Squatting to urinate--how long in (neutered) male dog?
Kristine Hammerstrand
I can't seem to find anything about this in dog books or on the net, so
sorry if this is a FAQ that I missed...
I know that young male dogs squat when urinating instead of lifting a
leg. I am not sure at what age they grow out of this practice, though,
and whether it makes any difference if they are neutered BEFORE they
"learn" the leg lift.
We just had our ~5 month old mixed breed neutered, and both his vet and
the shelter from which we acquired him last month said he was old enough
for the procedure. He is doing fine, but my husband now suspects that
our dog may never acquire the leg lifting habit. Not that it makes any
difference to us, just curious...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kristine Hammerstrand kha...@uiuc.edu
LDB
Some dogs never lift their legs. I have a very dominant (alpha) GSD who
was not neutered until he was 5. He never lifted his leg. Be
grateful. It means that when you take him to someone else's house he
won't mark "their's" as "his" <g>.
LDB
Roberta J. Astroff
In article <Pine.HPP.3.91.970211...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>,
Kristine Hammerstrand <kha...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>I can't seem to find anything about this in dog books or on the net, so
>sorry if this is a FAQ that I missed...
>
>I know that young male dogs squat when urinating instead of lifting a
>leg. I am not sure at what age they grow out of this practice, though,
>and whether it makes any difference if they are neutered BEFORE they
>"learn" the leg lift.
Sam was neutered at about 10 months. He is now 5. Sometimes he squats,
sometimes he lifts his leg, and sometimes he just stands there and pees
on his feet. (!)
I doubt it has anything to do with being neutered.
Roberta
jb
In article <Pine.HPP.3.91.970211...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Kristine Hammerstrand <kha...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> writes:
>We just had our ~5 month old mixed breed neutered, and both his vet and
>the shelter from which we acquired him last month said he was old enough
>for the procedure. He is doing fine, but my husband now suspects that
>our dog may never acquire the leg lifting habit. Not that it makes any
>difference to us, just curious...
Same thing happened w/ my dog,too. He's now doing the leg lift thing
but it took about 6 mos to a year for him to finally do it. It was getting
pretty funny to see him squatting AND lifting his leg at the same time though.
:)
Carol Dunster
On Tue, 11 Feb 1997 17:53:59 -0600, Kristine Hammerstrand
<kha...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>
>We just had our ~5 month old mixed breed neutered, and both his vet and
>the shelter from which we acquired him last month said he was old enough
>for the procedure. He is doing fine, but my husband now suspects that
>our dog may never acquire the leg lifting habit. Not that it makes any
>difference to us, just curious...
Chances are that he will never learn to lift his leg and mark on your
bushes (or couch). It is one of the benefits of neutering..
Carol
--
Carwyn Silky Terriers
http://www.prodogs.com/dbn/carwyn/index.htm
Steve Urszenyi
I had a German Shorthaired Pointer that didn't lift his leg til he was
eighteen months or so -- he just kept squatting. (My father told me the dog
was gay! :-) [Little homour... please no calls] He was neutered at about
the same, but as I recall, lifted his leg before the gonadectomy.
I have a two-and-a-half year old husky-shepherd cross female who squats AND
lifts one leg, and a 4 month old GSD female who does the same thing. I'm
never quite sure if this is dominance or neatness, not wanting to piddle on
her foot.
Anyway, Kristine, us guys usually get more tense about it than our dogs. If
all else fails, tell your husband to do what I did: Take the dog out to the
backyard when it's dark and show him how!
--
Steve Urszenyi | Trillium Internet Mall
Toronto, Canada
http://www.trillium.ca
st...@trillium.ca
Steve's K-9 Corner: http://www.trillium.ca/k9corner.html/
bky...@voyager.net
We had a male gsd pup neutered around 7 months. He was a year
old before he ever started to lift his leg. You guys might think I'm
nuts, but he only started this after he had been around our neighbor's
little male poodle who constantly lifted his leg. Peer pressure??
Who knows? Becky
fio...@bldgdrake.lan1.umanitoba.ca
> Kristine Hammerstrand <kha...@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> writes:
> (snip)
> I know that young male dogs squat when urinating instead of lifting a
> leg. I am not sure at what age they grow out of this practice, though,
> and whether it makes any difference if they are neutered BEFORE they
> "learn" the leg lift.
>
> the shelter from which we acquired him last month said he was old enough
> for the procedure. He is doing fine, but my husband now suspects that
> our dog may never acquire the leg lifting habit. Not that it makes any
> difference to us, just curious...
>
> Kristine Hammerstrand kha...@uiuc.edu
>
>
>>>>
Our mixed breed male was neutered at the approximate age of six months.
Prior to this he had not lifted his leg (my husband refused to demonstrate :-)), but
within one to two months he was doing it infrequently on his own. He does it
consistently now.
Just give him time. It will come or it may not, but as you said, it doesn't really matter.
Debby, Pat (husband), Dybo (terrier X), Keera (BC X)
DoVDavis
My male dog was neutered at 8 months, the age I got him from the breeder.
The breeder told me that dogs learn to lift their legs by watching other
dogs. He had been around other male dogs, but had not yet mastered this
trick. He now primarily pees leaning slightly forward, but occasionally
will hike his leg on a bush while on a walk. My only objection to his
usual method is that he seems to get pee on himself.
Doreen ("Are you talking about me again, Mama?" ---Sam)
Calvin Chin
My dog too lifted his leg after about 6 months. Seemed funny at first
until he started marking in the flat. Had to untrain his marking
tendencies - scold him whenever he marks (if you don't like it). He
stopped after some time.
Although he lifts his leg to pee, he doesn't lift his leg to mark
anymore.
Calvin
McCallum
I was told by the breeder of my Airedale that as male dogs become
mature they lift their legs. When a dog is not mature they squat
all/some times. If the dog is neutered before it is fully mature and
still squats, he won't start lifting his leg. She told me that
sometimes, people have their dogs neutered before they are mature so
that they don't (and won't) lift to pee.
TO me, this does seem true, my last Airelade was neutered just at 1 yr
and was not fully mature. He would sometimes squat, and sometimes not.
Wyatt, is nearly one year and a half and he is not yet neutered and not
yet fully mature. More & more he if lifting instead of squatting.
Pam McCallum
steve
I must really be in a bad position...My 2 year old neutered chow has yet
to lift his leg. WHO CARES!!!!!
Dennis Jay
Steve,
Our 8 m0. old springer was neutered last month; I've observed that he
squats when he goes, but is starting to lift his leg when he marks, like on
a long walk. I've read that lifting usually takes place between 8-16 mos.
old. julia
JATreviss
for aesthetic reasons alone, I prefer when my dog squats (not as big a
show for the general public as the leg lift). He's half and half. Never
even thought it was unusual before..... hmmmm.....
Jennifer Blake
My 10 yr old neutered lab/gsd mix only lifts his leg if there are other
dogs around, otherwise he squats.
___________________________________________________
Jennifer Blake
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~jblake/wholesale.html
jbl...@rich.admin.umass.edu
Mojo'sMom
Hey, Ive got 2 at 13 months and 16 months, and they still squat. They
don't know there's any other way!
Terri
Jen2432
My 1-year old neutered Scottie/Doberman pup only squats. I have been told
that a male dog has to actually see another male lift his leg in order to
do it himself. Don't know if this is true.
Mojo'sMom
Jen2432 wrote:
>
> My 1-year old neutered Scottie/Doberman pup only squats.
a Scottie/Dobie mix!
Terri
Lutachris
my impression of the leg lift (it is only "sometimes" even with an adult
dog) is to get some hight for the scent, so, they have to be near
something vertical- tree, sign, fence, etc. and then if there is already
another dog's scent, or another dog around, higher is better! There
isn't much reason to lift the leg high on flat ground.
RL Neufeld
You would think, but my 10 month old male dobe does it anyway. I guess
he is just practicing (he needs it - not very good aim).
Steve Rourke
RL Neufeld wrote
Our lab lifts on vertical surfaces, (actually, sometimes he just does a
pseudo-lift and doesn't even pee); and once in a while he lifts on flat
ones, too (tufts of grass, or chunks of dirt or snow, etc).
More and more lately, he's taken to pawing the ground afterwards, sending
it flying. Why?
And he always poops in the puckerbrush, if he can, rather than the lawn or
road. I don't know why.
Steve.
Ann Adamcik
In article AAA0...@ladder01.news.aol.com, luta...@aol.com (Lutachris) writes:
>my impression of the leg lift (it is only "sometimes" even with an adult
>dog) is to get some hight for the scent, so, they have to be near
>something vertical- tree, sign, fence, etc. and then if there is already
>another dog's scent, or another dog around, higher is better! There
>isn't much reason to lift the leg high on flat ground.
Yep, that's about how I see it. I have a rather dominant female (spayed)
who will lift her leg in an attempt to mark vertical objects that have been
peed on by males. Of course, she doesn't get much actual height, but she
sure tries... ;>
-Ann & the girls (Maggie, Mango, & Poppy - DSH mutt cats; Kylie - APBT/GSD/Lab?;
and Skye - Lab/Collie/GSD?)
---
(Note: The header address is invalid. To reach me for other
than commercial reasons, replace "nospam" with "avi".)
Scooby
I agree that the main purpose of lifting the leg is to mark as high as
possible to give the scent more range and perhaps last longer. You have to
realize that this behavior is an instinct and apparently is a useful
behavior since it improved natural selection. But I don't see that it is
critical anymore. My Dane rarely bothers to lift his leg anymore. In fact
he seems to make a distinction, when he is marking he usually lifts and
when he really just has to go he just leans forward like a horse. If your
worried about it because it makes him look like a 'girl' I would say don't
worry so much. http://rainbow.rmi.net/~scooby
Steve Rourke
Andrew Haythorne wrote
My
> previous rotty, a dominant male, <snip> would also scratch
> the ground. The explanation I was given by a dog behavioralist was that
> dogs also have scent glands between their pads and this adds further
> scent marks.
>
Could be. I'm sure squirrel feet are stinky.
> As for nuetered males that squat, our neutered male corgi never lifted
> his leg in 11+ years.
>
Love these big little dogs!
Steve.
Andrew Haythorne
Steve wrote
>
> Our lab lifts on vertical surfaces, (actually, sometimes he just does a
> pseudo-lift and doesn't even pee); and once in a while he lifts on flat
> ones, too (tufts of grass, or chunks of dirt or snow, etc).
>
> More and more lately, he's taken to pawing the ground afterwards, sending
> it flying. Why?
>
> And he always poops in the puckerbrush, if he can, rather than the lawn or
> road. I don't know why.
>
> Steve.
>
>
male, but only out of their home yard. At home they only squat. My
previous rotty, a dominant male, would only squat at home but would lift
and mark anything and everything outside the yard. He would also scratch
the ground. The explanation I was given by a dog behavioralist was that
dogs also have scent glands between their pads and this adds further
scent marks.
As for nuetered males that squat, our neutered male corgi never lifted
his leg in 11+ years.
Andrew
Esther Ng
>> As for nuetered males that squat, our neutered male corgi never lifted
>> his leg in 11+ years.
My golden is 10-month old and he is not nuetered, but he still squart when
urinate. Is that abnormal? Can anyone tell me why? Thanks.
Esther
Papageno99
Esther Ng wrote:
>>My golden is 10-month old and he is not nuetered, but he still squart
when
>>urinate. Is that abnormal? Can anyone tell me why? Thanks.
I don't think I'd lose sleep over it. Got any other male dogs nearby?
Walk him past their house, show him a tree, and I'll bet he lifts his leg
like a pro.
Incidentally, I have 2 twelve week springer pups that are just learning
the leg lift. They must be particularly uncoordinated, since they're
falling over. It's hilarious to watch. Wish I had a video camera.
-Leanne
<papag...@aol.com>