what would you do if you were at the dog park and your dog....

started humping another dog? Our 1 1/2 year old female corgi rescue mix was spade several months ago. A few times, I have seen her humping specific dogs. I had her on a long lead when we were at the dog park and I pulled her down and got her away from that dog. I know that it's a dominance thing. It seems to be only smaller dogs. What should I do if I have her off leash at the dog park and I see her humping another dog? Is it considered anti-social behavior? Should I try to redirect or reprimand her? I don't want people to see us coming and leave the park!

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I'd like to know the answer to this myself! Sidney is a little gentleman most of the time..until his buddy Philip shows up. Then Sidney does that to him, and only him! It's embarrassing (to me) and I'm not sure how to handle it.
Me too! Since I got Ethel a year ago, Bertie (now 5) will sometimes identify the "lesser" dogs -- puppies and elderly dogs who don't give him a hard time -- and hump them. He NEVER does it to any dog who shows any sort of snappy impatience with that kind of thing. He's not looking for a fight, he's just expressing his....what? It actually makes me laugh, how he can zero in on some poor pup who'll put up with him. But what if he's wrong, and he picks on someone who takes issue? I usually tell him to leave it and we wander off somewhere else. As for me, I don't mind dogs doing that, myself, as long as the owner is there, paying attention, and putting a reasonably quick stop to it (which is what I do). I mean, dogs are gonna do what dogs are gonna do...right?
If it was my dog I would want the person to leash their dog and stop the behavior. I know it is perfectly normal behavior but I would not let my dog continue doing it. It would just be polite to stop them from doing it.
I agree. I know that when other people's dogs mount Finn I want them to take control and intervene so if it were Finn doing the mounting I would certainly stop him. If he didn't respond after a couple corrections I would leash him and continue this until he learns that mounting = no freedom to roam. Finnigan is very submissive to other dogs so if there is a very dominent dog in the park they always pick on him, mounting him and rolling him over and soon he'll start to whimper because he wants to be left alone. Most of the time the other dog's owners do not intervene which leave us looking like the bad guys when we do, but I don't think it's fair to Finn to be picked on just because he has good manners.
I totally agree. Bertie (who never humped a thing for the first 4 years of his life! until I broughy baby Ethel home....) would likely spot your guy as someone to dominate! But I stop it, as I say, and we move away so he doesn't try again. He stops right away when I tell him to leave it. I don't think his heart's really in it -- he just can't help himself, so it's easy to stop him. But I get very burned when owners are too busy on their cell phones or chit-chatting amongst themselves and don't pay attention to what their dog's going -- or worse, laugh and say, oh, look at what Dog is up to now. It's just rude.
Unfortunately not everyone is as attentive as you are. The problem is usually what you described, people not paying attention to their dogs. Last time we were at the park there was a woman so busy chatting that she didn't notice her dogs pooping and one even hiked his leg on a couple people!

There was a dog who kept bullying Finn by knockigh him down, mounting him and not letting him get back up. The dog even peed on Finn! The owners saw it and didn't even apologize. I wish Finn would just tell the other dog when he's had enough, but he won't. Maybe when he's older he'll stick up for himself, until then that's Mom and Dad's job. :)
I always intervene when something is going wrong. Just two days ago there were 4 dogs picking on one dog and nobody was doing anything so I calmly walked over and pushed the other dogs off, and got the other dog back on his feet. I could care less what some irresponsible dog owner thinks of me.
Plus I'm a regular at the dog park and there is a core group of people that are always there too, so I know I'd have my back covered if things ever got ugly.
I usually wait to see how the dogs handle it. Frodo gets mounted sometimes, and he's pretty submissive. Many dogs will snap and drive off the one mounting them (which is considered appropriate, really). If a dog seems to NOT leave him alone, I will usually ask the owner to intervene and distract the dog. I don't usually consider it an issue (being an owner of the hump-ee rather than the humper) unless the dog is belligerent. Just my opinion. I think most experienced dog owners will understand it, and so long as you are sensitive to it and willing to re-direct her, that should be sufficient. If it bugs you, I would pull her away and re-leash her (no commands) for several minutes so she learns that humping another dog means no more playtime.....
thanks so much for your comments. I've never taken a dog to the dog park before and I'm trying to make sure that I do this right.
I have mixed feelings about dog parks. We use our local one regularly, but I'm really careful. Because I have a quirky work schedule, we're able to go to the park mid-day during the week, when there's a small group of friendly, attentive dog owners. I never go on the weekends (or if I do, I go very early in the AM), when there can be huge numbers of visitors, many of whom don't know their dogs well, don't pay attention to their dog or don't understand how the dogs interact. I enjoy our time there, because ours is a big park, and the pups can swim in the river that borders it and play with other dogs, but I'm wary, and if a dog or owner makes me feel uncomfortable, we leave. Doesn't happen often, but better safe than sorry, say I!
I'm pretty careful about dog parks myself .... I take Frodo to a corgi meetup once or twice a month. Otherwise, there's a whole network of dog owners out here called "Society Dog" that are good to hang out with. Dog parks, in general, tend to make me a bit nervous, since I've seen some pretty hostile dogs there.... or dogs with resource-guarding issues that have seriously bit up other dogs that didn't catch the warning signs. Just be very careful.....
Loki met a 3 yr old cardigan the other day (his first other corgi!) and after playing in their backyard some, eventually tried to hump him while he splatted (what i call the corgi laying with feet out) I would just remove him, neither the owner nor myself were overly concerned (he is a 5 month pembroke, pretty common and I am not fixing him until 1 yr anyway) After removeing him I put my hand on his back with a bit of pressure and told him no sternly. This is also the only dog he has ever done this to.

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