So I’m in Bali at the moment, Land of the Gods and Land of the Dogs. Eating a meal tonight, a female dog was running around on the sidewalk and down the lanes, when suddenly she cocks her leg and takes a pee on a powerpole near me.
Now I’ve known male dogs who were neutered early and never got the hang of cocking, instead preferring to squat.
But I’ve never come across a female who cocked rather than squatted. And for the record, she was definitely a bitch, enlarged nipples (previously whelped) and obvious labial flaps.
Is this ‘something’? Or is it a not-uncommon event that I’ve never heard of before?
My elderly bitch used to do this as she got older. Maybe it hurt to squat. I will add, that the lifted leg wasn’t as high male dog lifted leg. To quote the Whistler: “Who knows what goes on in the minds of dogs.”
My female dog squats, but always lifts one leg an inch or two off the ground as she does.
I’ve a feeling this might be a bit of genetic programming that is switched on in one sex, but isn’t completely switched off in the other (like the physical trait of males having nipples).
Dogs will imitate other dogs. May be nothing more than that. More so in a case like this when spayed or neutered. Part of their behavior is instinct, part socialization.
My brother’s spayed female did this. Like someone else said, she didn’t go as high as my boy dog does now (who will go like flat up against a fence!) but she definitely did it.
My girl dog did it a little bit when I first got her but now she’s a definite squatter. Not sure what changed, other than her comfort in her surroundings.
my female, Bunny, has always squatted and lifted her leg at the same time. it looks silly and she can’t aim her pee very well, especially since it only goes down and not sideways.
I’ve had two female dogs who both did it. I’ve noticed they tend to cock a leg if marking, or just leaving a pee-mail for the other dogs, but if it’s an empty-the-bladder pee, they both just squatted. I think it’s to aim better. Let’s say a male dog has left a pee-mail on a power pole or something and my dog comes around, sniffs to check for pee-mail. She will cock one leg and I think that’s to get her pee delivered to approximately the same spot. If she finds a squatter pee-mail, she will squat to mark that pee-mail as “read”.
And yes, I think I’m clever calling it “pee-mail.” That’s what they’re doing – leaving pee messages for each other. It’s like the dog park is one giant SDMB for dogs.
Mine does that too - at least once or twice by accident when she couldn’t decide which leg to lift - I thought I was imagining it the first time I saw it - and I didn’t mention it upthread because it sounds sort of unbelievable, but your post gave me the courage to say it.
I dog-sat a friend’s dog who did this. Neutered female Brittany spaniel who had one litter before neutering. But she was pretty much an alpha bitch in many other ways. It did surprise me.
I also had a male dog who was neutered at about 4 months. He didn’t learn to lift his leg until he was around 4 years old, and then not always–hardly ever when he peed in the back yard.
My current dog occasionally goes up on his front paws to pee, I assume so it lands higher, so the next dog that comes along thinks he was a bigger dog. (I don’t believe he actually thought this out, I think it’s just his personality or maybe he’s trying to wipe out some other dog’s scent.)
In my experience, when a bitch cocks her leg to pee, it’s always the alpha bitch. She’s leaving her message as high as possible that she’s there and she’s badass.
Our new dog lifts his leg to poop!
I wonder if his blindness has something to do with it.
I should point out that his technique isn’t very bright…he often times just missed his back leg with his poo.
