female dog mounting crate pillow

Question
My 3 yr old, female, spayed schoodle has been "humping" her crate cushion for about two months.  She started doing it after spending time with a dog boarder, who has at least one or more male dogs at any one time staying with him and his wife.  She takes it out of the crate and mounts it or lays on the floor with it between her legs.  She does this sporadically throughout the day and night.  We have put the cushion back in the crate, and closed the door, but mostly, we just leave it on the floor.  She has spent time at the boarder's home for several days at a time, while we are on vacation, and has been there two years in a row.

We appreciate your input and thoughts.
Judy

Answer
Hi Judy,
I believe your dog has learned this from other dogs she is with.  I believe some of this is hormonal, but most people don't so I have found an article that covers quite a bit of the theories that are written about this.
I also feel it is a dominance and anxiety behavior.  I have seen this when I bring a puppy into my house of fox terriers.  Both males and females want to mount the pup.  This is to show dominance without hurting the pup.  Here is the article which has a lot of information?

http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/guide/mounting-masturbation-dogs

just paste this up in your address bar, I found it quite informative.
nancy