# First time owner of a male - Questions



## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

So I'm very experience with dogs and currently have a 16 month old female GSD; Cedar. I've never had a male though so I have some questions about the differences. Also, anything I don't ask that you think would be good to know, please fill me in. 

So what exactly is marking and how is it different than regular urinating? Will my male pup likely mark in the house or is that not a common thing? If he will, how do I prevent it before it happens? Is marking a bad thing in general? I've read many times on here how people don't let their dogs mark during walks. Why not? 

What about humping? I do not want my dog humping every female dog he comes across. When I take Cedar to the dog park, I get really annoyed if there's a male there who keeps trying to mount her. She doesn't like it and will tell the male off, but many times they keep trying anyway. I do not want my dog doing this, although I know it's going to happen. What's the best way to deal with humping? Is it something I should give a quick correction for but not make a big deal out of? Titan, my 3 month old GSD, is already starting to hump Cedar. I've seen him do it likely 5 times now. Why is he humping at such a young age? It can't be a sexual thing already can it? 

What about lifting his leg? I'm assuming he'll do this naturally, but do some male dogs just never lift their leg? If so, should I just let him pee like a girl, or should I teach him to lift his leg? At what age should I assume he's not going to lift his leg and I need to show him how? 

Anything else I need to know about the differences between male/female, would be great. Thanks in advance.


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## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

I've only had males in recent years...so I'll tell you what I know.

Neither of my boys mark, inside or out. Not sure if it's good or bad.....they've just never done it. 

Humping was never an issue until we brought home the new puppy. Kaos our senior tried often and I just gave him an "enough" and he'd hang his head and back off. I think it has much more to do with dominance than a sexual thing. Regardless....it's just plain rude

Lifting legs....neither of my males do it. In 9.5 yrs I've seen Kaos do it twice on walks, but other than that they both squat......sorry I had to laugh at the image of you "teaching" him to lift his leg I personally don't care if they squat to pee....I know they're boys, they know they're boys, doesn't bother me in the least...but I'm a girl


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

1>>> i'm not really sure what marking is.

2>>>> my dogs have never marked in the house. 
i don't care if they mark outside.

3>>>> get a female.

4>>>> please make a video of you teaching
your dog to lift it's leg.

5>>>> how old are you? you should know the
difference between a male and a female.



shaner said:


> 1 >>> So what exactly is marking and how is it different than regular urinating?
> 
> 2 >>>>Will my male pup likely mark in the house or is that not a common thing? If he will, how do I prevent it before it happens? Is marking a bad thing in general? I've read many times on here how people don't let their dogs mark during walks. Why not?
> 
> ...


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> 1>>> i'm not really sure what marking is.
> 
> 2>>>> my dogs have never marked in the house.
> i don't care if they mark outside.
> ...


Wow, that was helpful...
Thanks for nothing.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

1) Marking is urinating not out of a physical need to pass water, but out of a desire to use the urine scent to communicate with other dogs.

2) I've had 3 male dogs and countless male fosters. None of them marked in the house. This is a training issue, not a "male" issue. Both my dogs mark outside, but I don't care. Makes it easier to get them to pee when we have to stop on a long car trip.

3) Some people don't let their dogs mark on walks because they get to where they want to do it at every tree, fire hydrant, mailbox, and fence post. It can take forever to finish a walk. On a walk I let them mark a couple of places where they always "check their pee-mail", but other than that I hustle them along. 

4) Leg lifting is a learned behavior. My oldest learned from watching another dog and my other dogs learned from them. If your dog never learns, it's ok though. He'll just squat to pee. Incidentally, my dogs often squat when they're in their own yard and really need to urinate instead of marking territory. 

5) None of my dogs hump. Again, it's a training issue, not an uncontrollable male dog thing.


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## shaner (Oct 17, 2010)

Emoore said:


> 1) Marking is urinating not out of a physical need to pass water, but out of a desire to use the urine scent to communicate with other dogs.
> 
> 2) I've had 3 male dogs and countless male fosters. None of them marked in the house. This is a training issue, not a "male" issue. Both my dogs mark outside, but I don't care. Makes it easier to get them to pee when we have to stop on a long car trip.
> 
> ...


Thanks a lot, this is precisely what I was looking for.


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

Emoore's post is practically perfect, but one thing to add: Ask questions of your vet and trust them, and if you don't, find one you do. They will be a big help in physical questions and helping you decide when to neuter should you decide to do, etc.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

My dogs will hump each other in play (and one of them is a female!), but neither of them ever humps other dogs. If they tried I'd stop it immediately, and if any other dog tries to hump them, or starts any other dominance display, such as putting a head over their necks, I step in and stop that too. My dogs are fairly tolerant of that sort of thing but they do have their limits and I don't want them to reach those limits and decide to tell the other dog off on their own - that's my job. 

Some dogs are NOT tolerant of it, and it can start a fight if the other dog takes offense, so I'd definitely suggest that you discourage your boy from doing it to strange dogs. Within the pack it's not usually a big deal.

ETA: Oh, and Keefer is 6 years old and he still sometimes pees like a girl.


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## JackB. (Jul 29, 2011)

We are newbies to the GSD, but have a male so I can tell you what we have seen with him. He started marking at about 8 months, but never in the house so we don't really care. As far as marking on his walks, there are about 2 or 3 places where he always wants to mark, so I let him do it there, and not really anywhere else. Emoore is right, his walk would take FOREVER if we let him do it everywhere. He has also never learned to lift his leg either, I think I saw him do it one time, and he about fell over cause he had never done it before. He hasn't done it since (sometimes I wish he would because he always pees on his front feet when he squats!). The humping thing has however been our issue at the moment. But most of the time it's males he wants to hump. We assume its a dominance thing?? Not really sure, as i said, we are new at this. We just give him a firm no or leave it, and playtime is usually over. It's getting better, but definitely something we have to work on.


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## Germanshepherdlova (Apr 16, 2011)

I don't think you need to show your dog how to lift his leg. Either he will do it, or he won't. My GSD lifted his leg at 11 months old, and my lab was about 2-he learned from the GSD. 

Marking-a dogs way of letting another dog know that "he was there" and when another dog smells it they can learn a great deal about the other dog who marked there. I have 2 males-neither have ever marked in the house. I do let my dogs mark while out on a walk, I make them heel and when I give them permission they may walk away from me and smell and mark and enjoy being dogs. 

Never indoors, but when I let my boys in the backyard to play-the lab will try to hump the GSD sometimes. I had heard that humping was showing dominance but this can't be in their case because the GSD is definitely dominate over the lab, so I think it is because he gets excited. I tell him NO! When I see him trying to do it-and he is doing it less frequently now. Plus the GSD has "beat him up" for it before.

One more thing about marking-you will clearly see the difference, regular urinating is basically taking a long pee and letting it all out-marking looks like they are peeing in spurts-a splash here and a splash there.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Edit: Around Christmastime if you have a live tree, your male might get confused about having a tree growing in the middle of the living room and try to mark it. So be ready to correct him if he tries. Ask me how I know this.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

I disagree that leg lifting is a learned behavior. I've had several males, ALL lifted their leg, and NONE were around another male so they didn't "learn" it ftom another dog. I'm not saying they CAN'T learn it from another male, but they don't have to see another dog doing it to start doing it themselves.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

BlackGSD said:


> I disagree that leg lifting is a learned behavior. I've had several males, ALL lifted their leg, and NONE were around another male so they didn't "learn" it ftom another dog. I'm not saying they CAN'T learn it from another male, but they don't have to see another dog doing it to start doing it themselves.


Interesting. I only say that from my own observation that mine didn't do it until they saw another dog do it. Rocky didn't do it until he was about 3 he saw a female dog doing it (yeah really) and then he started. I absolutely could be wrong though.


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

I have 3 dogs, 2 female 1 male. My 7yr old female, Kiya, marks, on a walk she will squat several times, when let out to potty in our yard she will pee once. Before my previous GSD, Chazzy passed she had accidents in the house, usually in the same spot, Kiya eventually "marked" that spot. My other female, Lakota 2yrs old trys to mount Kiya all the time, as a dominance thing not sexual, I always tell her "off". My 9 yr old male lifts his leg sometimes other times he just slightly squats not all the way down like a female. On a walk the poor boy trys to cover both my females "spots" even if its a dribble, near the end of the walk he doesn't pay any attention to the girls.


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## Courtney (Feb 12, 2010)

I have a almost 2 yr old intact male.

-Marking, think you got some good explanations on why dogs mark. I don't let my boy mark on people's mailboxes or yards when we are on walks..to me it's just consideration to the homeowner. But if we are on a hiking trail, etc. I don't care if he marks. He has NEVER marked in our home.

-Lifting to pee, my boy started to lift his leg around 13-14 months. I don't know he just did it on his own, we do not have another dog. I honestly would not care if he still squated. It's no big deal to me.

-Humping, the only time he ever did this was around 16 weeks old and he got a little friendly with his stuffed animal he was playing with. I simply redirected his attention and that was the end of that...he has not done anything like that since.

Hope this helps


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## Rocky's mum (Apr 12, 2012)

Hi,

I am a new GSD owner and my little man Rocky, who's 13 weeks old has never marked as yet, but he has definitely started humping.... He humped the beanbag, so I just removed it, but I have a video monitor on him in the kitchen at night and last night he started humping the high sides of his dog bed?? I didn't correct that as I was in bed, but he stopped after 30 seconds or so....
As to lifting legs, no idea, I'm not bothered if he does or doesn't.

I do know that he is very vocally whiny? I'm not sure if this is a male thing or not, but thought it worth a mention......


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## jnaeve (Apr 30, 2012)

I'll throw my .02 cents in just in case you see some value in my old age... 
We have raised both Labs and GSD's over the last 33+ years and these are the things we've learned:
- *Squatting or hiking*: Male dogs who have been properly neutered at 5-6 months old, typically won't lift their leg unless they're around other males who do. I had a 110lb Lab who was neutered at 5 months, squatted for years until he was around a rescue we brought home who was neutered at 2 and lifted his leg, Chance began to pick it up then when the rescue left, he went back to squatting. Note, if a male is neutered after a year or more, our experience is that he will continue to lift his leg, particularly if he feels his territory is threatened by anyone K9 or Human and this goes for inside the home too. He doesn't need the boys to have the desire to mark his territory.
- *Humping*: This is a dominance thing not a sexual thing and we've seen it both with female and male dogs regardless of the breed. Our female lab constantly humped the older male lab but he was a very gentle and passive animal whereas she was very assertive. 
We're not interested in breeding at this point in our lives so we typically will neuter/spay our dogs. Its something we do with them at a very early age, typically around 5 months, depending on the animal, but our Vet is very experienced and knowledgeable and has worked with us for many years. 
Hope this helps anyone with further questions on this subject. We just got a couple female pups, one 7-month old Lab who is a rescue and one 10-week old GSD we just picked up from a champion breeder, getting back into the puppy mode is harder than I remembered but maybe its because I'm not as young as I once was LOL.


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