Why would a female dog hump another female dog? Find out the real motivations behind this common canine action.

Alright, let's talk about something I've seen plenty of times with my own dogs and others down at the park: female dogs humping other female dogs. It catches people off guard, right? Took me a while watching them to sort of piece together what might be going on, based on just seeing it happen over and over.

My First Encounters

I remember the first time I really noticed it clearly. Had my girl, Daisy, who was usually pretty chill. We brought home a younger rescue, Lily. After a few days of sniffing and getting used to each other, bam! Daisy starts humping Lily. Not constantly, but definitely more than I'd expected. Lily wasn't in heat, Daisy was spayed, so my first thought, like many people's, was "What the heck? Is this a dominance thing?"

Watching Closer

So, I started paying more attention, not just to my two, but to others. Here’s what I kinda picked up over time through just watching:

• Figuring Out the Pecking Order: Yeah, sometimes it really did seem like one dog trying to say "Hey, I'm the boss around here." I saw this happen when a new dog joined a group or even between dogs that lived together, especially if one was a bit more pushy or confident. The humping dog often looked pretty assertive, tail high, maybe a bit stiff. The other dog might look annoyed or just kinda submit and let it happen for a second before moving away. It wasn't aggressive, mostly just... communication, dog style.
• Getting Over-Excited During Play: This was super common. Two females would be wrestling, chasing, having a grand old time, and suddenly one hops on the other. It looked less like dominance and more like they just got carried away. Like, pure energy spilling over into humping. It usually stopped as quickly as it started, and then they'd go right back to playing. Saw this a lot with younger dogs especially.
• Stress or Weird Energy: Had a friend whose dog would sometimes hump another female dog (or even a person's leg, let's be honest) when she got anxious. Like, if there were loud noises, too many strangers, or just a really chaotic environment. It seemed like a bizarre way to cope, like a nervous habit almost. The dog wasn't trying to be dominant; she seemed kinda worked up.
• Hormones Playing a Part?: Now, even though my Daisy was spayed, I did notice sometimes with unspayed females, this behaviour popped up more around the time they might be going into heat. Not always sexual, maybe just hormonal shifts making them feel different or interact differently. It wasn't a hard and fast rule, just something I observed occasionally.

What I Think Now

So, after seeing all this? I stopped thinking it was just one thing. It's complicated! Most times I saw it, it really didn't seem sexual at all. It felt more like dogs using a physical action to communicate something – excitement, status, maybe even stress.

Honestly, it looks weirder to us than it is to them. For the most part, unless it's causing fights or one dog is clearly distressed, I kinda just see it as normal dog conversation now. Sometimes I might redirect them if it seems too intense or one dog is getting annoyed, just clap my hands or call them away. But yeah, it's usually just dogs being dogs, figuring each other out in their own way. It's definitely not just a 'male dog thing' or purely about dominance, not from what I've seen day in and day out.