[lillie20]

My 2 year old Male, has never lifted his leg while doing pee pee. Goes like a female. Just noticed this week for the first time, lifted his leg once. Is he too old to change to going the proper way like a male? He was neutered at 6 months.

 

[mandymmr]

it sometimes takes them a while! My dobbie lifts his leg though

 

[FourIsCompany]

My male lifts most of the time. Sometimes he just stands. LOL But when he lifts, he just picks it straight up abot 3-4 inches.

 

[Cracker]

At sexual maturity a dog (male) starts to lift his leg as a marking behaviour, but neutering before sexual maturity (which varies from dog to dog) reduces the hormones enough for the marking behaviour to be less frequent (the hormones are part of what triggers the brain to "learn" the behaviour. Testosterone is not only produced in the testes (though that is the Main supplier) and is produced in both female and male dogs at various levels.
Some male dogs never mark. Some female dogs mark (notably I've seen this in rotties and bichon frise) and Cracker marks a LOT. She does a full squat for normal urination but does a one legged squat for "marking' over someone else's urine. I have even seen her (once) do a handstand to get her butt up a tree to mark over her buddy Cassius' mark on a tree. It was hilarious!
So, your male may never mark. He may learn to mark by watching another male mark. I think as long as he is not going in the house he could lay on his back and pee in the air if he wants to...lol.

 

[lillie20]

My male never marks or will do pee in the house. Never thought about the connection with lifting his leg and marking. My female dog would mark all the time in the house, but wasn't fixed til over year old since rescue. He seems fine with just squating, but can be messy at times.

 

[DogsforMe]

A male dog we had b4 April was neutered at 6 mths. He would mark trees, etc on walks & sometimes at home & sometimes would squat.

 

[Jordan S.]

My dog only lifts his leg when peeing on walls and tree trunks. For everything else he pee's like a girl.

 

[Leroy&Lucy'sMom]

Cracker explained it very well.

Leroy marks 75% of the time...

 

[hank's mom]

my dog didn't start lifting his leg until he was almost a year old. and even then, he's almost i would guess 18 months now and only lifts his leg on walks when he's marking. When he goes out to really let it out he lunges forward a little, but is on all fours. either way, as long as he doesn't pee in our house, i'm happy!

 

[nekomi]

I've only seen Bandit lift his leg once, when trying to cover up Jasper's pee. I haven't seen Jasper lift his leg yet at all! Ironically, my biggest leg-lifter is Willow, by far! If we are not on "home turf", she almost always lifts her leg. Between that and her affinity for mounting Jasper, I'm constantly asked if she has a gender crisis.

 

[GottaLuvMutts]

A friend of mine with a male who didn't lift his leg asked some friends of his to watch his dog for the weekend while he was out of town. His friends had a male who lifted. Low and behold, when my friend's dog came home after the weekend, he was a lifter, too!

 

[britishbandit]

Both my male and my female lift their legs. LOL PJ does it all the time, every time. But Tysa doesn't lift hers in the yard very often, mainly on walks/away from home.

 

[LittleFr0g]

Kuma lifts his leg each and every time, as high as he can reach, lol. Our Sheltie never did though.

 

[stanley]

My male dog squats and my female lifts her leg!

Louise, Stan & betty

 

[michelleboston]

Bailey hasn't lifted his leg -yet- he's only 7 months though. He was neutered really early (9 weeks), so I'm wondering if he ever will be a lifter?

 

[spookydee]

My dog only lifts his leg when peeing on walls and tree trunks. For everything else he pee's like a girl.

Same with mine, I had him neutered before he really started to mark,
Wicket always pees with his leg up but usually pees on his legs in the process!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[greenmnm114]

My male usually squats like a girl! He is 16 months and not yet neutered. Once in a while he'll go over and lift his leg on a bush as if to say, "Yes, I am a man!"

 

[Kathyy]

Max took his time learning to lift his leg. He was very weak when I adopted him already castrated at 8 months of age and couldn't run or sit pretty which could have been part of it. Now he stands on tippy toe with other leg as high as can be to pee as high on the tree as he can but usually misses. He squats in the back yard unless a jump standard is handy. Which he also usually misses. He may miss the mark but he does love to scratch his mark. I should measure how far the debris flies, more than 10 feet anyway.

Sassy used to lift her leg, came that way. Now she is really old she always squats. Smart girl, falling over while peeing would be extremely undignified.