Humping min pin - out of the BLUE

[BenMax]

To all my savvy trainers/behaviouralist - I have something for you which I cannot figure out.

Lately Julia (who weighs 7 lbs) has been displaying unusual behaviour. I have had her for 1.5 years now and never have I seen this type of behaviour from her. She is sterilized, medically sound and the only 'new' addition or change in the home is Maddox...but he has been around for about 1-1.5 months.

Julia is now humping me, the cats, and Maddox. She is relentless. She also started 'nesting'. Another observation I have made is that she will try to cover her food before eating it, which is now become obsessive as well. She borrows more so than before as well.

I spend adequate time with my pack individually as well as collectively. There has been no change and Maddox does not get any special attention.

All I can figure from this is that Maddox is getting stronger and therefore more exhuberant. He is mimacing Julia in behaviour (good or bad), and has become more dominant during his recuperation. This dominance however is not towards Julia nor the cats. He displays this with territory and with other dogs and men in general. (all this will be addressed once we can get over the medical humps).

Any thoughts? (Ok gang - stop laughing....)

All I can think of at the moment is trying to control her environment....and everyone in it.

[Bailey_]

Sounds to me like she is trying to 'stake her claim' now that Maddox seems to be a permanent fixture in her life and territory, combined with a bit of stress from this situation.

It doesn't mean that she feels neglected by you in any way, it just means that she's probably a bit frustrated by having this more dominant dog in her home who is making himself known.

I wouldn't worry too much. Just continue to give her your individual attention and keep controlling everything to make her feel like she doesn't NEED to establish this behavior - you're taking care of it and the new guy.

[BenMax]

You may be right Bailey since Maddox is fitting in very well but he still takes a back seat to Julia. She has always been the more dominant of the two and he does not challenge her at all. I have been monitoring very closely to see if I 'understand' the interaction of each. Now the cats seem to be a target as well as myself when it comes to the humping. At first I thought she just wanted to get my attention, but then it was apparent it was not a 'mommy, play with me' it was a 'mommy I am humping you'.

How about the borrowing or the food and the nesting? What do you think about this?

[Bailey_]

Covering her food - same thing. Leads me to believe she's 'staking her claim' because of the new dog in her home; and even if Maddox is allowing her to run the show, he could still be pushing her buttons to a level that she's not comfortable with.

Do you notice that she's keeping an eye on where everyone is in the house - cats, dogs, you? Does she seem more anxious than usual? Pacing, panting?

Do you mean that Julia is burrowing? (Digging) on couches, floors, etc? Has she seen a vet since she has started nesting? What kind of behaviors are you talking about by nesting - collecting toys, ripping blankets/towels, that sort of thing?

[Macomom]

BenMax, we are in the same boat I have taken in a new foster, and now the bulldog is exhibiting strange behaviour again. Although he is not humping, he is targeting Bos, who has done or changed nothing. It is as if we are back in week 2 of the bulldog visit as opposed to month 3.
I believe the addition of a new dog/pet will open an opportunity to prove/ preserve dominance. He has his eye on leadership again.

[BenMax]

She follows me as usual. If Maddox follows me she is not concerned. The cats she never cared for so she does not follow them at all.

As far as nesting - she does infact bring pillows, blankets and toys into an area, makes a bed out of them and then covers herself in the blanket. She will try to burrow into anything plush and keep herself covered - but she goes deep into places and again tries to cover herself.

She has already gone to the vet recently and there is nothing unusual. Her stools are good, urine fine, eating great...full of energy and no odd medical indications that something is off.

[BenMax]

Macomom - I was thinking that she is trying to control her environment because she may feel like she is losing control.

Is this theory possible?

[Bailey_]

As long as her health is good, I would just continue to allow her to nest, but keep an eye on it. This can be obviously physcologically damaging to her if it goes to far. Ideally, she'll stop on her own. For all intense and purposes I would say she's having a "false pregnancy" which usually does not occur to a spayed female; if you haven't already, you may want to call and specifically talk to your vet about this and get their thoughts/opinions. Like I say, I wouldn't stop this behavior or try to innterupt it. Yet.

Other than that, keep doing what you're doing - showering with individual affection/walks, etc. She may just need time to adjust to the change of your home with Maddox for whatever reason.

[katb]

Hi BenMax, I'm new to the site. I have a MinPin. She burrows all the time. You name it, if she can get into it or under it she does. I believe this is just a Minpin thing. As to the above I have to agree with Bailey. I also do foster at times. I have a pack of my own of 4 dogs. They are all pretty much gracious hosts to a foster, but my Minpin is the dominat in the pack, and will not waste anytime making it known. "Here's the rules new dog". Bonnie will also bring all her toys, steel shocks from us, chews anything she doesn't want the new kid to touch. She will pile them into her doggie bed. Which by the way no one else is allowed to use. Minpin are in my opinion very protective over their territory.

[BenMax]

Thank you Bailey - I will keep my eye on this for sure. It just totally caught me off guard as Julia has never ever attempted to hump before. With all the fosters I have had, this has never happened and I have had far more dominenant dogs than Maddox. It just is weird to see her do this.

Thank you Katb for your insight. I have NEVER had a small breed before and as Julia was NOT adoptable, I decided to keep the little bugger myself. She actually grew on me and is now the love of my life. However, knowing almost every breed, I totally admit that I am completely ignorant of this breed. Never did I think that they were so complex, dominenant, greedy, boisterous...but loveable!.

I am learning about this breed more and more now since so many of them are coming into rescue.

Ok - so burrowing is ok - GOOD! Phew.

[Macomom]

Hello BenMax,

I was just doing a bit of research on the false pregnancy theory presented by Bailey.
Some pets with hypothyroidism may have blood changes, which can cause stimulation of prolactin.
This can also cause symptoms associated with false pregnancy like nesting.
If it continues you may want to have her tested for hypothyroidism.
Just a thought...

[Bailey_]

Originally Posted by Macomom

Hello BenMax,

I was just doing a bit of research on the false pregnancy theory presented by Bailey.
Just an FYI, false pregnancy symptoms (nesting is one of them) can be brought on by thyroid changes, which can cause stimulation of prolactin.
If it continues, you may want to get additional bloodwork done for hypothyroidism.

Just a thought...

Yes, I agree MM. Keep an eye on this part BM, nesting is obviously not a normal condition for a spayed female. She's in good hands, that is for sure.

[BenMax]

Thank you so very much Macomom and Bailey. I will certainly keep my eyes open for this.

You learn something new everyday.

[Bailey_]

Keep us posted!

[Golden Girls]

Originally Posted by Bailey_

Yes, I agree MM. Keep an eye on this part BM, nesting is obviously not a normal condition for a spayed female. She's in good hands, that is for sure.

Brandi has always nestled - I just thought it was for comfort?

BM uh oh did Sushi show Julia a bad habit As you know I'm no trainer/behaviourist thinking maybe you could for awhile greet/pet/food/treats Maddox 1st

[Bailey_]

GG, it's totally possible for a female dog to have the instinct, but VERRRRY rare cases unless something is going on in her body. (Hormones cause this to happen, so if something is out, an unspayed female could exhibit nesting instincts.)
Some females that also had an aborted pregnancy will do this, but that is generally because the hormones are still in her.

It's definitley something to talk to your vet about, if you do notice your female nesting and she has been spayed for a while.

Of course it could have nothing to do with a false pregnancy in BM's case, that was just a suggestion.

Our oldest female dog will pull blankets around before she lies down, but that has nothing to do with anything more than her wanting to be comfortable about where & how she sleeps and shouldn't be confused with the actual nesting "symptoms", for lack of a better word.

[Golden Girls]

She does have hypothyroidism 0.8 mg x 2 daily but thanks Bailey for this info, I will speak with her vet.

Sorry for threadjacking BM back to Julia's humping

[Bailey_]

Originally Posted by Golden Girls

She does have hypothyroidism 0.8 mg x 2 daily but thanks Bailey for this info, I will speak with her vet.

Sorry for threadjacking BM back to Julia's humping

(If she does have hypothryodisim, you may have already found the cause for the nesting. Always a good thing to ask your vet though, let me know what they say!)

[BenMax]

You are not thread jacking GG - the more people that have questions regarding the subject matter, the better.

[aslan]

Benmax, Grace says to hold your leg still for the poor little girl..you will never know how long i had to wait to post so i wouldn't laugh.

[Bailey_]

Originally Posted by aslan

Benmax, Grace says to hold your leg still for the poor little girl..you will never know how long i had to wait to post so i wouldn't laugh.

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by aslan

Benmax, Grace says to hold your leg still for the poor little girl..you will never know how long i had to wait to post so i wouldn't laugh.

See - I knew someone would be laughing.

[aslan]

Originally Posted by BenMax

See - I knew someone would be laughing.

pffft you have a little midget trying to hump you, imagine when Qman at 110lbs was trying to have his way with me.

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by aslan

pffft you have a little midget trying to hump you, imagine when Qman at 110lbs was trying to have his way with me.

Ok - you don't want me to comment..

[chico2]

Sorry BM,but you have me in stitchesthen Aslans comment about QmanI can just imagine..

[tenderfoot]

I think all of the points are worthy of further investigation, but is any of this behavior really causing a problem?

Nesting is normal for all dogs. Some breeds might do it more than others but unless she's destroying things in the process I consider it natural. We have one dog who always tucks a pillow under himself before he lays down. I usually try to let him give it a few good pushes and then I tell him to be done and he lays right down.

Humping can be an expression of many things, sex, dominance, excitement, play, good feelings. It is the humans who usually have issue with it or the animal on the recieving end who doesn't always appreciate the attention, but again it is a very natural expression of emotion for a dog.

The burrowing and food covering can be a quirky personality, or just that she is getting more food than she needs and is cashing it away (in her thinking).

It might just be that these behaviors have cropped up all at once and are noticable but are they bothersome?

I would only really be concerned if they seemed OCD. Then I would try moving towards behavioral modification.

Oh, and thanks for all of the grins - you all were having way too much fun with this.

[BenMax]

Thank you Tenderfoot - I was hoping you would comment in this thread.

These little quirks are not bothersome in the sense that I am bothered by her humping. What is troublesome I suppose is this seems to be all at once. I sat back to watch what was going on and could not pin point why this explosion of 'interesting' behaviour. If it had been gradual, then I would have been less inclined to ask about these behaviours. To be honest, I am not concerned but curious about these new revelations.

There is something however definately going on in my home that I cannot understand. I cannot understand the communication going on with my animals, as there is more happening now even with the cats.

Last night - for the very first time, Farrah (my cat) pooped on my bed. Riley and Blu are fighting which is very unusual since they are 'lovers'.

So obviously I am missing something. Maddox is his usual tolerant self and has not gone after the cats or the dogs but I have a sneaking suspicion that it has something to do with him. He is not the largest dog I have fostered, nor is he the most dominenant one either. He is just a sweetie but indeed Julia is getting him riled up with now barking at the window and showing dominence with other dogs on our daily strolls (this is being corrected but quick...with both).

Something is off somewhere, but I just cannot figure it out.

[bendyfoot]

wow sounds like a major upheaval in your place right now

We had a bit of that this summer/fall, when Heidi suddenly decided to challenge our pack's happy little pecking order Not fun. But at least understandable...she is that age when that happens quite naturally in a pack.

I'm sure it has something to do with Maddox...any time a new animal is introduced to a household, there's going to be at least some period of adjustment, probably including some acting out.

Is there anything going on with YOU that your critters might be feeding off of? I know if the humans are out of sorts in our house, the animals mirror it very quickly...they're good barometres for us.

[tenderfoot]

Could anyone in the house be pregnant? Or could anyone be getting sick? getting too old?

I know that sounds odd but sometimes the animals know it before we do. Just a very random thought.

How old is the humper?

[BenMax]

Originally Posted by tenderfoot

Could anyone in the house be pregnant? Or could anyone be getting sick? getting too old?

I know that sounds odd but sometimes the animals know it before we do. Just a very random thought.

How old is the humper?

I am DEFINATELY not pregnant and all animals are sterilized. All animals seem to be very healthy and I am the only old one in the home (45!!).

Good thoughts though and valid.

There is nothing emotional or stressful going on with me either Bailey - nothing tramatic or anything I cannot handle. Same old, same old.

Tenderfoot, the little humper is about 3 or 4 years of age. Good body weight, same diet, no unusual peeing or pooping, not lethargic at all.

House is clean and organized as usual. Litter boxes spotless, and no furnature moved or otherwise.

Now - the only thing that HAS changed (just occured to me) is Julia's walking outside capability. When it gets very cold, she cannot go outside for long periods of time, or she cannot go out at all (which has happened twice)....what do you think???