[kellymac]

My boss owns 3 Schnauzers. They are all females. One of them Abby lifts her leg when she pees. Is this a normal thing? I have never seen a female dog that lifts her leg to go to the bathroom.

[Killerdrgn]

Wow thats amazing it must be like a lesbian dog, but then again there are male dogs that always squat to pee. I guess theres always one of these oddballs laying around.

[Curbside Prophet]

Ummmm, no, that's a human assignment Killerdrgn...I don't believe it's applicable to dogs. I have heard of females lifting their legs, although it's not common. It could be a simple learned behavior, and I don't consider learned behaviors being abnormal.

[kellymac]

She has never been around any kind of male dog to learn this behavior. She took her to the groomers last week. Inside the doors there they have a big gumball machine. She looked down and there was liquid runniing down the gum ball machine where she had lifted her leg on it.

[OwnedBySix]

Yes I have seen it and my trainer addressed as simply dominance.

[bigdawgs]

I guess my thought would be if it isnt caused by any behavioral/medical trouble, then chalk it up to part of the way she is made. Moose, My St. stands squats, lifts leg, whatever. I have some idea why (marking over another dog while in a field, he squats). But that isnt always true. he is a healthy well adjusted dog in all other respects, so I shrug and say big deal!

[Curbside Prophet]

The dog doesn't necessarily have to learn this behavior from watching other dogs. Some dogs are very smart and excellent problem solvers. It may have started from a simple act of passing a tree that was marked high by another dog, and in an effort to familiarize the tree, the female lifted her leg in a stroke of brilliance. I'm not claiming this is what caused it, but it's certainly plausible. Again, I would not consider it abnormal...amusing, quite possible...abnormal, no.

[opokki]

Natalie lifts her leg to pee too. She marks lots of things even more than Sebastian does. She's been doing this since she was 4 months old. Before her, I had never seen or heard of a female doing this so I was pretty suprised. She never does it in the backyard though, mostly at the parks.

My understanding is that it is done by some confident, assertive females.

[GSD lover]

I'm sure it's just the marking aspect. Females can do it just as much as males and if she wanted to mark that gumball machine but had to lift her leg to do it, she did, which actually shows she is pretty smart to figure that out.

[opokki]

Forgot to mention -
Natalie marks with her feces too! She'll back up to a light pole or a fence or a tree. Its hillarious!

[Curbside Prophet]

Now that would have me rolling in laughter.

[ThxForNothing]

Lol, my dog (a female) also lifts her leg to use the bathroom. Not always though, sometimes she will pee like a girl.