Picture it: Your whole family comes over. Grandma is walking in when suddenly your husky jumps on her and starts going to town. How embarrassing! Husky humping is a very common behavior but can lead to grandma or the husky getting hurt when not taken care of properly.
Humping, albeit embarrassing, is a common behavior amongst dogs – especially male dogs. While the reasons can vary significantly, it can be worth figuring out why your husky is doing it, as some causes can be more dangerous than others.
Read on to discover why your husky might be humping and how to fix it.
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5 Reasons Why Your Husky is Humping
Although humping can be very embarrassing, it’s normal for many dogs. However, excessive or inappropriate humping can lead to your dog or someone else getting hurt.
Learning what is causing your husky to hump can help you curb the bad habit. The main reasons for humping are arousal, dominance, excitement, attention, and stress.
1. Arousal
Unlike their neutered counterparts, unneutered dogs still have hormones to increase sexual drive.
Because of this, they are much more likely to hump due to the feeling. While this is much more common in puppies, it can occur in unneutered dogs of all ages.
This behavior needs to be stopped earlier than later, as it can result in:
- Unwanted puppies. If the behavior lands on an unspayed female, the result will include puppies and their care.
- Aggression. Especially if you take your husky to dog parks or other social environments, humping can be a dangerous act. As their scent is powerful, neutered dogs already get targeted at dog parks. If your husky responds to the attention with mounting behavior, the result may include aggression from other dogs.
2. Dominance
Dominance is one of the most common reasons for humping. In essence, your husky is trying to exert its power over you or other dogs.
While not worrisome during play (in small doses), excessive mounting can lead to fights between dogs.
However, if your husky is socialized correctly, it should understand the social cues from other dogs and know when to stop.
It’s more alarming when a husky is trying to exert dominance over you, as this is much less common and can lead to behavioral issues. Other signs of huskies humping because of dominance include:
- Repeatedly trying to sit on you.
- Laying above you.
- Not listening to commands.
Stop the behavior early if your husky is exerting these signs towards you.
3. Excitement
Huskies are one of the most energetic breeds out there. Originally bred to pull hunting sleds long distances, huskies have a large reserve for physical activity.
When combined with excitable moments, their energy can be hard to contain. Thus, sometimes a husky will hump to exert their excitement physically.
If your husky is humping out of excitement, the behavior will always be coupled with excitable things: you coming home, playing, becoming high energy, leaving for a walk, etc.
If the humping comes from excitement, the husky will most commonly use it on pillows, stuffed animals, or other toys.
Luckily, excitement humping is a really easy behavior to modify. Read further to discover how to change this behavior.
4. Stress
As stated previously, huskies are a very energetic breed. If that energy isn’t taken care of in the form of mental and physical stimulation, a husky can become stressed and anxious over time.
To soothe the stress, sometimes a husky will hump something.
Since this behavior is always in response to something, it’s often easy to change. Knowing what has caused the stress can help you to change the behavior.
5. Medical Issue
The most concerning reason for humping is when it points to a medical issue. Although not common amongst neutered dogs, it can be a sign of:
- Infection or irritation. Male dogs, neutered and unneutered, develop smegma under the skin of their penis. If not cleaned properly, this can slowly lead to infection in the area.
- Prostate problems. Prostate problems are much more common in unneutered dogs. As prostate issues can be quite serious, you should take care of them promptly to stop further development.
When a medical issue causes humping, it will also be coupled with other signs of irritation, such as: licking or scratching in the area, lethargy, changed behavior, decreased appetite, etc.
5 Ways To Stop Husky Humping
Luckily for us, there are many ways to stop a husky from the embarrassing habit of humping.
These ways are increasingly easy the earlier you start them, so make sure not to delay.
1. Neuter
Neutering has a plethora of benefits, including:
- Lowers sex drive
- Lowers risks for certain diseases
- Reduces husky’s urge to roam
In addition to these benefits, it can help lower a husky’s urge to hump things (including you and your family members). One study revealed that neutering could decrease mounting by up to 90 percent.
When neutering is done earlier, it is a simpler procedure with shorter recovery times. However, it can be done when dogs are older and is a standard procedure for many prostate issues.
2. Ignore
Ignoring is a common training tactic to modify several behaviors. The way to perform this tactic is to:
- When your dog starts to hump you or an undesired object, begin to walk away.
- Don’t give any attention to the humping behavior. This is best used when the humping stems from excitement or attention.
- When your husky stops humping or begins doing something else, reward them by giving them attention or food.
Over time, your husky will learn that humping is not a rewarded behavior.
As stated previously, this will work if the husky is humping for attention or excitement. If the dog is humping for another reason, you will likely not see results.
3. Redirect
Redirecting is possibly the best way to stop a husky from humping as it uses positive reinforcement to change behavior. Here is how to do it:
- Once the husky starts humping, redirect the behavior to something else. For example, you could say “go get a toy” or “go to bed.”
- Once the husky successfully is redirected, reward behavior. Some rewards can include affection, food, or a toy depending on the dog.
- Repeat every time the husky begins to hump. Remember to keep it consistent, so only redirect to one other task.
Over time, the husky will learn that humping is not rewarded and the other task is rewarded.
Thus, they are likely to stop humping and begin performing other tasks more often.
4. Exercise
Huskies are a high-energy breed and need a minimum of 2 hours of exercise per day, depending on age.
While the most common ways to exercise huskies include running, hiking, or walking, there are other ways to exercise them without overexerting yourself.
Fetching and taking your husky to a dog park are two great ways to exercise them without overexerting yourself. Fetching allows your husky to get lots of running in while allowing you to relax.
Dog parks allow your husky to both exercise and socialize. It can also give you and your husky a training opportunity if needed, which helps with their mental stimulation.
Although a husky’s exercise should always be a priority, sometimes real life doesn’t allow that to happen. If you need to stay home, there are several mental stimulation toys that will do the trick.
5. Modify Environment
There are various reasons why your environment could lead your husky to hump.
First, if something in your environment is causing the husky to stress, it may lead to humping as a soothing mechanism.
Finding the source of the stress and fixing it will help curb this behavior.
Alternatively, if the behavior is caused by something you are doing (ex: separation anxiety), identifying that is a great first step to changing it.
Second, sometimes a dog’s environment can lead to medical problems. If your dog’s bed or blanket isn’t cleaned regularly, it can lead to irritations or infections. In addition, dogs should have easy, 24/7 access to clean water.
In Summary
Luckily for us, husky humping is a behavior that’s easy to change.
Using the right tools, you can both stop your husky humping and gain a stronger bond with them.
