Dog Care 101

A Question About Male Dogs Lifting Their Leg To Pee

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My dog just turned a year old and he’s still not lifting his leg to pee.

Yep, he squats like girl!…

Now what’s with that???

 

Male Dog Needs Help "Lifting"

I’m hoping some dog experts out there might have some professional experience with this type of dog behavior.

If so, have you got any advice for me?

FYI, our other dog (the Alpha dog) has always taken great pleasure in peeing ON our little anti-leg-lifting dog.

I really shouldn’t say "little" because he’s 70+ pounds and he’s actually taller than the Alpha dog.

But I still feel sorry for little Tenor… from Day One, he’s never been able to pee in peace. He always gets peed on… while he’s peeing!

It’s as if urinating is an after-thought for him.

Sometimes he just stops whatever he’s doing and just squats to pee. Then he carries on, without missing a beat.

And another thing that troubles me somewhat is the fact that the poor guy has never experienced the joy of peeing on a tree. Just clumps of grass… That’s all that this pup has been able to "mark" in his first year of life.

Do you think there’s any hope?

 

Will Tenor Always Be A Squatter?

While I’m fairly certain there’s nothing we could’ve done to "force" our dog to lift his leg when he pees, I am definitely interested in knowing why this might be his preference and whether or not he is destined to be a squatter all his life.

Do lots of males dogs refuse to lift their legs? Or is mine the only one? (I bet it has something to do with the whole Alpha dog vs submissive behavior thing — in terms of dog psychology anyways.)

I’d be interested in hearing from other dog owners who might be experiencing the same thing.

Will a male dog eventually "grow out of it"? Or is he destined to be squatting like a girl to pee for the rest of his life?

Just wondering…

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Well, I guess my dog’s squatting to pee is a little less cumbersome than this dog who pees upside down!

 

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Get the whole story about ‘Baby’, an 18-month-old male pug who just started peeing this way at 15 months of age.

 

Proof: Our Male Pup Ignored What Our Adult Male Dog Was Teaching Him
 

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UPDATE:  Well, finally at the age of 4, our male dog stopped squatting to pee, and he started to lift his leg instead.

It was almost as if it happened overnight! We can’t think of anything that might have triggered the change in behavior. He’s typically a very submissive dog — at least he was for the first 3-1/2 years of his life. Then at 4 years of age, he seemed to get a bit more self-confidence and acted less fearful of things (like strangers, loud noises, etc). This was the same time he started lifting his leg to pee. From there, he almost imediately began "marking" trees whenever we went on walks. It was interesting to see this change in his behavior.