that stuff to go on and then by that time she is pretty calm.

This will not happen on the first day, but in a couple weeks, he will learn to stay calmly in his crate when you open the door and my pup actually just sticks her head and neck out when I say "ok" for me to put the collars and leash on. Then, when I step out of her way and tell her to come out she trots out and is calm.

Hopefully, this will teach your pup to not dart out of the crate and play right away.

Good Point Siaty. We haven't been consistent on that one. It seems like during the day I am better but at night I just want to 'get it done' and haven't been as patient to wait and also the opening and closing of metal crate is disruptive at night to whomever isn't 'on-duty' but I agree that teaching this would help in getting a calmer dog out of the crate and I'll work on my consistency there. Thanks!

Jerry, I had meant what was he doing in the crate when you let him out? Was he still spazzing or was he calm? As Siaty beat me to saying, work on not letting him out of the crate until he is calm.

If the sire was a czech import police dog it sounds like a working bred litter which helps to explain the behavior a bit more. It still sounds like a puppy with a lot of energy and drive that is responding to nearby stimuli in the way he has been reinforced to do. Don't pay attention to him in the crate when he is going bonkers, better yet leave the room. Don't let him out, don't talk to him. He doesn't need to be "shown that everything is ok" because everything IS ok, it isn't a big deal and so outbursts of barking or growling or spazing out will be ignored and he should receive no reinforcement from you.

For the humping, definitely discourage this. A 14 week old pup humping its humans needs a lot of exercise and gentle but persistent redirection.

Thanks Jennifer. He was probably semi-excited when let out and therefore shouldn't have been let out. We'll take your advice and leave the room or completely ignore when he's not calm in the crate. At times we've been guilty of trying to calm him verbally when he's excited and I'm sure that's only reinforced it now.