# My male dog does not lift his leg



## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

Is there any downside to this? When we were raising him for The Seeing Eye we were not allowed to let him pee on anything so he would not get in the habit of lifting his leg. Now that he is almost 3 and no longer in the Seeing Eye program I am wondering if there could be any problems associated with not lifting his leg.


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## Steve Strom (Oct 26, 2013)

My 5yr old squats 99% of the time. One good thing with him, he never marks. I never worry about that anywhere with him. If he's peeing freely and emptying his bladder, I can't think of any problems with it.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

The only problem I ever had with a dog peeing like a girl is when I took the last male I purchased back to see his breeder, and he squatted and peed, all over her shoes. Uhg!


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## Ace GSD (May 30, 2014)

Rangers_mom said:


> Is there any downside to this? When we were raising him for The Seeing Eye we were not allowed to let him pee on anything so he would not get in the habit of lifting his leg. Now that he is almost 3 and no longer in the Seeing Eye program I am wondering if there could be any problems associated with not lifting his leg.


Ace only started to lift his leg at 10 months old. im 35 y/o now and still dont lift my leg


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## BARBIElovesSAILOR (Aug 11, 2014)

Join the club. Captain pees like a girl too. :-/ he is 3. He never marks his territory either. That can be both good and bad. Hmm, oh well I have learned to live with it.


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## Cobe914 (Sep 29, 2014)

Ace GSD said:


> Ace only started to lift his leg at 10 months old. im 35 y/o now and still dont lift my leg


I found the imagery that stemmed from this both funny and a little disturbing. It'd be an impressive feat for a human male, for sure.


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## Cobe914 (Sep 29, 2014)

My last dog was neutered at five months, and didn't start lifting his leg until he was three years.
My current boy is 11 months, intact, and his one back foot is starting to twitch when he pees, though he still squats. I'm kind of looking forward to him lifting his leg, because he's got a powerful stream and currently hoses down his front legs down when he goes. 
Eww.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I prefer the males squatting. Midnite eventually started lifting his leg and I hated it. Both goldens squat and the puppy squats. I believe that they empty their bladder more completely when they squat versus lifting the leg.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

I am glad Patton squats. He pees, empties his bladder and is done. He doesn't try to bring me to every vertical object to mark it. It does mean I have to keep an eye on his aim to see if he hoses down his front leg like Cobe mentioned.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

rambo never lifts his leg. he doesn't squat either. he just stands there and stretches.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

Steve Strom said:


> My 5yr old squats 99% of the time. One good thing with him, he never marks. I never worry about that anywhere with him. If he's peeing freely and emptying his bladder, I can't think of any problems with it.


Yep, I believe this i why The Seeing Eye does not want their dogs to lift their legs. They can't have a seeing eye dog marking anything.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

selzer said:


> The only problem I ever had with a dog peeing like a girl is when I took the last male I purchased back to see his breeder, and he squatted and peed, all over her shoes. Uhg!


Hmm, well luckily Ranger has never done anything like this. Although my friend's male dog used to pee on people and he lifted his leg to do it so I don't think that not lifting the leg is necessarily the cause of that problem.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

Ace GSD said:


> Ace only started to lift his leg at 10 months old. im 35 y/o now and still dont lift my leg


You have left me speechless.


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

scarfish said:


> rambo never lifts his leg. he doesn't squat either. he just stands there and stretches.


Fritz is 9 months, does the same. Truly doesn't matter to me how he goes, as long as he goes..


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

BARBIElovesSAILOR said:


> Join the club. Captain pees like a girl too. :-/ he is 3. He never marks his territory either. That can be both good and bad. Hmm, oh well I have learned to live with it.


I don't actually have any problem with it. I just wondered if there was any merit to lifting the leg.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

Cobe914 said:


> My last dog was neutered at five months, and didn't start lifting his leg until he was three years.
> My current boy is 11 months, intact, and his one back foot is starting to twitch when he pees, though he still squats. I'm kind of looking forward to him lifting his leg, because he's got a powerful stream and currently hoses down his front legs down when he goes.
> Eww.


Ah, you have a point. Ranger does pee on his front legs and it is gross. However my other male dog lifted his leg and he peed such a large quantity that a puddle would form around the back foot that was firmly planted on the ground. So I guess it is "eh" either way.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

llombardo said:


> I prefer the males squatting. Midnite eventually started lifting his leg and I hated it. Both goldens squat and the puppy squats. I believe that they empty their bladder more completely when they squat versus lifting the leg.


Ah, that makes sounds logical. Thanks.


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

i wish rambo would lift his leg. i'm sure everybody has had a dropped leash get pissed on.


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

car2ner said:


> I am glad Patton squats. He pees, empties his bladder and is done. He doesn't try to bring me to every vertical object to mark it. It does mean I have to keep an eye on his aim to see if he hoses down his front leg like Cobe mentioned.


How do you stop him from hosing down his front leg?


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## Rangers_mom (May 16, 2013)

scarfish said:


> rambo never lifts his leg. he doesn't squat either. he just stands there and stretches.


Yes, that is what Ranger does. I suspect that is what the rest of the "squatters" do as well. We are probably using the wrong terminology.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

It's not like it's a choice. Obviously if you are training not to lift, that's one thing, but they are not really in control of it. My understanding is that it has something to do with the amount of testosterone wash they get in utero. Okay, I'm unable to paste the info. It also helps to explains females who leg lift - the idea is that if they are positioned next to male puppies they will get more of that testosterone.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Rangers_mom said:


> How do you stop him from hosing down his front leg?


Midnite peed on himself for a while then he got the hang of it. It took a couple months. He never really squated like the goldens, he was like in between. He started lifting his leg once my dad brought his male dog over, it was the beginning of the end of my bushes


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Nix lifts his leg to pee has since he was 5 months. Nix DOESNT drag me to ever vertical surface nor does he mark. The two are mutually exclusive. One is biology, the second two are training. 

And Nix has horrible aim when he lifts and pees all over his front legs as well. It's disgusting.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

It makes zero difference with Seger. Leg lifted, leg not lifted...he still pees all over his front legs. Sometimes I swear he's aiming.

As far as marking, I could care less if he marks while we are outside. He marked twice in a pet store and got a hard correction for it. Has not done it since. Marking is a training issue.


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## BARBIElovesSAILOR (Aug 11, 2014)

On walks, sailor marked his territory by lifting his leg and peeing like every 10 feet. I was fine with it though because if he ever got lost, I wanted him to be able to find his way back home, and also I wanted him to know that our house was his, and our neighborhood was his, for protection purposes. This may be flawed thinking but this is what I thought back then. 

Captain never does his business on walks. If he were to get lost could he find his way back home never having marked his territory outside? Can't say.

If there is any benefit to a dog constantly marking their territory this is the only reason I could see, but I might be wrong about it? I'm just fishing for an answer to your question so came up with the best I could? Haha


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## Debanneball (Aug 28, 2014)

BARBIElovesSAILOR said:


> Captain never does his business on walks. If he were to get lost could he find his way back home never having marked his territory outside? Can't say.
> [QUOTE/]
> 
> I think Captain would know where he lives. When Fritz was apx 3 months, a neighbourhood girl walked him twice a week..this was so he could get to know children, we have none. We live in the country, dead end street 4 homes.. Sam, (she lives at the end of the road) a white shepherd he plays with came running off her porch, scared him, he ran all the way home, right
> into the garage! Fritz doesn't mark, and he is now 9 months.


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

Rangers_mom said:


> Ah, you have a point. Ranger does pee on his front legs and it is gross. However my other male dog lifted his leg and he peed such a large quantity that a puddle would form around the back foot that was firmly planted on the ground. So I guess it is "eh" either way.


I'm starting to wish I got a female.


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## Ace GSD (May 30, 2014)

Findlay said:


> I'm starting to wish I got a female.


the first time Ace lift his leg to pee i was a proud daddy lol but lately he start failing. He doesnt position his front leg far enough that sometime his front paw is soaked with pee.


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

So did the leg lifters who would pee on their front leg while peeing ever out grow this. Rosko has been doing this for a couple weeks. And you guessed it. He pees on his front leg most times. Hoping he out grows this.


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## Findlay (Jan 8, 2015)

I was just wondering about the lifting the leg to pee thing...
Finn will be 16 months and he still squats and seems to save his pee till we're back in our yard.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

If that's your only worry, give thanks!


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## Rachel8465 (Jan 30, 2015)

Sam 'squats' or really kind of stretches out to pee instead of lifting his leg, and from the replies in this thread it seems pretty normal. Sam's 11 months and intact, for reference. Personally I enjoy not having to pause while walking for him to mark his territory. His pee is so potent it kills plant life, so its probably good that he doesn't mark up the neighborhood.


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## DaisyDaws (Feb 28, 2015)

Brando squats half the time but is lifting his leg more and more. He is 10 months. It cracks me up when he starts out in a squat, then slowly starts to lift his leg while trying to maintain his balance. Reminds me of myself in my yoga class.


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## kelliewilson (Jan 1, 2015)

When bandit started lifting his leg to pee he was confused,,, he went to a bush while I was walking him lifted the wrong back leg and peed at me! then wipes his feet!
he still squats in my backyard to pee 50% of the time and yes pees on his front legs. dork


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## robrymond (Sep 7, 2014)

My 17 month old male squats in the garden still but has begun to lift his leg to pee in the street, though it has taken a while for him to do this. I wish he would lift his leg in the garden as he was destroying my grass during the dry summer.


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