Dog behavior question.

[TNDemo]

We adopted a 5-year-old bagel (beagle/basset) rescue about six months ago. She is the only dog in the house (have a cat). I am her primary caregiver. In the last couple of weeks she has started grabbing my leg with her front paws and hunching the air. I am the only one she is doing this to. I don't think she is interested in a lesbian inter-species relationship but I have been told she is looking to dominate me. She is very submissive so that seems a surprise. What is up with this humping business?

[Ron Green]

1. She's proably figured out that you're her primary pack mate, and now she's

seeing if she can be in charge of you or if you will give her the security of taking charge of her. So the best course would probably be not to let her get away with the humping behavior, but to be dominant but loving to her.

[Bucky]

3. Like that Anthony Hopkins line from the movie version of "Ishmael"

Describing the feeling of sleeping one night under the watch of a big dominant silverback gorilla, he said something like "Have you ever had the feeling of being completely protected?" That's what we need at some level. Shame our current silverback is an evil chimp con artist.

[n2mark]

2. So happy you asked this question

My dog did this a few years ago. She was doing the same thing not only to me but whoever came to the house. It was embarrassing.

[Zan_of_Texas]

4. a bagel eh? Have you tried cream cheese?

<G>

After 6 months in your home, it sounds like she is feeling very comfortable, and ready to try to assert herself. Pack animals regularly attempt to test their standing in the pack, and advance. So, this sounds like a test, I guess.

Given that she probably has no other sexual outlet, I don't find this particularly worrisome.

However, the dog experts will say that you should be sure to maintain your Alpha status, by going through doors first, eating first, and that sort of thing.

[roguevalley]

5. I agree. I have five and one tries this now and then. I turn him over

and hold him there for a couple of seconds and he's all right. Its a dominance thing. It calms Pippin when I do this and turning them over on their back, like a mother would her pups, reasserts your place. :) She loves you but is confused about her place. Reassure her. :)

[neebob]

6. My parents had a female Golden Retriever mix

who humped my mom's leg and followed her around shoving her nose up you know where in a way that was more challenging than curious, until my dad became disabled. Up to that point, the dog seemed to see my mom as competition. Then she became the leader of the pack, and the dog settled down and followed her.

It was interesting when my mom had to have a hysterectomy and I stayed with my parents for a month, taking care of my dad while my mom recovered. The dog was clearly mixed up and not sure whether I was the new leader of the pack or what.