It's not always a dominace thing! My old family dog did it all her life, but only when she was over excited - as a sort of over excitement relief thing. She was the most undominant (if that is such a word) dog in the world.

It is odd that they said wait 6 months from the season to get her spayed, if you wait that long then she may well be in season again. I thought they usually reccomended 3 months after the season so that they are mid cycle.

All the vets I have ever heard of say spay 3 months after the season as it's mid way

I agree with Cat and don't think it is necessarily a 'dominance thing'.

This is one of the questions that comes up frequently along with play biting/chewing/eating rubbish, it is something dogs do, all a natural part of their behaviour.

Look at it this way, dogs have a range of behaviours that they display at certain times, puppies 'practise' these behaviours sometimes inappropriately as do some adult dogs particularly when over excited.

People often laugh when a puppy mounts an object,this rewards the unwanted action with attention so the puppy continues to display the behaviour. If the behaviour is ignored and the puppy distracted if should stop.
Spaying won't necessarily stop the behaviour, most puppies grow out of it anyway.

Regarding spaying, many vets my own included prefer to spay midway between seasons so that would be three months from the beginning of a season when the hormonal cycle is at its most dormant. This is thought to help prevent bleeding. My own bitch Chloe was spayed a week ago aged 9 months and three months from the start of her first season. She is fine.

Kismet loves to hump her bedding and toys. Mostly we just ignore it... I figure it's all those teenage hormones raging through her... She's 10 months old now and we're still waiting for her first season (unless we missed it). Personally I am going to try letting her have her first couple of seasons then spay her. The jury's out on spaying. Selkie was spayed before her first season and I thought this time I'd wait and see if letting all those hormones bed in would make a difference....

As the others have said don't worry about it. Just by the by - the littlest girl in my pack (who is actually boss of all the dogs) wees most of the time by cocking her leg rather than squatting.

I read it that the OP was advised to wait another 6 months. That would mean that doggie would have one more season and then be half way between seasons.

One of my Yorkie bitches used to hump my leg,
until she was speyed and then it stopped,I've had
all my bitches speyed,and apart form my Yorkie,who
was done at 2yrs,all my bitches have been speyed
3 mths after their first season,it's to do with the
hormones.

just thought I would add.. not all bitches have a six monthly season.. Mea has one every four months.. some dogs go nine months some 12 months some 18 months

Ours started doing it at about 5 months old. She was spayed at 6 months but it didn't change anything.

Mostly it's me she humps. And whilst I'm not entirely convinced it's a dominance thing she IS trying it on when she does it. It tends to happen when she's overtired or frustrated about something. She'll start trying to hump my leg and then will start mouthing and pulling at my clothes. Almost always it escalates to high pitched barking and tantrums.

Normally I push her away or pop her in her crate for 5 minutes. On average I'd say it happens once every couple of weeks. The other day I was ill with a tummy bug and she started humping my leg as I lay on the bed. I couldn't be bothered pushing her off - I felt to ill. So I let her get on with it. She's been like a sex starved lunatic ever since! I can't sit down and she's attached to me like a limpet humping away as if her life depends on it. After a couple of days of being really firm with her she's starting to calm down again.

I don't know if it's dominance exactly, but it's something along these lines. She never shows any other signs of dominance, and is really very obedient for a Beagle. But it means something and it seems to me that it's somehow to do with pecking order. Maybe she's not dominating me, but I'm pretty sure it's her way of saying that we're equals