lifting the leg

[onesojourner]

our guy is almost 5 months now and he has never attempted lift a leg but he does hump his pillow any chance he gets... My lab was lifting his leg some by 5 months. I am getting tired of the brown spots in the yard. When do most cairns take this past time up?

[maggie]

Keegan (17 months) lifts his leg most of the time but not always when we are out for walks; when he's in our own backyard he mostly squats, my DH's theory is he doesn't want outsiders to know he pees like a girl!

[onesojourner]

is he fixed yet?

[jimnconnie]

Bailey is 4 and sometimes he lifts, sometimes he doesn't. He lifts his leg on walks when he feels the urge to mark, but usually at home he just squats, unless he is trying to kill a specific plant or bush that I have planted He didn't lift his leg for a long time, maybe the first couple of years, then I guess he saw some other dog do it and thought it was cool.

[Will&Grace]

Will lifts his leg about 90% of the time in the yard and 100% of the time when out on walks or visiting his friends. He was fixed at 8 months and has lifted his leg since about 6 months. One of my friends has a 4 mo. old male cairn and he seems to be lifting his leg the majority of the time already. My last cairn, Mr Mack - always lifted his leg when out of the yard and never in the yard! I agree with above post - "my DH's theory is he doesn't want outsiders to know he pees like a girl!"

[maggie]

Keegan was fixed at 6months

[Napi'smom]

HMMMMMMMM I was wondering the same thing... Napoleon will be 2 in November and just started to lift his leg, he only does it ocassionally and only like halfway!! I thought that because Sammy lifts his leg ALL the time he would follow but he hasn't.

[Tracy A.]

My boys only started after having watched other male dogs leg lift. Brattwurst took it all very seriously and would practice his aim....

[Sandysmom]

My Sandy never lifted his leg. He squatted like a little girl until he passed at 14. I guess he thought he was a girl.

[Saidi'sDad]

Saidi started lifting the leg at around 8 months old. Now keep in mind that Saidi is female

[Chewybacca]

funny thing in my house my boy Chewy squats and my girl Roxy lifts her leg, like a little kickstand!!

[Cairnmania]

I sure wish Rudi squatted, but he was well past sexual maturity when he was neutered.

I would give anything for more brown spots on the lawn - at least they regrow greener than ever. Not so the number of shrubs Rudi has scorched brown and bare by lifting his leg against them.

[RockStarz]

Niegl was well over a year old when he gave hiking a try... I was so excited! Then it was another year when he started kicking back the grass afterward...Again, I was so excited. (I lead an uninteresting life, huh?) Anyway...he squats to pee and hikes to mark...but he'll only hike his left leg. Aislinn, our girl, ever-so-slightly hikes her right leg all the time. I thought she was being dainty and trying to keep pee off her leg; then our dog trainer friend said, "Uh, no. She's hiking!"

[Nikki]

Scotty started around 7 months he rarley does it any more but once he does I correct him instantly..it dominate behavior...would you rather have brown spots or dead shrubs and trees? I know my mother in law has to replace her tree/shrubs around her pool every year b/c half of em turn brown b/c of the boxer hiking up his leg

[Cairnmania]

Scotty started around 7 months he rarley does it any more but once he does I correct him instantly..it dominate behavior...would you rather have brown spots or dead shrubs and trees? I know my mother in law has to replace her tree/shrubs around her pool every year b/c half of em turn brown b/c of the boxer hiking up his leg

Maybe I misunderstand - a male dog lifting it's leg to pee is dominate behavior? It's natural behavior for intact male dogs to mark their territory by urinating on trees, shrubs, fire hydrants ... you name it. If anything marking territory is the opposite of dominate behavior - it's a warning to interlopers that "someone else lives here" so they can make the choice to leave the area. With male dogs the other reason they lift their legs is because they are more likely to pee on themselves if they do not.

[montdoug]

Gus is a "sometimes I might, sometimes I might not" little Cairn (17 months). The thing with him is he's so low to the ground it's difficult to tell if a legs coming off the ground or not, especially in the grass.

The other day he definitely did!

We had gone to an Western history function in Forsythe Montana to meet for the first time a guy I'd been dealing with over the phone as well as his wife. My wife and I were standing out in the pasture where the event was taking place talking with this fella and his wife, Gus was setting by my wife leaning up against her. This couples big black Lab came over to visit and we figure Gus was explaining to the Lab that my wife is "his mommy" so he lifted his leg on the back of her leg.

Everyone thought it was hysterically funny....except my wife of course, she's strange about such things as that.

[onesojourner]

now that is a great story!

[Cairnmania]

We had gone to an Western history function in Forsythe Montana to meet for the first time a guy I'd been dealing with over the phone as well as his wife. My wife and I were standing out in the pasture where the event was taking place talking with this fella and his wife, Gus was setting by my wife leaning up against her. This couples big black Lab came over to visit and we figure Gus was explaining to the Lab that my wife is "his mommy" so he lifted his leg on the back of her leg.

Everyone thought it was hysterically funny....except my wife of course, she's strange about such things as that.

How unreasonable of your wife .. there's just no pleasing some people Time for new shoes.

[Kramersmom]

Kramer will be 3 this October. He squated for the longest time. One day we were outside and he lifted his leg by the tree then did his mocho kick! I said ok Kramer, you are a big boy now Kramer squates most of the time except when we are by tree's or if he scents another dog was on our lawn then he marks it.

[montdoug]

How unreasonable of your wife .. there's just no pleasing some people Time for new shoes.

[Jessica H]

Maybe I misunderstand - a male dog lifting it's leg to pee is dominate behavior? It's natural behavior for intact male dogs to mark their territory by urinating on trees, shrubs, fire hydrants ... you name it. If anything marking territory is the opposite of dominate behavior - it's a warning to interlopers that "someone else lives here" so they can make the choice to leave the area. With male dogs the other reason they lift their legs is because they are more likely to pee on themselves if they do not.

Scooter started lifting his leg around 2 years old after I went on vacation and boarded left him at the breeder's. His only problem is that he was fixed at 6 months old and ever since he was boarded he marks his territory on EVERYTHING!!!!! I am going to probably add a topic about this because I can't take it anymore.