Why male dogs lift their legs up to pee?
The other day, I was watching talk show on TV and, part of the segment was potty issue for kids. One of the viewers with a boy on the show was asking them about how they can teach kids (boy) to learn to potty standing up,not sitting on the toilet.
That got me thinking about potty issue for dogs. As you all know, generally, male dogs lift their leg to pee and female dogs squat to pee. Is the lifting the legs up for male dogs a learned behavior from other male dogs or is it a behavior from natural instinct?
I myself have not had a male dog before and, I did not have opportunity to observe and learn. So, I tried looking for the answer but, I could not find the answer to the specific question.
I wonder if the lifting legs was learned behavior from other male dogs in the family, then, if male puppy grew up with just mother dog and sister dogs, that puppy would not lift his leg up to pee and rather squat to pee like other dogs in his family do??
While I could not find answer as to how male dogs learn to lift their legs up to pee, but do you know why male dogs lift their legs up to pee? There are reasons behind it.
Why male dogs lift their legs up to pee??
You all know that when dogs pee, they are not just passing through waste from their body,but they are also sending out the pee-mail to other dogs in the neighborhood.
Dogs sniff out ground and try to collect doggy daily news on the ground on their walkie,but at the same time, they are checking their own daily news spot and check when,who passed the area.
They can get so much information from pee-mail or poo-mail from who,when,the specific dog's health, mood to if the mail were from female dogs,then,if the dogs are in heat or not.
Therefore, for males dogs, lifting their legs up and leave their pee-mail as high as possible so messages be sent effectively without being diluted by other dogs' pee-mail is reasonable things to do.
If you think about it, if they lift their legs up and pee as high as possible, not only they do not have to worry about their message be diluted by other dogs' pee-mail, but also the pee-mail will be placed around other dogs' nose level and easy to be found.
One of the dog books I brought from Japan had section talking about male dogs lift their legs up to pee over vertical objects such as mail box etc, and one of the reasons the book said was that higher the pee-mail is, the further the scent be sent in the air.
Also, the same book said the reason why some dogs scratch the ground with back legs after potty time is because by scratching the ground with back paw nails, they can leave the another scent from scent glands between the pads of their paws.
I found it very interesting.
On the talk of potty issue for dogs, I came across pee-mail youtube videos.
Below is the pee-mail youtube video #1. The dog in question is the dog named "Panama" and he starts off peeing with one leg up but then, he got tired waiting for his pee to stop, he started peeing without leg lifted up and watch out how long is his pee-mail is.
The video clip shows, it is 1 min 57 seconds but he was still peeing when the video got cut off. The video is titled "longest pee in history" but it sure looks like longest pee
I thought it is cute that he is peeing with his favorite squeaky toy in his mouth
Palette had some occasions as a puppy she wanted to bring her favorite squeaky buddy to potty.
Longest pee in history..
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Pee-mail video #2 is the male dog peeing handstand-walk and leaving his pee-mail art on the wall. I thought he is a very athletic dogI am sure that the other dog that visited the area would get a big surprise
Amazing peeing dog..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading this from Facebook, please click here.
Nature or nurture, that is a question.
Do you think male dogs learn to lift their legs up from other male dogs or is the behavior from natural instinct?
That got me thinking about potty issue for dogs. As you all know, generally, male dogs lift their leg to pee and female dogs squat to pee. Is the lifting the legs up for male dogs a learned behavior from other male dogs or is it a behavior from natural instinct?
I myself have not had a male dog before and, I did not have opportunity to observe and learn. So, I tried looking for the answer but, I could not find the answer to the specific question.
I wonder if the lifting legs was learned behavior from other male dogs in the family, then, if male puppy grew up with just mother dog and sister dogs, that puppy would not lift his leg up to pee and rather squat to pee like other dogs in his family do??
While I could not find answer as to how male dogs learn to lift their legs up to pee, but do you know why male dogs lift their legs up to pee? There are reasons behind it.
Why male dogs lift their legs up to pee??
You all know that when dogs pee, they are not just passing through waste from their body,but they are also sending out the pee-mail to other dogs in the neighborhood.
Dogs sniff out ground and try to collect doggy daily news on the ground on their walkie,but at the same time, they are checking their own daily news spot and check when,who passed the area.
They can get so much information from pee-mail or poo-mail from who,when,the specific dog's health, mood to if the mail were from female dogs,then,if the dogs are in heat or not.
Therefore, for males dogs, lifting their legs up and leave their pee-mail as high as possible so messages be sent effectively without being diluted by other dogs' pee-mail is reasonable things to do.
If you think about it, if they lift their legs up and pee as high as possible, not only they do not have to worry about their message be diluted by other dogs' pee-mail, but also the pee-mail will be placed around other dogs' nose level and easy to be found.
One of the dog books I brought from Japan had section talking about male dogs lift their legs up to pee over vertical objects such as mail box etc, and one of the reasons the book said was that higher the pee-mail is, the further the scent be sent in the air.
Also, the same book said the reason why some dogs scratch the ground with back legs after potty time is because by scratching the ground with back paw nails, they can leave the another scent from scent glands between the pads of their paws.
I found it very interesting.
On the talk of potty issue for dogs, I came across pee-mail youtube videos.
Below is the pee-mail youtube video #1. The dog in question is the dog named "Panama" and he starts off peeing with one leg up but then, he got tired waiting for his pee to stop, he started peeing without leg lifted up and watch out how long is his pee-mail is.
The video clip shows, it is 1 min 57 seconds but he was still peeing when the video got cut off. The video is titled "longest pee in history" but it sure looks like longest pee
I thought it is cute that he is peeing with his favorite squeaky toy in his mouthPalette had some occasions as a puppy she wanted to bring her favorite squeaky buddy to potty.
Longest pee in history..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading this from Facebook, please click here.
Pee-mail video #2 is the male dog peeing handstand-walk and leaving his pee-mail art on the wall. I thought he is a very athletic dog
I am sure that the other dog that visited the area would get a big surpriseAmazing peeing dog..
If you are a blog subscriber or reading this from Facebook, please click here.
Nature or nurture, that is a question.
Do you think male dogs learn to lift their legs up from other male dogs or is the behavior from natural instinct?
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