[Walnut_the_Nut]

Hi all,
First of all, thanks for the forum. I've visited this site a lot before picking up our puppy from a solid breeder. This is our first pet, so I'm sure we will be referring to this site often.

We picked up our Walnut last Friday when he turned 8 weeks. We got started on training right away, and he is doing great. He knows sit, wait, down, stay (to wipe his feet after a walk) and also his name. He also goes into heavy sleep, and pretty much nothing can wake him up. He seems to like his crate too, and doesn't cry unless he needs to poop or pee.

Recently though, we noticed him humping the towel we use to wipe his feet before entering the house after a walk up and down the driveway. This morning, we noticed him humping my girlfriends leg when she brought him back to the play pen after a short walk. He only humps her leg and the towel though.

As a test, she stepped out of the pen, and I stepped in. He did not attempt to hump my leg at all, but just kinda had his attention on my girlfriend. So I stepped out, and she stepped back in, and he started humping again!


What is the BEST way to stop and prevent this kind of behaviour? We don't like it at all. We know it's not a sexual thing, but we need it to stop.

Any tips of how we should proceed to stop this?


This is his how we usually find him around the house.

 

[fostermom]

Just push him off an say "uh uh". He's just overly excited and that's how he's expressing it. Several of my recent foster puppies loved humping my leg. LOL. They stopped after a few corrections.

By the way, he is precious!

 

[Walnut_the_Nut]

Just push him off an say "uh uh". He's just overly excited and that's how he's expressing it. Several of my recent foster puppies loved humping my leg. LOL. They stopped after a few corrections.

By the way, he is precious!

Thanks for the reply. I had a chat with an 'experienced' coworker who said my girlfriend shouldn't really let him cuddle too much. Is this true? I don't cuddle much/at all, and don't have any issues with him humping me. Anytime he's tired (which is always), and if my girlfriend is there, he prefers to sleep on her lap or shove his head between her side and arm. lol

 

[Sterling Archer]

Thanks for the reply. I had a chat with an 'experienced' coworker who said my girlfriend shouldn't really let him cuddle too much. Is this true? I don't cuddle much/at all, and don't have any issues with him humping me. Anytime he's tired (which is always), and if my girlfriend is there, he prefers to sleep on her lap or shove his head between her side and arm. lol

Keep in mind...if you promote that behavior now...you're going to wind up with a 75lb lap dog. While that's what I wanted (I let him on my lap from day one), my wife isn't too thrilled about it.

 

[DaisyGolden]

Is it possible to have a golden retriever puppy and not cuddle with it? I don't think so.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Is it possible to have a golden retriever puppy and not cuddle with it? I don't think so.

Haha. Yup. That's what I told my wife. The first two nights we had him...I slept with him on the couch (he wouldn't stop whimpering when he was alone). He was only about 5-6 weeks old when we got him.

 

[Walnut_the_Nut]

Keep in mind...if you promote that behavior now...you're going to wind up with a 75lb lap dog. While that's what I wanted (I let him on my lap from day one), my wife isn't too thrilled about it.

Yea, I'm a little worried about that. He's a pretty affectionate puppy. You can literally tell when hes upset, tired, happy, lonely, etc. all by facial expression. It's pretty amazing. We're hoping he'll be a little smaller in size. The parents and grandparents where on-site. All were between 60-70lbs. When we chose Walnut, he had the smallest paws in the litter.

 

[Walnut_the_Nut]

Is it possible to have a golden retriever puppy and not cuddle with it? I don't think so.

This is true. :bowl:

 

[Sterling Archer]

Yea, I'm a little worried about that. He's a pretty affectionate puppy. You can literally tell when hes upset, tired, happy, lonely, etc. all by facial expression. It's pretty amazing. We're hoping he'll be a little smaller in size. The parents and grandparents where on-site. All were between 60-70lbs. When we chose Walnut, he had the smallest paws in the litter.

Yup. They're very expressive dogs. Butter is a real trip. When he's outside and wants attention...he'll climb up on the deck, close the gate (lol), and sit there with this bored puppy dog look on his face. At one year, we took him to the vet to be boarded and I had him weighed. 71lbs. I think he's about done.

I can't say that Butter looked big as a puppy (we got him a few weeks before a breeder would have released a puppy). However, by 2-3 month....he had some BIG paws.

 

[Puppy_To_Be_Named_Later]

Can I trade you? heh.

 

[mrmooseman]

Moose use to hump me and his toy "moose". Noone else.. just me. It's more of a domincance thing. He thought he owned me lol.. and in some ways he does. But we would just say "uh oh!" and he just grew out of it. Now he just humps his blanket, which we still correct but as long as it's not me, its ok lol.

Our friends 4 months old GR humped Moose the other day. The look on his face was priceless.. it was almost like he was saying "um mom? is this really happening..what on earth is she doing!" Clearly she thought she owned him lol.