Humping.

[Woodys hat]

We have had our girl cocker for a week now, she is 5 yrs old and we have a 6 year old son, who was sat on the floor playing with his toys, and she started humping his back with her legs tight over his shoulders, obviously I am very worried about this as we need to be able to trust her with our son, she has been so good around the house however this is a major set back.

Please help!

[Nicola]

Lots of dogs hump, it's a pretty common, normal doggy behaviour. Your best course of action is to distract her when she tries to start this, just call her name and wave a toy or a treat to get her attention and praise her when she comes over to you.

[bluegirl]

I agree with Nicola, it's normal behaviour and distraction is the best course of action.

[Woodys hat]

Im more concerned for my sons safety, as she had a real tight hold of him. Luckilly we were there to stop her, but dont want to have to worry about watching over them 24/7. what can we do to stop her doing this

[september]

Distract her and give her something else to do. Roxy does this to with a particular toy, but she does grasp it with her paws.  Could you not tell your son to get up straight away without giving her any attention and move quietly away from her?  I'm guessing at 5 he could do that?

[Nicola]

Dogs hump for lots of reasons... overexcitement, sexual motivation, incitement to play etc. Is she spayed? It could be a sign she's coming into season but as I said, there can be many reasons for it and some dogs just like doing it! Kids and dogs are often not a combo made in heaven and they do need a lot of supervision but if she tries to do it when you're not there I would suggest that you tell your little boy to just get up and ignore her. Don't push at her or shout at her as this may well excite her more, just calmly and quietly get up and move away from her.

[Woodys hat]

After reading some other threads I should note that this happened just after she had eaten her lunch

[Helen]

the others have given sound advice - the only thing I will add is that at 6 years old your son should always be supervised with a dog....any dog....at all times 

[bluegirl]

I've found this can happen in our house after a meal. Dogs don't hump us as we have a few but I have noticed they do get more excited after a meal and for us it is a trigger.
I did have an old girl in the past who would try to hump my arm every now and again and she did have a vice like grip, so I'd also make your son aware that he needs to stand up and more away. If she stays with you you'll get to know her little ways and she'll be more predictable and therefore it'll be easier to see these things coming.