Intact Male Question

Gimmick is now almost 2 (April 11th) years old. He was vasectomized last year, but is for all intents and purposes intact.

I have been very fortunate with him. He does not mount excessively, lose concentration around females, mark inside, or chatter too much. I have also been very lucky that the other males at daycare have remained accepting of him, and that most new males don't bother him at all.

Over the last two weeks, though, there has been a huge increase in other dogs trying to mount him. Oddly, it is mostly females who want to do this. Of course staff redirects and stops the behaviors, but some of the females are downright rough with him.

He has been checked and does not have an infection or anything like that. He doesn't really seem to mind being humped, and just kind of squirts out from underneath them and bounces off when he's had enough.

What do you think could be causing this?

Are the females spayed or whole? I've only really seen one female mount another and that was when she was in the middle of heat and it was another female she was mounting. She only did it when in heat and stopped after she was spayed.

Other than that, I have no clue but sure others will have an better idea.

I used to dogsit for a friend who had 4-5 labs at any given time, usually with 2 or 3 intact females. I would bring Brisbane along and there would be zero humping until one of the girls went into heat. If someone was in heat then everybody humped everybody all the time incessantly. I'm pretty sure the hormones in the air set it off.

At daycare there are certain dogs that are total hump-magnets, attracting dogs who otherwise never hump anyone. Brisbane never wants to hump anyone, except when that one poor dog is there. Some dogs also set off massive humpfests that extend across the entire facility, as in "Oh hey, Kenny just walked in. Now everybody is going to hump everybody all day long." Even the dogs you would least suspect get in on it.

All that is to say that there could be some other factors at play. Are the girls going wild for Gimmick all the time now? Or does it happen some times and not others?

I don't take Brooks to the dog park because neutered males love to hump him. He does not share this love.

age related?

Possibly your dog is reaching an age where he is feeling more confident or even cheeky. He's beginning to reach social maturity. Perhaps the other dogs think he needs to be reminded of his place.

I also think that once one dog starts it, other dogs are much more likely to join in. There are three families (including mine) that go to the dog park and between us all there are 5 herder mixes. If we ever show up at the same time OUR DOGS ALL HUMP EACH OTHER. And it's not like they ever played normally and then progressed to humping- they met. They humped. They're all neutered boys. It's the weirdest thing but it started with one of the older males humping Hugo and then suddenly everyone was humping everyone and now it's like when they see each other that's the first thing they think of. Hugo doesn't usually mount or like being mounted but apparently these guys all act like they're totally enjoying it.

My boy mounts my girl and my girl mounts my boy. Both were fixed at 6 mos. Mostly they do it after they get a bath.

Actually, now that you guys mention it, it did start with an intact husky who belongs to another staff member. The dog is a rescue and heartworm positive, so a spay is out of the cards at the moment, and the woman she got the dog from had no idea when she was last in heat. She might be coming in now.

The other females are spayed, but Gimmick is so devilishly handsome that maybe the just can't help themselves? Males rarely bother to mount him, and that hasn't changed.

Honestly, it kind of reminds me of that episode of Futurama where they go to Amazonia and the giant women are chasing after the men because they don't have any. You know "Last men visit Amazonia die of crushed pelvises?" The husky certainly acts like she wants to crush his. Luckily she's very tiny and can't actually hurt him.

Having seen that episode, that image cracked me UP. Dogs are weird.

(it probably is just that he's so handsome)