Do Dogs Masturbate? Find out.

Our question this week was:

Dr. Debra – this sounds strange and I don’t mean to be perverse but – I was wondering if dogs masturbate. I have a mixed breed dog and sometime I catch him humping a pillow or a stuffed toy.

He is 3 years old and was neutered last year.I’m embarrassed to ask this question.

Buddies mom

Answer

Hi – thanks for your email. You wrote asking if dogs masturbate. The answer is yes they can. Intact males, neutered males, intact females and even spayed females can all masturbate.

Why do they do it? Well, they probably have derived pleasure from this behavior and have continued it. Many dogs will “grow” out of it and do it less as they age.

We have an article on PetPlace that might be helpful to you is Humping in Dogs. This article talks about humping and masturbation behavior of dogs.

There is nothing you can really do but as I mentioned many dogs do “grow” out of this behavioral after they are neutered.

Best of luck!

Dr. Debra

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