pup mounting child

[rdselman]

Question for all the experts (everyone is more of an expert than me). My puppy has just recently begun mounting my 8 yrd old son. Even though he is still a puppy, it is hard to think of him as such. He is just under 60 lbs and easily topples over my fairly good size 8 yr old.

The odd thing is that he will try this with my son the most and me occasionally. He never tries it with my wife or my 4 yr old daughter. He has always played much rougher with my son than anyone else (and still does). I also know that he is most likely square in the middle of his bratty stage.

Is he trying to climb the ladder in our "pack", or do you think he just gets over excited and doesn't know how to properly channel his boundless energy? When he does this by the way, he will nip at us and just basically go nuts. We always tell him "off" and pull him down. After 2 or 3 chances, we put him into his crate to cool down. The other night I had to put him into his crate 4 consecutive times for "timeout" before he quit coming right back after me. Do we just need to keep on course? Appreciate the advice.

[ELubas]

How old your pup? Is he neutered? This is behavior that needs to be stopped so I am sure if you provide a little more info folks can help you

[rdselman]

The puppy is 6 months old. No, he is not neutered yet. Our Vet doesn't like to do it until after 6 months. We probably will be doing that soon.

[ELubas]

Feeling his oats. Everyone needs to discourage it. Use a word like "Off" and remove him if you have to. Instruct your kids to stop all play when he does this. With reinforcement he will stop-it is a puppy thing but you want to nip it in the bud

[Chiefsmom]

Sounds like he is right at the typical age to get him neutered! This will most likely solve a lot of (if not all of) the issue!!!!!!! Good luck! And keep us posted!