Why Your Husky Humps You (And How To Stop It)

If your husky has a habit of humping then you’re probably wondering why and how to get it to stop. This post will give you a number of reasons why your husky might be doing it and what you can do about it.

So, why does your husky hump? There are a number of reasons why your husky might be doing it. Possible reasons include sexual arousal especially if it’s young, looking to exert dominance which is more probable if it’s older, looking for attention, and being stressed.

And, what can you do to stop your husky from humping? The best way to get your husky to stop the humping will depend on the reason that it is doing it. Some possible solutions that are available to you would include getting up and ignoring the behavior and then rewarding it when it’s being well behaved, redirecting its attention onto performing a task, giving it lots of exercise and giving it toys to be distracted with.

It can actually be quite difficult to figure out the exact cause of your husky’s behavior but it’s important that you take the time to consider it since it will help you to get it to stop more easily.

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Possible reasons for your husky’s humping

There are a number of reasons that your husky might have a humping habit that I will explain below.

Arousal

One possible cause of your husky’s humping is sexual arousal. If your husky is unneutered and it is still young then this is likely to be the cause but even if it’s old it could still be the reason. Even though your husky won’t try to mate with a human or toy or whatever else it might hump it might still do it as a way to masturbate since it feels good for it.

It’s important to stop this behavior as soon as it starts since the older it gets the more this behavior will compound on itself and the harder it will be to stop. You can reduce this behavior by getting it neutered or you can try the ignore or redirect techniques mentioned in the section below.

Related: Why does my dog lick my legs?

Dominance

Another possible cause of the behavior could be that it is a power play where your husky is trying to figure out how much power it has and to exert its power over you or other dogs. As mentioned on pets webmd the husky that is doing the humping might not be the dominant husky rather it might be unsure of its status and it is doing the humping to figure it out.

If this is the cause then there will likely be other signs of dominance-seeking behavior such as not being willing to listen to your command, aggression or other power plays like trying to sit on you or where you would normally sit or trying to lay down in a position higher than you.

Regardless, you should take measures to prevent this. You can do that by doing lots of training with it so that it sees you as the one in charge.

Excitement

It’s also not uncommon for huskys and other dog breeds to start humping when they get excited. Huskys will often show their levels of excitement by doing outlandish things like humping or rolling in the grass or even mud. If your husky only seems to do the humping when it gets excited then excitement is likely to be the cause.

To prevent this kind of behavior you should make sure to give it lots of exercise so that you can reduce its hyperactivity and to train it not to by trying the ignore or redirect techniques in the section below. You could also try getting it neutered if you can.

Attention

Huskies are a breed that was bred to pull sleighs for hours on a daily basis in freezing climates this means that they need a lot of exercise to be properly stimulated. If your husky isn’t getting a lot of exercise then it can promote hyperactive behavior like humping. If you think that a lack of exercise might be the cause then make sure to give it more exercise.

A good way to give it a lot of exercise without needing a lot of effort on your part is to teach it to play fetch.

Stress

Another possible reason that it does the humping is that it is anxious or it is stressed. If this is the cause then it may have come on suddenly after a recent stressful event or it might be due to something that happened when it was young. Some things to consider when trying to figure out if this is the cause would be whether or not there has recently had a stressful event like losing a friend, changing its owner or changing its home.

Ways To Get Your Husky To Stop Humping

There are a number of methods that you can try in order to get your husky to stop humping. The best method will depend on the cause of your husky’s humping and you’ll likely find that combining them will give the best results.

Neuter it

The first option that you could consider would be to neuter it. By doing so you will be able to lower its sex drive and you’ll be able to reduce its desire to hump things so much. There are also a number of other benefits to neutering your husky such as allowing it to be more healthy and reducing its urge to roam so you should consider it anyway.

Related: Why does my husky jump on me?

Get up and ignore it

Another option that you can try is to simply get up and leave it when it starts humping. By doing this you will be able to teach it that humping things will result in it not getting any attention and it will help it to stop. After it stops humping and it is being well behaved you can give it a treat as well to reinforce the good behavior.

Related: Why does my husky hate water?

Try the redirect method

The redirect method is where you tell your husky to do something else, when it starts humping or when you notice that it is about to hump, and then reward it for doing the other thing. For example, you could tell it to sit, to lay or to stay when it starts humping.

If you haven’t taught your husky how to stay yet then I have written about how you can do so here. I have also written about how to teach your husky “down” and how to come on command in the past here and here.

Give it lots of exercise

It’s also important to take measures to reduce its levels of hyperactivity which you can do by giving it lots of exercise and training.

A good way to give your husky lots of exercise without having to wear yourself out is to play fetch with it. By doing this you’ll be able to get your husky to do lots of running in a shorter amount of time. If you haven’t taught your husky how to play fetch before then it can be a bit of a challenge but I have written about how you can teach your husky to do it in the past here.

You can also try walking your husky with other dogs since they will do a lot more exercise by playing with each other.

Give it distractions

Another option that you could try would be to take its mind away from humping. You can do this by giving it lots of toys and bones to play with. However, the issue with this method is that you won’t be teaching your husky to stop the behavior instead you’ll be masking it which won’t make it go away very effectively.

Things to consider about your husky’s humping

There are some things that you should keep in mind when you are considering why and how to stop your husky’s humping.

Stop it young

If your husky is still young and it has a humping habit then now would be a good time to get it to stop. If you wait until it is older then getting it to stop doing it will be a lot more difficult since the habit will be more ingrained. Whenever you see it start humping you should distract it and give it something else to do.

Avoid punishing it

It can be tempting to get your husky to stop the humping by punishing it but you should avoid doing this. It won’t do much to stop it from wanting to do the humping and it could lead to other problems like distrust, aggression, anxiety and can make it less responsive to your command.

It’s in its nature

A humping husky isn’t something that you should be overly concerned about. It’s something that all dogs are known to do and it’s a part of their nature to do it.