Witching hour

[CrazyCharlie]

This type of thinking is a little outdated. Mounting has nothing to the urge to "dominate" things or people. And more times than not it has nothing to do with mating either so neutering won't necessarily help either. It's usually an adolescent response to being over excited or not knowing a full range of social skills.

OP, please don't swat your dog as suggested - if you want him to stop doing what he's doing now, then teach him what you do want him to do instead. He sounds like a typical teenage boxer - so if you know he gets excitable around the same time every night then turn it into a training session before the behavior starts. Find some short fun things to do with him that will exercise him mentally. There are some great ideas here:

Fun & Handy Tricks | Karen Pryor Clickertraining

From my understanding though, mounting can and usually is a dominance thing. May not be sexual as in trying to mate, but is trying to show the other who is boss and neutering can lessen this because there is no drive once they have been neutered? I have not heard it being an over excited reaction? But again I do not know everything and I'm also not a dog behaviorist so maybe I am outdated.

As for swatting, this is always a last resort for me and I do not just go around swatting my dogs. I try my best to be as positive as possible, but sometimes a swat on the butt in is order. i.e. when Jeresy is taking a can of tuna off of the counter right behind my back and the regular commands or get down, no, and stomping the floor are not working. This is just my opinion and I know many many people do not agree with me and every dog and owner are different, just like every child and parent are different. I kind of think this is very close to the whole do we spank our children or not thing.

 

[Dell]

Kona has had her "witching hour" since she was pretty little...and at 10 month it's still going strong. She will do a completely wild "boxer burn" and fly around the house around 7:30pm. I mean crazy...biting, jumping, just absolute craziness.

We've extended our "no bite" training to that time. She is NOT allowed to nip, even when over excited. We just say "no bite" and hold completely still and make fists with our hands (don't move 'em, just makes fingers harder to get to). The roudier she gets, the quieter and calmer we get. If her play is too much, we say "that's enough" and get up and walk away from her. If that doesn't work and she follows biting at our hands, sleeves, etc, sometimes we just sit cross-legged on the floor, get her in our lap and give her a hug and quietly talk to her until she calms down. We have to hold her snuggly to not let her squirm away but gently. We talk calmly, quietly, and very gently to her. Any excitement or anger on our part just escalates it. Over the months, she's learned that when we say enough it's time to settle. She still does her boxer burns, running like a crazy dog, doing laps in the kitchen, but she no longer demands that we're part of it. It's also a baby thing, I think. Good luck!!

 

[ehayes21]

From my understanding though, mounting can and usually is a dominance thing. May not be sexual as in trying to mate, but is trying to show the other who is boss and neutering can lessen this because there is no drive once they have been neutered? I have not heard it being an over excited reaction? But again I do not know everything and I'm also not a dog behaviorist so maybe I am outdated.

Dominance isn't about showing who's boss - A dominant dog is a dog who wins a contest for a resource. If there is no contest, or resource involved in the humping, then dominance does not exist.
The more likely explanations for humping are, the dog is a puppy and he's practicing the skills he'll need as an adult, he's an excited dog and is displacing his energy, or, he's a social misfit who hasn't been taught what behavior is preferred. There are other explanations, but those are outliers, and dominance is far down the list...

 

[CrazyCharlie]

Dominance isn't about showing who's boss - A dominant dog is a dog who wins a contest for a resource. If there is no contest, or resource involved in the humping, then dominance does not exist.
The more likely explanations for humping are, the dog is a puppy and he's practicing the skills he'll need as an adult, he's an excited dog and is displacing his energy, or, he's a social misfit who hasn't been taught what behavior is preferred. There are other explanations, but those are outliers, and dominance is far down the list...

Ah, alright that makes sense.

 

[TwoDogs]

Humping is a FAP or Fixed action pattern. For more read this from Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily site: The Down & Dirty on Humping: Sex, Status, and Beyond | Dog Star Daily

As already stated, most times it has little to do with mating or dominance. It is instinctive and hard-wired. It is likely that the brain chemistry involved in the hard-wiring of this behavior pattern takes place very early in the canine fetus' development before the fetus becomes differentiated into male or female. This explains why even female dogs (for which there is no physical need to hump during the mating process) will sometimes hump in other contexts out of excitement, stress, or general arousal.

Yeah, more ethology than most people will care for, but FAPs amaze me.

 

[ehayes21]

Humping is a FAP or Fixed action pattern. For more read this from Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily site: The Down & Dirty on Humping: Sex, Status, and Beyond | Dog Star Daily

As already stated, most times it has little to do with mating or dominance. It is instinctive and hard-wired. It is likely that the brain chemistry involved in the hard-wiring of this behavior pattern takes place very early in the canine fetus' development before the fetus becomes differentiated into male or female. This explains why even female dogs (for which there is no physical need to hump during the mating process) will sometimes hump in other contexts out of excitement, stress, or general arousal.

Yeah, more ethology than most people will care for, but FAPs amaze me.

Excellent article, thank you!

 

[MNboxerdad]

Just thought I would put my two cents in about smacking the dog. If you consider the history of the Boxer breed, you would understand that there pain tolerance is generally very high. That is one of the many reasons they are great with kids. They generally will not react the way you want them to. As previously stated, it will only instigate things further. He most likely wants to play, and needs to be taught how to get what he wants and what type of "play" is ok. My dog is around the same age and going through the same things. Should be lots of things on the forum about teaching this. Nothing in Life is Free may be something for you as well. Smacking him just won't work.