Your adolescent dog humps and mobs other dogs because the greeting has no brakes

Your dog sprints the last 30 feet, bounces off the other dog, and starts humping. The other owner is not delighted. You call, nothing happens, and you walk in to collect your dog by the harness.

This is one of the most common things owners write to us about at 9 to 15 months. It is also one of the most misread.

What humping usually is at this age

In adolescent dogs, humping in play is most often arousal with nowhere to go. It shows up in dogs of every sex, neutered or not. It tends to appear at the peak of a play bout rather than at the start.

The status story you will hear at the park does not hold up, and it points you at the wrong response. Your dog is not making a claim. Your dog has run out of ways to come down.

The mobbing is the same picture earlier. A dog who arrives at full speed and lands on another dog has not learned to slow down over the last 20 feet. Nobody has asked them to.

Break the greeting into pieces

Long greetings go bad. Short ones almost never do. The rule that changes most park visits is that your dog greets for a few seconds, comes back to you, and then goes again.

1. 1

   Let the greeting run for 3 seconds, counted out loud, then call your dog and feed at your knee.

2. 2

   Release your dog straight back with a word like go play. Coming back has to buy more play, not end it.

3. 3

   Repeat every 30 seconds or so through the play bout. You are installing a pause, not a stop.

The first few times you will get nothing. Walk in, take the harness gently, feed, and release. The pattern matters more than whether the recall worked today.

Interrupt before the humping, not after

There is a tell in the 10 seconds beforehand. The play gets faster and stiffer, one dog stops taking turns, and the mouth goes from open to closed. That is the moment to call.

1. 1

   Call your dog, or walk in and lead them away by the harness, at the stiffening rather than at the mount.

2. 2

   Walk 20 feet away and let your dog sniff the ground for 30 seconds. Sniffing is the fastest route down from arousal that most dogs have.

3. 3

   Go back only if your dog is loose and shaking off. If they are still staring at the other dog, the play is over for today.

If humping has already started, separate calmly and quietly. Shouting adds arousal to a dog who has too much of it. Telling your dog off afterwards teaches nothing about the next greeting.

Change who your dog plays with

Adolescents play badly with other adolescents. Two dogs at the same stage escalate each other and neither one has brakes. A steady adult dog who ends play cleanly will teach your dog more in a week than you can.

Two or three known dogs, met on purpose, beat an open park full of strangers. This is a smaller social life than you planned, and it is the version that works during this stage.

Today's version, in one line: 3 seconds of greeting, then a check-in, then straight back to play.