1 year old neutered male Bichon-Shitzu designer dog.

Question
Breeder sold dog to me when he was 4-mos., old.  He was neutered and chipped.  Absolutely no problems with this dog.  Extremely loving and very smart.  Housebroke in just short of one week.  Toby is crated at nite, however has free run of the house for up to 6 hrs., maybe 3x a week.  Never does a single thing in the house while we are away.  Just in the last week Toby becomes excited when we start loving him and he starts to nip and starts to hump.  This behavior we do not like and want it to stop.  Why is he doing this and what can we do to stop it right now.  We tell him "no Toby" and push him away but he just doesn't get it and when he does it to visiting guests I could just die of embarrasment.  Please help and thank you so much.

Answer
Hi, Jeanne!

In researching this topic, I have found that there are probably 2 effective approaches to resolving this problem.  One is to keep a spray bottle of cold water on hand.  Use it to spray your dog in the face and sternly say "no" whenever he initiates the humping behavior.  Another may be to simply distract him with something else to do - like commanding him to sit or lay or throwing his favorite toy.  Humping seems to be a dominance behavior for dogs, not sexual.  Toby is just trying to assert that he is boss.  Good luck!