In the 10 months that we've had Ginger, she did something new...she humped a dog! I thought, 'Oh! This is new!' and giggled...

When we brought Storm over to meet Ginger to see what their initial reaction would be to each other, Storm humped Ginger. I thought, 'Oh! Storm is hot for Ginger!', and smiled...

Last night during play time, Ginger humped Storm's leg (because she's just too short to get up on him!), and then Storm humped Ginger's face, then Ginger stood over Storm when he was laying down and humped him, and then Storm got on Ginger and humped her...that was the most humping I've seen between the 2...

What exactly does humping mean??

Just curious....

It's what I call the "dominance dance".

Unless the dogs are tying, and in your case they are not, then humping is a form of displaying dominance.

Ginger and Storm are working out their place in the pack, perfectly normal.

Edited to add: The first time Dakota humped a male puppy I freaked out and thought my dog was gay.

It can actually mean a lot of things. Sometimes it's a sign of "dominance" or a dog who belives he's higher up trying to "control" a lower ranking dog who's causing a fuss. You see it a lot in play as well.

Mickey is very "alpha male" type of dog. At the park sometimes when there's a bully dog around i'll see him go up to the dog and strutt around him sometimes even mounting him. That's dominance. Other times there will be a wildly obnoxious dog that just won't relax. Sometimes dogs will hump the obnoxious dog trying to control him. Other times dogs are so stimulated with play that they begin to hump.

There's a lot of different meanings with humping.

thanks for putting a smile on my face C! i had a silent giggle with your post. you more or less described S&J, but Sierra does more of the humping then Jack, in fact i wanted to record it the other night but did not have my phone next to me. she will just walk up to him if he is laying down and just make the motions but never mounts him just gets real close to him. i think it is a dominance thing for her. Jack mounted a dog for the first time at the park like 2 months ago, he had never done that and it was a female so i think he just "liked" her it normal and funny at the same time

I know it's normal, and I thought it could be a sign of dominance, but I just want to confirm...

Ginger's and Storm's expressions when they're humping are hilarious!

This entire discussion made me giggle.

You guys are hilarious!

This is good to know. What does it mean when they hump a toy... I don't believe dominace is the factor there? Or is it?

Brought home a new toy a few weeks ago and within minutes he went to town. I laughed and had a proud daddy moment. My wife was applaud and freaked out. I couldn't stop laughing.

Is it good or bad? not a really issue anymore my wife doesn't allow it :-)

He's only 3months old.

I'm re-reading through this thread and I'm just cracking up!

I don't know how I missed this thread from May!



Mya just randomly humps the air. Very weird! LOL!!!

Yep, this thread is cracking me up... after all, who could resist clicking on "What does humping mean?" lol

Here's my question. Is it weird that my 7 year old NEVER humped? He wasn't even neutered until he was 2 years old and I had him from a (probably too young to be away from his mother) puppy.

I swear I had a video of Ginger humping Storm's leg because she's a shortie!
I have to go find it - it's the funniest thing ever especially the expression on her face when she's done like she's all proud or something!

Thanks for the giggle everyone. I think we've had it more with Dakota humping Demon than the other way around...