# When do they start lifting their leg?



## BennyBoy (Apr 25, 2012)

Benny is just about 7 months and he is not yet lifting his leg to pee... just curious at what age this kicks in. I am not complaining, since I realize once he starts 'marking' our walks will be lots of stop and go action. He was neutered at 6 months.


----------



## misstray (Feb 6, 2011)

Brody is 19 months and still doesn't lift his leg to pee or exhibit marking behaviour.


----------



## emichel (May 3, 2012)

I have no idea, but I just want to say I hope my puppy never lifts his leg to pee, because I think he looks so cute the way he squats like a little sumo wrestler. :-D As I recall from my perusal of these postings, some dogs do the leg lift and some male dogs continue to squat all their lives, but I could be wrong, of course.
-- Eileen


----------



## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Augie still stretches out - drops his back end - and he is nearly four. Has never attempted to lift his leg. Brother Finn - another story. But I don't remember when he started. He is 18 months and has been doing it for quite awhile. He lifts so high, he nearly tips over. He think he is peeing on a bush or grass, and he is totally missing it. I am not going to clue him in, however. :biggrin1: He thinks he is such a little stud - I don't want to burst his bubble! He also stretches out to pee just as often, after he has sniffed out just the exact spot to suit him.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi NEVER lifted his leg till he was past 3 years old. Even now, he never lifts his leg to pee... He does it the way Linda mentioned... Standing like a little horse. 

We go to a lot of shows and trials, and there are lots of other dog-marking smells around. In this situation only, he will lift his leg to mark. (even on a blade of grass, which is pretty funny!:biggrin1 But even at a show, if he really needs to PEE, he stands on all four to do it.


----------



## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Since he has already been neutered, he might not pick up the habit.


----------



## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

to quote my buddy, Ian Dunbar "Whether or not a male dog will lift his leg when urinating, sniff and mount bitches and be more aggressive than females has all been preprogrammed by fetal testosterone in utero. Adult castration has absolutely no direct effect on urination posture, sexual preference or hierarchical rank/."


----------



## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

krandall said:


> Kodi NEVER lifted his leg till he was past 3 years old. Even now, he never lifts his leg to pee... He does it the way Linda mentioned... Standing like a little horse.
> 
> We go to a lot of shows and trials, and there are lots of other dog-marking smells around. In this situation only, he will lift his leg to mark. (even on a blade of grass, which is pretty funny!:biggrin1 But even at a show, if he really needs to PEE, he stands on all four to do it.


Karen, does he hit that blade of grass? Finn works so hard at positioning himself just so, and he is so far off target - hilarious! This is even when he is stretching out. Augie couldn't care less. He'll be walking along, and just drops the back end all of a sudden.


----------



## Dory (Jan 4, 2012)

My son and his family are coming to visit this weekend and they are bringing their yellow lab who is not neutered (he is 5 years old) and lifts his leg. I am really, really hoping that Quincy does NOT pick up the habit. I like that he stretches out like a little pony to pee


----------



## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

davetgabby said:


> to quote my buddy, Ian Dunbar "Whether or not a male dog will lift his leg when urinating, sniff and mount bitches and be more aggressive than females has all been preprogrammed by fetal testosterone in utero. Adult castration has absolutely no direct effect on urination posture, sexual preference or hierarchical rank/."


"adult" castration, yes we've seen this with our intact dogs who were neutered later. They contiue to lift. Neutered before hormones show up, and they don't learn the leg lift typically, but continue like when they were little puppies. I'm not saying this is across breed lines, but we've seen this with many of the neutered males that come back for us to keep while their owners go on vacation-which is a fair number each year. I've never seen an intact male not lift, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a neutered (before hormones) male who does. Some of these came out of the same litters as our intact males, so I can't see anything with these dogs that has to do with testosterone in utero.


----------



## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

My vet said the same thing Tom. If neutered early, they rarely lift their legs. I had a rescue mix breed for about a year and he was the cause of the question.


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

motherslittlehelper said:


> Karen, does he hit that blade of grass? Finn works so hard at positioning himself just so, and he is so far off target - hilarious! This is even when he is stretching out. Augie couldn't care less. He'll be walking along, and just drops the back end all of a sudden.


His aim is pretty good when he's marking. When it's just "bladder relief", I don't think he cares.. He also has never learned to "save it up" for marking, the way many male dogs do. He often has to really cncentrate to squeeze out a drop or two. To mark, because he has just peed everything out 5 minutes before!ound:


----------



## Janet Zee (Mar 16, 2007)

My Bacci is 5 yo and never lifts his leg and never marks. My Bella however, lifts her leg ever so slightly as she squats and will mark (outside only). Go figure!!!


----------



## Julie (Feb 8, 2007)

Neither of my boys have ever lifted their legs. They both squat. Both were neutered in the 6-7 month range.


----------



## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

krandall said:


> His aim is pretty good when he's marking. When it's just "bladder relief", I don't think he cares.. He also has never learned to "save it up" for marking, the way many male dogs do. He often has to really cncentrate to squeeze out a drop or two. To mark, because he has just peed everything out 5 minutes before!ound:


Finn used the UgoDog WAY past a year of age and would empty himself on that. Once we started him outside, however, it is a little squirt here and a little squirt there, all over the yard. I would have thought that since he was trained on and used the UgoDog for so long, that it would have been a habit to go and get the job done in one place.

Although Augie wasn't altered until 16 or 17 months, he has never lifted his leg or felt the need to sprinkle everything. He just goes out, gets the job done.


----------



## Carefulove (Mar 20, 2009)

Bumi never lifted his leg, he was neutered at 1 y/o. 
Toby started lifting at about 6 months and will be neutered once he turns 1 next month.

Now, BOTH lift their legs! Bumi started doing it once Toby started and now when Bumi lifts his leg, Toby sticks his face to sniff and gets pee on his hairs, Can you tell how much I HATE the leg lifting? :frusty:


----------



## Carefulove (Mar 20, 2009)

motherslittlehelper said:


> Finn used the UgoDog WAY past a year of age and would empty himself on that. Once we started him outside, however, it is a little squirt here and a little squirt there, all over the yard. I would have thought that since he was trained on and used the UgoDog for so long, that it would have been a habit to go and get the job done in one place.
> 
> Although Augie wasn't altered until 16 or 17 months, he has never lifted his leg or felt the need to sprinkle everything. He just goes out, gets the job done.


Linda, totally off topic, but I can't think of anyone else to ask this than you.
Bumi's hair in thinning on his head and tail, this started about 2 months ago. I know it happened to your Augie, but that was when Finn was a young pup. Toby is going to be 1 next month.
I literally can't do a top knot on Bumi, he doesn't have enough hair for it. It parts and shows his eyes, which is great, but I kind of liked that "top Knot" look...:ear:


----------



## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

Oreo has never lifted his leg even after he's been neutered.

What is did notice was that Oreo started marking recently and will life his leg to mark.

He still pees with both legs on the ground.


----------



## BennyBoy (Apr 25, 2012)

Interesting. I would actually like it if he never picks up the habit of lifting his left to mark - like I said, just makes walks longer


----------



## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

BennyBoy said:


> Interesting. I would actually like it if he never picks up the habit of lifting his left to mark - like I said, just makes walks longer


Oh, Kodi does NOT get to stop, sniff and mark anywhere he wants on walks! Marking is something done only on his OWN time,when I give him permission to wander and sniff!


----------



## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Carefulove said:


> Linda, totally off topic, but I can't think of anyone else to ask this than you.
> Bumi's hair in thinning on his head and tail, this started about 2 months ago. I know it happened to your Augie, but that was when Finn was a young pup. Toby is going to be 1 next month.
> I literally can't do a top knot on Bumi, he doesn't have enough hair for it. It parts and shows his eyes, which is great, but I kind of liked that "top Knot" look...:ear:


Zury, how old is Bumi? Augie was 2.5 when Finn destroyed his hair. It has come back and so thick I can hardly find his skin.

Now Finn, who just turned 1.5 has horrible hair at the moment. I think (hope) that it was just the coat blowing, but it was major blowing. As in, practically naked. He kind of went through three episodes of it and the last one was by far the worse - he was matting something fierce and I was combing mass quantities out of him. The only place where he really has nice hair right now is his legs and his belly and chest. His back is pretty sparse. Since he also has allergies, I wondered about that. But no scaling, no sores, no itching. On different food, his ears are better etc. I see hair growth. He doesn't have much to do a topknot with either - it is a pretty pathetic topknot. The last time I was in the grooming shop where I buy their food, I mentioned it and the gal said "I'm not surprised, there have been a lot of dogs losing hair around this time", and we started talking about something else and I never did get back to asking her more about it.


----------



## Carefulove (Mar 20, 2009)

Hey Linda,

Thanks for responding. Bumi is 3 and yes, just about that time he had some serious matting too. I also noticed balls of hair under the furniture (more than usual) since I also shed like a havanese ound: 
His tail now looks skinny and pathetic compared with Toby's bushy tail. Top knot is practically non existent.


----------



## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Carefulove said:


> Hey Linda,
> 
> Thanks for responding. Bumi is 3 and yes, just about that time he had some serious matting too. I also noticed balls of hair under the furniture (more than usual) since I also shed like a havanese ound:
> His tail now looks skinny and pathetic compared with Toby's bushy tail. Top knot is practically non existent.


Zury, I PM'd you...


----------



## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Tom King said:


> "adult" castration, yes we've seen this with our intact dogs who were neutered later. They contiue to lift. Neutered before hormones show up, and they don't learn the leg lift typically, but continue like when they were little puppies. I'm not saying this is across breed lines, but we've seen this with many of the neutered males that come back for us to keep while their owners go on vacation-which is a fair number each year. I've never seen an intact male not lift, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a neutered (before hormones) male who does. Some of these came out of the same litters as our intact males, so I can't see anything with these dogs that has to do with testosterone in utero.


 yeah hi Tom. Rather than me try to explain this and misinterpret something, I asked Ian what he meant by it. He studied these sort of things for ten years at Berkley Californina. Here's his letter.

Hi there Dave
Exposure of the brain to testosterone at the end of the first third of pregnancy defeminizes from the default female cyclic setting, so that the puppy will grow up using Stand, or stand Lean, Stand Lean and Stand Flex postures and have the ability to Leg Lift and Leg Elevate (abducting hind leg from hip), i.e., five different male postures instead of a female Squat (with or without Leg Raises - lifting one hind leg forward, i.e., no abduction). Hence Testosperone has had a defeminizing AND masculinising effect in utero. Whether or not the castrated males lift their legs in adult hood depends on many factors - mainly environmental and especially social. The earlier the puppy is castrated the longer the delay in puberty. We had many males that did not lift their legs until 2 or 3 years old. But the point is they can and they frequently do. Unlike females, that only raise a hind leg and do not abduct from the hip. There are about 20 different urination postures by the way - most of them used by females. 
hope this helps
best woofs
ian


----------

