Question:
How can we stop our four-year-old female golden retriever from “mounting” people when they come over? We have had her desexed but this has done little to solve the problem. Help!
Deb, via e-mail.
Answer:
Usually mounting behaviour is not sexual but dominant in nature, especially in a desexed female dog. She is trying to tell your guests that she is higher up in the pecking order than they are. Usually dominant dogs are pushy for attention, may resist being moved (eg, from furniture) and will be obedient for some members of the family and not others.
If there are no other problems such as aggression, you can just concentrate on training her out of this embarrassing habit. Have her on a lead when visitors come and work on her obedience so that you can ask her to sit as they approach. Give her a treat and praise when she sits and ignore any attempts to mount or jump (she will be under control on a lead).
Teaching her to drop is even better as she can’t drop and mount at the same time, but also because these are submissive behaviours — she is submitting to you. She needs to be reminded that as a dog her place is the bottom of the pecking order. She will accept this and realise that behaving appropriately gets her far more pleasant things — dogs are very quick to learn what works best for them!
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