Is he testing us?

[OctoberGotti]

I have a soon to be 12 week old male pup. He generally listens, but I notice that sometimes he will ignore our comands or run the other way when we tell him to "come" or "go potty"...we are still training him. Any reason why he does that? Also I noticed he tried "getting on my leg"...I hear that is not a sexual issue at all, and it's more of a dominance issue. I have read a little on NILF...but not sure where to start...or if that's even a solution to this...

Any advice is appreciated!

[gmacleod]

It really isn't a "dominance" issue This is a 12 week old baby you're talking about, who really hasn't much concept of things like that.

What *is* going on is hormonal. Around this stage of life, pups have androgen surges that result in them humping every thing in sight. But he is most certainly not trying to "dominate" his teddy, or your leg, for that matter. He's simply responding to his hormonal surges. It will all die down in a few weeks time.

That doesn't mean you have to let your leg be humped, of course. He still has to learn that that's not appropriate, especially with humans. However, all that's required is a short instruction to desist, followed by redirection to something more appropriate. If necessary, removing your leg from range and leaving the pup to mull things over on his own is a step further that will generally suffice.