Why Does My Dog Do This?

My curr-mix, Jasmine, (spayed female around 7 years old) has a behavior that amuses and sometimes exasperates me. When I take her for a walk, and she stops to pee, she frequently (sometimes 2-3 times in one walk) “scratches off” afterwards. She stretches her back legs out and her front legs out and scratches ferociously, kicking dirt and grass everywhere. Is this a territory marking thing? I’ve also caught her hiking her leg to try to mark on trees and bushes, which I’ve never seen a female do before. Also, she gets very excited (seems like a mix of excitement and fear) when she smells an unneutered male, and tries to sniff and mark where they’ve been, as well.

Marking territory.

I suspected…but it really is a sight to see, and she’s so proud of herself when she’s done! :smiley:

Heavens, that’s the Pee Dance.

My female spayed dog occasionally does it, as did my former female spayed dog.

I think females do this to signal to males that there is a female in area not to mark territory which is a male behavior.

She’s making sure her scent gets spread around. My big male hound does this sometimes after he poops on walks. We have learned not to stand behind him. :eek:

No doubt, romansperson! She’s never kicked poo on me, but she has kicked dirt all over me.

Two and a Half Inches of Fun, why would she care, though? She was spayed at 3 months. It’s not like she’s looking to “get some,” if you will.

When my bostons do a #2 they hunch over, hold their heads up high, squint and look left-right-left.
It so looks like a quarterback on the line calling plays looking back and forth at the coverage before calling hike.

She kicks grass? Man, I was hoping you’d ask why your dog rolls in crap. That’s my beagle’s biggest vice. His favorite is opossum dung.

Sigh.

Just be thankful that you don’t have to walk my pet hippo.

My beagle does this all the time. When she comes running back in the house after being let out she’ll scratch around on the rug just inside the door. My kids think she’s being neat and wiping her feet before coming in.

My male dog will wait for my female dog to squatt, come up behind her, left his leg and pee on her butt. I believe he is trying to get his scent over her pee but it really stopped being funny a month ago and now is just annoying. The poor thing has a skin infection due to the fact that he does it when we are not around to clean her up.

Marking territory to the extreme. Geez.

Hehe. Yeah, they do. And they rock. :slight_smile: