Humping Vizsla

Ralphie is about 1 year, 5 months old now.  How time flies!  Seems just like yesterday I was blogging about his life as a puppy.  Obviously puppies go through good and bad stages as they grow into an adult.  Today's concern with Ralphie ... he's beginning to 'hump' some of the dogs at the dog park.

I began googling to see if I really need to be concerned about this behavior and what I should do about it.  I come to find out this is normal; it can be a dominance sign or just a playful antic.  Some dogs have an extreme 'humping' behavior where they're on top of your leg, pillows, toys, or whatever they can hump.  Ralphie is not like that, luckily.  He gets focused only on a couple of dogs at the dog park and then begins his dominance, playful humping.  He really loves Bailey, the Australian Shepard mix and Princess, the Boxer.

Should I be concerned?  A little.  I really don't want Ralphie to have a reputation and many pet owners do not want their dogs humped...which I don't blame them.   What I've read is pretty much what I'm doing.  Distract him.  Pull him away to let him know this is not acceptable behavior.  Get him to another area of the dog park and play with him.  Does this work?  Sometimes and sometimes not.  Ralphie gets focused on one dog and it's very hard to distract him at times plus he's a 60 pound strong dog which is a challenge to pull him away.   But I'm working on it.  I also read you can use a squirt bottle of water and squirt him when he's in his humping mode.  That may be something I try if he doesn't snap out of this behavior soon.

Needless to say, it's harmless, Ralphie is neutered so he won't be making any puppies.  LOL  But as a responsible dog owner, I will try my best to deter this humping behavior.