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Happenedtome2 posted 2/26/2019 10:17 AM

I was wondering if any fellow dog owners have run into this -

We have a high energy, large breed dog (boxer mix) that we occasionally put into day care and sometimes board if we go away. The place where we board him is also a training school where we took him when we first got him for basic commands and such.

This weekend we put him in for an overnight stay and they called me and stated that he would no longer be allowed to come to day care because he was hyper and had mounted a couple of dogs. He had done this a couple of times in the past but with the exception of one instance he had always been corrected and let back in. The problem here is that I had been watching him the entire day and saw exactly what was happening so I knew he had mounted 1 dog and the second one must have happened when they switched rooms and had combined all of the dogs.

That said, have any of you been able to successfully correct mounting? He does not do it to people and rarely does it to other dogs but it always seems to happen in daycare. We don't fee la shock collar is appropriate because again, he NEVER does it at home. Thoughts?

BeingNaive posted 2/26/2019 10:54 AM

I had a dog that had never mounted anyone or another dog for 12 years. We then got a new dog and within 2 weeks, he was constantly mounting him. He didn't even mount him from the back, it was the side or his head. It was so embarrassing! When I asked the vet about it, I was told he was simply trying to establish dominance. The new dog wasn't challenging him, but I guess he wanted to make sure.

Anyways, I shooed him off and he stopped doing it after a few days. I wonder if your dog is acting the same way due to the environment.

tushnurse posted 2/26/2019 12:45 PM

I have a lot of dog experience.

Mounting/Humping is a dominance issue. If your boy isn't neutered, obviously I would encourage you to get that done asap as long as he has fully matured.

Boxers are notoriously high energy and can be somewhat neurotic in their behaviors. It sounds like he most likely got overstimulated, and acted like a dog that was trying to say "Hey I'm in charge" here. I would encourage you to talk to them a bit more to find out what their concern is about him mounting, or if there were any physical aggression that you were not aware of.

I had a female Dane that ended up being the alpha of her litter, she would hump my male golden and my female lab when they would wrestle and play. Always wanting to let them know she was in charge. It is a behavior you can train out of them, but it takes a lot of consistent behavior correction when they do it, and that means tons of attention when they are together with other dogs.

I currently have a 10-11 wk old male lab that week old that is starting w/ some humping behaviors with play with a stuffed animal and for some strange reason my sister. We are correcting with a firm no and redirecting to other play. I do not plan on getting him neutered until he is over 18 mos old as is now the recommendation with larger breeds to give them some male hormones to allow their bones to fully develop and prevent issues w/ Hips and back.

As far as Stim Collars go I am a HUGE fan of them and have used them on all of my dogs since the mid -90's. They don't hurt them, it's just a way to get their attention. They get so into their dog brains they sometime truly don't hear you, or will ignore you. Once trained w/ one you can get your dog to do many things with just a simple beep or buzz, no shock being delivered. My 10 yo lab has been shocked 1 time when she gets the wanders (when she won't come when I call her) all I have to do is put the collar on. I don't even have to turn it on. She knows it means business and when I call her she comes.

Happenedtome2 posted 2/26/2019 13:56 PM

He is neutered. He was a rescue and has been with us for 2.5 years. He NEVER humps at the dog park nor does he do it at home. He does get very excited.

Their concern initially was that he was running laps around the other dogs and eventually they felt that it would lead to him getting bit or attacked by the pack.

I started taking him for longer walks and on some days if I knew he was going into daycare I'd take him to the dog park first so he could blow off some steam. Those days seemed to go better but this time out he was going to have to come in mid-morning or "hot" as they liked to put it because the other dogs were already exhausted.

They won't let him back in daycare anymore but were more than happy to stick him in an 8x8 cage if we wanted to board him again. No thanks. We are currently looking for a new boarding facility but I was really curious about trying to deal with the problem since he never does it at home.

They're a pretty reputable place so I don't doubt their methods, but I am rather disappointed that they just gave up on him when literally 7 or 8 other dogs were doing the same thing. (they have cameras from 9-4 so I literally watched him all day saturday)

million pieces posted 2/26/2019 15:09 PM

I’ve had dogs all my life and have taken and assisted with many dog classes. One of my current dogs is nuts, crazy energy. Just got the dna back, significant percentage border collie and boxer, that mix should be illegal anyway, can you find another place and talk to him about your dogs behavior beforehand? Just because a place is great, doesn’t always make it a good match (learned that about preschools).

Phoenix1 posted 2/26/2019 15:20 PM

Totally dominance driven, and probably exacerbated by the over stimulation. Do you take him around other dogs regularly when he's with you? In order to correct the behavior, you need to be able to replicate it. Can you take him to a dog park to be around a lot of other dogs with the point being to try to get him in a similar hyper mode to bring on that behavior? Just a thought.

My dogs never went to a boarding facility when I traveled and I just had a relative or family friend dog-sit them for me. The cost for boarding three large breeds was ridiculous. Shock collars could never be used because of their thick fur (I know that's not an issue for a boxer). They wouldn't feel the zap and would proceed to ignore you anyway.

Happenedtome2 posted 2/26/2019 15:30 PM

I've tried to get him jacked up at the dog park but he just runs around and plays with the other dogs. They even try to mount him occasionally but he usually just barks at em and takes off like it's a game. Looking into a couple of places now and will be discussing it before bringing him in. He's boxer and plott hound so he has super energy but also is pretty happy around other dogs and is not aggressive in the least. His bark scares the hell outta people though. 🤣

boontje posted 2/26/2019 15:36 PM

Have you given any thought to having someone come to your home to care for him while you are away? I have a friend who boards dogs and does in home care, including playtime and walking. Perhaps this would be much less stressful for you.

PricklePatch posted 2/26/2019 18:05 PM

Honestly, I think some with the cameras someone complained.

I have dog experience and with him being neutered it is normal behavior. We take our dogs to a large dog resort. They walk them 5 times daily. I pay extra for my young dogs to go to day camp, while they are being boarded. My dogs are put in the fenced area with dogs of similar size. If there is any aggression, there definition is growling, biting and fighting. You are contacted and your dog is just walked or you can pay for solo play.

I go to my little local dog park. It is well run. I don’t go to the county one that is closer to my house. They are to wild. Today we watched for a minute some rough play with out Golden. It was just fun, but it took a second to see. All the owners were there to intervene.

The resort we go to is well staffed.

Happenedtome2 posted 2/26/2019 20:33 PM

We have a friend who does in home dog care for a company but it's only p/t so she can't necessarily do ours whenever we need.

I hadn't thought about someone else possibly seeing him and complaining. I wish I could see him do it in person so I could attempt to correct it but he just won't do it when I'm there or outside of the daycare place. Hopefully we'll have better luck somewhere else.

tushnurse posted 2/27/2019 07:35 AM

Happened - It seems that there may be some issue of separation anxiety from you, since he doesn't do it with you but does when he isn't with you.

Talk to your vet about the possibility of meds to help with that. I don't agree that it is a good place, because they saw he was ramping up in his behavior but NO ONE stopped him and separated him from the pack to allow him to calm. Just like a little kid that is ADHD and is at a party with a bunch of other kids. They ramp up and get more and more excited, and at first it is fun, but eventually they will piss some other kid off with their antics, and then there is an issue.

This is where meds could come in handy especially if he is dealing with separation anxiety. Something to "take the edge off" when he is in those situations will make him a better/happier dog.

DragnHeart posted 2/27/2019 08:17 AM

Our Chihuahua came with his Hump Hump toy. A stuffy. He would go at it for 20 minutes lol. Well his toy eventually fell apart and we didn't get him a new one.

For a year he was fine. Didn't hump anything or anyone. Then we got the St. Bernard. Occasionally I see him trying so badly to hump the St. Bernard who just looks down at him and walks away.

I'm kinda sad they won't take your dog anymore especially of other dogs were doing the same behaviour.