Okay, so this is going to be a bit embarrassing to talk about, because we're humans and not dogs, and we have taboos, and dogs don't!
In any case, Mercy (our beagle/foxhound? mix) is a 4 year old spayed girl who apparently loves to lick her behind! Her vet says she's got a clean bill of health (including any possible worms or irritations back there). We think she gets real pleasure out of it--she even got one of the other dogs to lick her! She acts like she's "humping" something when she does it...
So she's neutered, but that just means she hasn't got any uterus or ovaries anymore; everything else is intact... So do dogs get pleasure out of sex, just like humans do? And could Mercy be... well, getting horny?
Yeah... I said it was an embarrassing question. But I'm just so darn curious!
Oh, by the way, for anyone who saw the "How to Foil a Canine Houdini" topic I had a while back, her owner has actually managed to crate-train Mercy; so she's now an indoor dog! I gave her an article about Beagle-training, and the idea of positive training clicked with her; so she used encouragement to get Mercy into the crate, and now she goes in when you stand by it and say "Mercy, crate". The weird thing is that she still puts Mercy in the crate for punishment; except when it's for punishment, she drags Mercy into it and scolds her. This morning she said she might have to find a different way to punish Mercy because she was getting used to the crate.
We've had accidents, but all of them are in the same spot--in front of the door--and all when no one is around to watch her and she gets lonely... So if she's in the crate when we're gone, she waits until she's let out. I don't like her not getting much exercise; but we're all walking her more often, so that should be about the same.
Yay for the Beagle (mix) girl!