"This is actually a better trait to have when things get exciting than fighting with the other dogs, which is what a lot of dogs choose to do when the pack gets riled up.
Best thing to do for this is to try to anticipate when it's going to happen, and give her something else to do in place of the humping. Sounds like a tennis ball would be a good choice. There are little mesh bags you can buy, almost like a bait bag (which you could also use as well) that holds a tennis ball and you can clip on your pants. This way you would have it immediately when needed. Ideally you would throw her ball BEFORE she starts the "action," so you would need to pinpoint when she likes to do it and derail the behavior before it happens. Eventually, when the pack gets riled, she will look at you and say, "where's my ball? where's my ball? The pack is excited!" Give that a try :)"
Working on this!
Have left Cuba in the barn and barn office various times over the past few days while I took care of the chickens. She's stayed in there by herself and with the other dogs. I haven't found anything destroyed and I don't hear any loud ruckus. Times left alone vary from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Left her in the house while I ran out to get the mail today - she could see me the whole time so no biggie.
Took her to town with me today (in our old Ford Ranger) and had to leave her in the truck about 15 minutes while I ran in for an errand. She looked to be patiently waiting for me on my side when I returned. The shifter was still completely intact too ( I figured that would be the easiest thing to start destroying:)
She's still sleeping in bed with us - would be nicer if our bed was bigger. Or maybe the hubs could sleep in the spare room......
Took an opportunity yesterday morning to try Cuba off leash. Her recall needs some work! She's easy enough to put on a leash every time and so I think I'll just stick with that (be on the safe side-her recall work can be done in a securely fenced area). I have her sit before both putting on her leash and taking it off and she's very good about it every time. She does pull on the leash (I've seen worse though), but I think she'll get alot better about it with some consistent work. She doesn't seem to mind it much at all (although again, I think she needs some off leash running time, play time in a big yard on a regular basis-would help to do BEFORE a walk on the leash).
Caught a good video of her and Ringo playing well with a sqeaky pull toy this afternoon!
And another one of her and Gracie in a bark off (split into the next 2 videos)? Sometimes it seems like everyone just wants to bark out some steam - I mean, I get it - and I must say, Cuba has a very nice, deep bark (I asked Ringo to take note of it since his is such an unmanly, high pitched yip:). You can hear her whine in between bouts of true barking. Don't know if I should allow these bark-offs, but I do monitor them for tone changes and stop it when it goes south (or I just can't take it anymore).
Tried to grab a good profile shot of Cuba on our walk today. She has such a beautiful one!
I've monitored her pretty close since she's been with me. She'll follow me from room to room some, and we've walked right by the kitty litter box many times (she's acknowledged it but didn't try to grab anything), and been around the kitty feed bowls with food in them (I called her away when her nose was wandering and she came away without touching a thing). Time to work more on the crate training.......
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