Why do dogs lift their legs to urinate?
The first reason for dogs lifting their leg to pee is a practical one. As the dogs penis is on their underside, urinating without lifting their leg can lead the dog to urinating on their own legs and paws. Female dogs prevent this from happening by crouching down to urinate. Male puppies will do the same before they start to raise their leg to pee. Adult male dogs find simply lifting their leg to be the easiest way to pee without interfering with their hygiene.
The stance a puppy uses to pee is sometimes referred to as the ‘juvenile lean’ (see photo below). This is when the puppy extends their body forward, but keeps their hind legs reached out behind with both back paws flat on the ground. This helps avoid urination on themselves before they learn to lift their leg.
Lifting the leg to pee is not only useful for relieving themselves in a hygienic fashion. The action is also a valuable tool for marking territory. When a dog reaches sexual maturity, they will start to enact certain behavioral changes. Their hormones are telling them they need to copulate, so they start to become more territorial. When we keep an unneutered male dog at home, they dont have the same opportunities to meet females.
When we do take the dog out for a walk, you will likely see them make many stops to urinate in small amounts. In doing so, they are leaving pheromones for female dogs to show they are ready to mate and for other male dogs to tell them to stay away. By lifting their leg, they can angle the stream of urine on higher spots on walls and other surfaces. Since this is at nose height for other dogs, they will be more easily able to smell their scent. Female dogs will also mark, but not to the same degree or for the same purpose.
Generally speaking, dogs begin to produce and secrete sexual hormones from the age of about 6 months. This coincides with the time they reach sexual maturity and start raising their leg to pee.
Do female dogs lift their legs to pee?
If you have never had a female dog, you should know the vast majority do not lift their legs to urinate. They continue to carry out the same position as in their puppy stage, i.e. squatting down low to the ground.
Males generally look for vertical surfaces on which to urinate, always trying to reach a certain height. They only release small amounts of urine at a time to mark more comprehensively. On the contrary, females usually only urinate two or three times during a walk. They do so to relieve themselves more than marking territory, although they may do the latter more if they have entered their estrus cycle.
As we explained in the introduction, some females raise their legs to urinate. This is usually due to experimentation by a young female, learned and reinforced behavior, or when there is a hormonal imbalance. It is not usually abnormal behavior nor does it indicate any type of disorder. Only if they show any other clinical signs or their hormonal imbalance is affecting their well-being we will need to take them to a veterinarian.
At what age do dogs lift their paws to pee?
There are various factors which will influence the time when a dog will lift their leg to urinate or mark. This can be due to their genetic inheritance, health and even breed type. We can say that dogs of similar sizes start to lift their leg to pee around the same time. This can be summarized below:
How to Teach a Male Dog to Lift His Leg to Pee
Male dogs dont lift their legs to urinate from birth, but as they grow, they may develop the habit of hiking one leg when they relieve themselves. This behavior isnt unique to males, but it is more common than it is in females. Both neutered and intact males generally mark their territory more than females do, and when one leg is lifted, hitting the target is easier.
When a male dog is about a year old, he may start lifting up one of his hind legs when he urinates. This isnt a universal trait — some males still prefer to squat when they go — but it gives the dog greater ability to urinate on a vertical surface. Male dogs do this as a way of marking their territory — before theyre neutered, they also may do so to advertise their virility and availability to female dogs in the area. Even a dog neutered before turning a year old is susceptible to learning this behavior, as it enables him to easily aim at a vertical surface as a way of “claiming” it as his own — a practice more common in males than females.
Tom Ryan is a freelance writer, editor and English tutor. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in English writing, and has also worked as an arts and entertainment reporter with “The Pitt News” and a public relations and advertising copywriter with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.