behavioral question

Question
My niece has an 8 month old male miniature Chihuahua (Pedro) and I have a 1 year old female yorkie (Navy Blue) Pedro was recently neutered and is very active. Navy Blue is not spade, very active. and just recently had her first heat cycle.  

Pedro never "humped" anything until after he was neutered. I plan on babysitting Pedro for my niece while she is on her honeymoon. Is there any training technique or anything that can cure his "humping craze"? He humps other male dogs and my niece's cat. To my knowledge he doesn't hump other objects, like people's leg, etc.

I am looking forward to helping my niece out but not if I put Navy Blue through a week of watching her back side.

Thank you in advance for your advise.

Answer
Kay,

The "humping" is not a result of the neuter, but a result of personality (its a display of dominance) and age. Pedro is an adolescent boy. You know how that goes.

First, unless you plan on breeding her, I would advise having Navy Blue spayed. Spaying is a commonplace, safe, affordable procedure that has innumerable benefits to your dog - she won't go through the discomfort of heat, won't develop reproductive problems like pyometras and ovarian cancer, and her risk of mammary cancer is reduced. It also prevents the chance that she may add to the epidemic of pet overpopulation - the millions of perfectly deserving pets waiting for homes in shelters across America.

Okay - that being said, Pedro won't be any more inclined to hump your dog than he is to hump anything else. As I stated, it is a dominance display, not a sexual display. Neutered dogs have their testes removed, thus removing their testosterone and sex drive. Your neice needs to work with a trainer to break this habit and get Pedro to a place where he realizes that he's not in charge. Often, dog trainers do more training with the owner than with the dog. It sounds like your neice could use a little bit of help in learning how to interact with and train Pedro. You might try some water aversion - keep a spray bottle filled with water on hand, and the second he starts humping something, squirt him. If this doesn't work, you can use the same technique with sound aversion, utlizing an air horn or something like that. You have to catch him in the act though, don't punish him after he is done or he won't learn anything. There is only a 2 second window of association with dogs - from the time they do something, you have 2 seconds to either positively or negatively reinforce the action. If the aversion therapy doesn't work, the old fashioned way to handle it would be to simply pick him up and either crate him or seclude him in a room for a 'time out' of about 10 minutes each time he 'humps' anything.

Good luck!

Ashley