Relaxation and Humping

[Valerie]

Hello everyone, It's finally showing signs of cooling off here in Kansas and I got Eka a summer cut last month. I think that's helped our training or at least my desire to be outside longer than 5 minutes at a time.

I'm writing again on a good night, (but I have to admit there are about 10 never-written posts inbetween my a-ha!-skootching-slowly-forward posts where I am frus-trat-ed). I've been having some luck with the one time a day training in the evenings so that she is good and hungry and I've been doing pretty strict crate training. My mom is afraid she is going to become neurotic from being isolated and crated so much. I think I'm seeing improvement but it's slow.

Anyway, We're having training sessions where she is pushing pretty strongly at times but now I'm not sure how to work in the relaxation at the end so I run out of food and she's still ready to go. And when I kneel down to try and giver her a good rub she humps me. (I also notice that with other dogs she goes to humping them pretty quickly after the greeting.)

What should I be doing? Is there some working up to relaxation that I should be doing? She doesn't really like me to pet her down her back at the end, or at least if she is sitting or lying down she pops back up when I try to pet her. Should we end on the box on a longish downstay? Should I let her hump until she stops or push her off and run?

Thanks for any help! And I've been enjoying lurking and reading everyone's posts.

Valerie

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Hi, Valerie,

Humping is a redirection of the urge to bite. Think of the energy inherent to chasing a prey animal -- which gets its juice (so to speak) from the sex drive -- getting stuck in the genital area. (All drives get their energy from the sex instinct, a Freudian concept, but true, nonetheless.)

Have you ever played "Chase Me" with Eka? Sometimes, with a dog that humps, the act of chasing overrides whatever issues are causing her energy to get stuck, and her urge to bite eventually overcomes her nervousness.

Read "Manage Your Dog's Energy," but skip past the blue part. Just remember that whenever you play "Chase Me" it tends to stimulate the dog's urge to bite, so you shouldn't do it unless you have a toy available for the dog to grab onto.

LCK

[Valerie]

Ohhhh. Wow, we really nerfed directing her urge to bite when she was a young puppy. I wish we could have a do-over. I knew she was stuck but she is stuck. I didn't realize that was another redirection.

So I was seeing it as a time to end things, a winding down, when it sounds like it needs to be coaxed out and into biting. I will definitely read through that post a few times and try the games. I did actually get her to tug more than usual last night, it was pretty fun. She would still hump whenever I slowed down and stopped moving, but she was biting more and tugging more strongly.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Originally Posted by Valerie

I did actually get her to tug more than usual last night, it was pretty fun. She would still hump whenever I slowed down and stopped moving, but she was biting more and tugging more strongly.

That's the goal. The stronger and harder she bites in play, the less need she'll have to express that energy through "neurotic" behaviors.

LCK