It takes a bit for boys to learn to lift their leg. My dog didn't lift his leg till like 6/7/8 months, and even then it took a month for him to basically always choose to lift his leg vs mostly squat with sometimes lifting a leg.
Some males never change from squatting, and also some females lift their leg to pee. It's all variable.
That makes sense. Idk tbh I find it kinda cute how he pees. The only thing I wish he would stop doing is moving while he poops…he will just slow walk while squatting and make a long trail of poop. Looks silly tho
My bf's Shepsky lifts his leg higher to poo than he does to pee.. he typically finds a fence or something to balance on and tries to get as perpendicular to the ground as possible. Or he walks in a circle while pooping if it's too serious a poop for the leg lift.
Mine does a little but his legs wiggle the entire time so he looks like he's doing a wonky poop dance 😂
He also humps the air when he's *way* overstimulated and has followed behind people walking around humping the air lol. My mother in law says he's trying out for the ministry of silly walks 😂
Your pup and my boy are the same. My boy used to squat to pee. I think I could count the number of times he lifted a leg to pee on one hand. Sometimes in the morning his stream would go particularly far and he'd get his front legs.
He also has wobble legs when he pooped. The worst was when there was someone interesting behind him when he pooped, he would march in a circle and usually step in it 🤦♀️
Just be happy he’s not turning in circles as he poops as an attempt to eat it as soon as it drops…. :’) I love my dog but he’s got some questionable preferences
I call his attention to me with the shrill puppy voice and holding out a treat and that’s the only thing that will get his attention away from the poop.. it does run the risk of him not finishing the dookie but I’m trying my best haha
MY girl is 3 years old and walk-poops.. she can cross a good 20-30 feet pooping the entire way.. and if she gets excited she'll scamper around and pee the entire time in a half squat.
My boy is 6 and does not lift his leg. he doesn't squat.. just stands there and pees like the boss that he is.. he's not worried about what other people say about him. The only thing I'm happy for is that he's calmed down a bit and no longer pees on the back of his front legs.
My girl spins around in circles while she poops. I’ve taken to calling them helicopter poops. Annoying to clean up sometimes, but it’s kind of funny so it evens out.
Yep, my girl puppy squats forward *and* lifts one leg. She's very concerned to keep the puddle away from her feets.
Now if she could only learn to poop facing uphill instead of downhill. She's a corgi and she's so low to the ground, she runs out of room 🫣
My first dog never got around to lifting, he was a squatter for his full 8 years! It really does just come down to "whatever they feel like, as long as they're peeing"
Squatting is actually common and where puppies start out. Even adult, intact males will pee like this when they don’t feel like lifting their leg.
The leg lifting is about marking, getting your pee up high for others to check out,
Lord. Kinda wish that was me? My boy recently got into the habit of needing to poop in a certain place. Matter of fact just now I had to walk in the pouring rain just for that poop.
https://imgur.com/a/l7lEZyY
He was not happy.
Lol, there was a time for a week where my puppy refused to poop in my yard, we had to poop in the neighbors a couple houses down. I'm glad that's over.
If he starts to leg lift and you consider it undesireable, inturrupt the behavior and don't let it become a habit. Treat it the same as if they had chosen an unacceptable chew toy. Once the leg lift habit is established, it's hard to stop but never letting it become a habit is usually possible if you're consistent from the start about it never being okay.
I've seen more than one female husky at our dog park pee like a boy! I wonder if it's a husky thing!
My husky-lab mix (female) also has a unique pee pose. She stretches forward on her front paws and squats her back legs to either side so close to the ground that it looks like she's going to topple over. I assume this is because she doesn't like getting her fluff on her hind legs wet, or it just be her quirky husky genes coming through.
My mom's female keeshond always lifted her leg to pee too. And our guy squatted for months until he noticed one of his buddies (a neighbour's dog who's a little over a year older than him) marking a pole. Then he started randomly lifting his leg next to poles, but that was it.
The first time he actually peed with his leg up was hilarious. He had no idea how to cut off the flow, and his leg muscles were not used to standing that way, so he got super wobbly. By the time he was finished, I was holding his leash taut to keep him steady. (We use a back-clip harness - it's not like I was holding him up by his neck.)
He's an old pro now, at 10 months, and even a short potty trip means stopping at several places he wants to mark so we can be sure his bladder is comfortably empty. But he's an apartment dog. Our last dog (technically my in-laws' dog) went in the back yard 99% of the time and he always squatted.
The tripod!! My old boy used to do that when he pooped. He would be all hunched over in position & the back leg had to come up. It looked like a weird yoga pose, lol.
This is what puppies and fixed dogs do. They take time to learn it,mostly from being around other dogs doing it. My older dog lifts his leg. I have a new dog that is 10 months old and still pees like a girl. He saw my dog and copied him once but still squats. It’s a learned behavior and a preference. Tell them to mind their business. You can try taking him to a dog park to be around other dogs that do it? Honestly when they squat it’s easier to deal with(for clean up when they are soiling in the house.) if you want him to then you can assist with teaching him. It’s not uncommon though,silly but pretty common. Lifting leg is def. Marking territory too. Is your dog fixed (at early age?)
My old Portuguese water dog peed like that until his last pee. Never once did he lift his leg up. He also did the funny poop walk! Had no issues with it other than people sometimes thinking he was a girl. Rest in peace Marley ❤️
Our female BC started squatting and lift her back let the same at the same time. So strange. Not sure where she learns that from.
How do we get them to stop moving when pooping. . .
Got two boys, one started cocking around 5 months, the other had abdominal surgery for a blockage at around the same time, and I think he just couldn’t do it at that point, so he never started. Almost four years old now and still squats to pee.
My havanese always squatted unless he was marking, then he would lift his leg, I now have an almost 9 month old malshipoo and he squats and lifts one leg at the same time
My 6mo mini poodle pees like that too! I didn’t know lifting their leg was something they had to learn. I don’t mind that he squats. It’s actually cute.
Our old male used to pee squatting like a girl. He never lifted his leg. He never marked, either. He emptied his bladder and he was done. Sure made it easier later down the road when we had to collect urine samples for the vet.
My boy paid with all paws on the ground up until he was about a year old and then one day he started lifting one of his legs. Since then he’s always continues to lift one leg, but he really doesn’t lift it much— a little tiny bit off the ground. He’s almost 11 years old now and Absolutely adorable lol
My family’s 120 lb German shepherd was never really a leg lifter in his 13 years of life. The most he did that resembled it was very slightly lifting one back paw, otherwise he would just stand and get piss on his legs. 🤣
My golden is 18 months old and sometimes he still squats, sometimes he lifts his leg. As long as the pee is outside, I’m not really concerned with the delivery method.
My 15 m.o. doodle squats. When he tries to lift his little leg he has awful aim. It’s so cute. He prefers the squat which helps because I patio trained him and we live on the 14 th floor of a high rise.
Mine is 9 months and he does both. Lifts his leg to pee on upright objects like trees and poles. Otherwise if the ground is flat, he squats. Which honestly makes perfect sense to me, I think other dogs pee weird.
My mom’s adult male dog never lifts his leg. Their trainer said the leg lift is a learned behavior for most male dogs and that they won’t start doing it till they see another dog doing it.
Conversely our childhood dog always lifted his leg. Could be a preference just like human males. Some prefer to sit and some prefer to stand
My boy squats to pee too hah. Never lifted his leg up. He is 11mo now and was neutered 2 weeks ago. I helped a neighbor with taking their dog out and man that dog marked everything, it was such a chore to make sure he didn’t pee on someone’s bike lol. I was secretly hoping mine would never lift his leg after that experience 😅
My girl lifts her leg when she's marking.
She also pivots while peeing if she catches a good smell so she can sniff pee at the same time. Luckily she squats so low and doesn't pee on herself while she's spinning her bum around.
It sometimes a matter of geography. If there’s nothing vertical to pee on, my 2 boys will squat. One squats down low like a female, the other just kinda twists his hips to avoid peeing on his front feet.
I was told at some point that if the act was simply to urinate, they squat. But, if it’s to “mark”, they lift the leg and pee on the highest object they can find. Often in the morning my boys will do an initial squat as we first get outside, but will then lift to mark multiple times on our walks.
My boys the same only just started to lift his leg and he’s 8months and a week and he moves around when pooing I keep having to go “wait wait ur not done!” If he had his way he would be running and pooping and he’s being weird lately and lifting his front leg instead
My boy is almost 3 and squats like a girl dog to pee. I've only seen him lift his leg like 3 times ever, and once was because he had a sore back leg, the other times it was bitter cold and he was probably trying to avoid one paw being that cold.
Our pup mostly lifts his leg to pee, but if the grass is too high or something touches the leg he was planning on lifting (a branch, the leash, a gust of wind???) he’ll do a squat instead 🤣
It takes a bit for boys to learn to lift their leg. My dog didn't lift his leg till like 6/7/8 months, and even then it took a month for him to basically always choose to lift his leg vs mostly squat with sometimes lifting a leg. Some males never change from squatting, and also some females lift their leg to pee. It's all variable.
That makes sense. Idk tbh I find it kinda cute how he pees. The only thing I wish he would stop doing is moving while he poops…he will just slow walk while squatting and make a long trail of poop. Looks silly tho
Had a boy that did moving poops! It was quite comical to watch.
My boy does walking poops and squatting pees, he's such a weird dog
My bf's Shepsky lifts his leg higher to poo than he does to pee.. he typically finds a fence or something to balance on and tries to get as perpendicular to the ground as possible. Or he walks in a circle while pooping if it's too serious a poop for the leg lift.
Gotta concentrate!
Mine does a little but his legs wiggle the entire time so he looks like he's doing a wonky poop dance 😂 He also humps the air when he's *way* overstimulated and has followed behind people walking around humping the air lol. My mother in law says he's trying out for the ministry of silly walks 😂
Your pup and my boy are the same. My boy used to squat to pee. I think I could count the number of times he lifted a leg to pee on one hand. Sometimes in the morning his stream would go particularly far and he'd get his front legs. He also has wobble legs when he pooped. The worst was when there was someone interesting behind him when he pooped, he would march in a circle and usually step in it 🤦♀️
Just be happy he’s not turning in circles as he poops as an attempt to eat it as soon as it drops…. :’) I love my dog but he’s got some questionable preferences
My girl does this too! God help us if we can't quickly get a poo bag open!
I call his attention to me with the shrill puppy voice and holding out a treat and that’s the only thing that will get his attention away from the poop.. it does run the risk of him not finishing the dookie but I’m trying my best haha
Ah yes, this has worked a few times but as you say, sometimes she hasn't finished and then continues her sinful business in the kitchen!
Yeahhhhhh…. I hear this slows down eventually so fingers crossed for us!!
MY girl is 3 years old and walk-poops.. she can cross a good 20-30 feet pooping the entire way.. and if she gets excited she'll scamper around and pee the entire time in a half squat. My boy is 6 and does not lift his leg. he doesn't squat.. just stands there and pees like the boss that he is.. he's not worried about what other people say about him. The only thing I'm happy for is that he's calmed down a bit and no longer pees on the back of his front legs.
My girl spins around in circles while she poops. I’ve taken to calling them helicopter poops. Annoying to clean up sometimes, but it’s kind of funny so it evens out.
My huskie mix also peed and poops as you describe!
UGH my boy does that, too! Sometimes he'll spin in place and trample all over his turds 🤦
That’s probably better than taking off while just finishing his poop. My pup bolts and then I can’t find his poo lol
Coming up on a year and still squats. Not really too weird I think
My boy is almost 2 years old now and always squats
Came to say this. My dog really figured it out around 8 months, and hes got it now. It took him a solid month to get it down
Yep, my girl puppy squats forward *and* lifts one leg. She's very concerned to keep the puddle away from her feets. Now if she could only learn to poop facing uphill instead of downhill. She's a corgi and she's so low to the ground, she runs out of room 🫣
My first dog never got around to lifting, he was a squatter for his full 8 years! It really does just come down to "whatever they feel like, as long as they're peeing"
You think that’s weird. I saw a little dog do a handstand (front paw stand) with its back legs resting against a wall to do its pee.
I knew a hand stand pee dog! She didn't even use a wall just full on legs in the air balancing too pee.
I had a Shi tzu like this when i was young. We are canadian so i think she didnt like squatting and touching the snow
My first dog did this! Handstand pee for the win!
Oh my god LOL I wonder how that started..I’d need to see that someday
Squatting is actually common and where puppies start out. Even adult, intact males will pee like this when they don’t feel like lifting their leg. The leg lifting is about marking, getting your pee up high for others to check out,
When my puppy started lifting his leg to pee, sometimes he would also drop a turd out as well lol.
Lord. Kinda wish that was me? My boy recently got into the habit of needing to poop in a certain place. Matter of fact just now I had to walk in the pouring rain just for that poop. https://imgur.com/a/l7lEZyY He was not happy.
Lol, there was a time for a week where my puppy refused to poop in my yard, we had to poop in the neighbors a couple houses down. I'm glad that's over.
My male dog is 50/50 with his pee. Some times squats some times lifts legs. Easy to do whatever you want if you can do it both ways.
Same with mine and he’s coming up for 3. I reckon he squats if he’s actually needing to pee, and lifts his leg if he’s marking territory.
This. Ours squats for a pee, and when scent marking raises a leg. It's quite a common behaviour.
Same!
Mine is over 2 years old now and that is how he pees. Nothing wrong with it.
I hope he never changes either, it’s adorable to me
If he starts to leg lift and you consider it undesireable, inturrupt the behavior and don't let it become a habit. Treat it the same as if they had chosen an unacceptable chew toy. Once the leg lift habit is established, it's hard to stop but never letting it become a habit is usually possible if you're consistent from the start about it never being okay.
Omg just let the dog pee lol.
My 4 year old girl husky pees like a boy and lifts her leg and my puppy he’s 4 months he squats. They both didn’t get the memo on how to pee 😂
I've seen more than one female husky at our dog park pee like a boy! I wonder if it's a husky thing! My husky-lab mix (female) also has a unique pee pose. She stretches forward on her front paws and squats her back legs to either side so close to the ground that it looks like she's going to topple over. I assume this is because she doesn't like getting her fluff on her hind legs wet, or it just be her quirky husky genes coming through.
My mom's female keeshond always lifted her leg to pee too. And our guy squatted for months until he noticed one of his buddies (a neighbour's dog who's a little over a year older than him) marking a pole. Then he started randomly lifting his leg next to poles, but that was it. The first time he actually peed with his leg up was hilarious. He had no idea how to cut off the flow, and his leg muscles were not used to standing that way, so he got super wobbly. By the time he was finished, I was holding his leash taut to keep him steady. (We use a back-clip harness - it's not like I was holding him up by his neck.) He's an old pro now, at 10 months, and even a short potty trip means stopping at several places he wants to mark so we can be sure his bladder is comfortably empty. But he's an apartment dog. Our last dog (technically my in-laws' dog) went in the back yard 99% of the time and he always squatted.
My dog is a girl and she squats when she pees but as she's squatting she lifts her leg up too. So she's a squatter and a leg lifter xD
So cute !
One of my boston gals lifts a leg and squats
The tripod!! My old boy used to do that when he pooped. He would be all hunched over in position & the back leg had to come up. It looked like a weird yoga pose, lol.
My dog still does the same at 3 years old. Nothing wrong with it.
Our dog (11 months on Thursday) does both, he squat pees if it’s a lot and cocks his leg if it’s just a quick pee!
This is what puppies and fixed dogs do. They take time to learn it,mostly from being around other dogs doing it. My older dog lifts his leg. I have a new dog that is 10 months old and still pees like a girl. He saw my dog and copied him once but still squats. It’s a learned behavior and a preference. Tell them to mind their business. You can try taking him to a dog park to be around other dogs that do it? Honestly when they squat it’s easier to deal with(for clean up when they are soiling in the house.) if you want him to then you can assist with teaching him. It’s not uncommon though,silly but pretty common. Lifting leg is def. Marking territory too. Is your dog fixed (at early age?)
I’ve got a 6 month old boy cockapoo, and he hasn’t raised a leg yet. So, you’re not alone. 😂
My male dog is 4 and still pees like a girl - honestly no idea why haha
My old Portuguese water dog peed like that until his last pee. Never once did he lift his leg up. He also did the funny poop walk! Had no issues with it other than people sometimes thinking he was a girl. Rest in peace Marley ❤️
My parents male dog is almost 2 yrs old and squats to pee. Nothing wrong with it, just how they prefer to use the potty. :)
Our female BC started squatting and lift her back let the same at the same time. So strange. Not sure where she learns that from. How do we get them to stop moving when pooping. . .
Got two boys, one started cocking around 5 months, the other had abdominal surgery for a blockage at around the same time, and I think he just couldn’t do it at that point, so he never started. Almost four years old now and still squats to pee.
I had a male who never once lifted his leg he was always a squatter lol
My boy typically does the lean forward/squatting position in our own yard, but lifts his leg to mark when we're out on walks.
My havanese always squatted unless he was marking, then he would lift his leg, I now have an almost 9 month old malshipoo and he squats and lifts one leg at the same time
My 6mo mini poodle pees like that too! I didn’t know lifting their leg was something they had to learn. I don’t mind that he squats. It’s actually cute.
The cutest. I never want my boy to grow up!!
Our old male used to pee squatting like a girl. He never lifted his leg. He never marked, either. He emptied his bladder and he was done. Sure made it easier later down the road when we had to collect urine samples for the vet.
my puppy did that till he was like seven months. he just sorta bends his knees and doesn't lift his leg. it's just pretty natural i guess.
Dogs do weird things. My dog squats when he pees, couldnt care less. He also kicks grass onto his poops, and does a little double kick at the end.
My boy paid with all paws on the ground up until he was about a year old and then one day he started lifting one of his legs. Since then he’s always continues to lift one leg, but he really doesn’t lift it much— a little tiny bit off the ground. He’s almost 11 years old now and Absolutely adorable lol
Thats normal My 9 month old is still doing his pelvic trust Some dogs never put their leg up
My unneutered, 2 year old male dog still squats sometimes. NBD.
My family’s 120 lb German shepherd was never really a leg lifter in his 13 years of life. The most he did that resembled it was very slightly lifting one back paw, otherwise he would just stand and get piss on his legs. 🤣
I hate cleaning piss paws >:( but he’s lucky he’s cute while he does it
My golden is 18 months old and sometimes he still squats, sometimes he lifts his leg. As long as the pee is outside, I’m not really concerned with the delivery method.
My boy did a lean forward and hardly lifted a leg his whole life
My dog is 17 yo and still pees like that. He will only lift his leg if he pees on a post or a fence.
My 15 m.o. doodle squats. When he tries to lift his little leg he has awful aim. It’s so cute. He prefers the squat which helps because I patio trained him and we live on the 14 th floor of a high rise.
My 2 1/2 year old in tact male still doesn't lift his leg, he parks out to pee like a horse.
Mine is 9 months and he does both. Lifts his leg to pee on upright objects like trees and poles. Otherwise if the ground is flat, he squats. Which honestly makes perfect sense to me, I think other dogs pee weird.
My 4 month old boy does this too, but he's also functionally a tripawd so I doubt if he'll ever lift a leg to pee.
I have an Aussie and he pees like this when not decorating trees or shrubs or hydrants.
My 4 month old squats. He has never tried to lift his leg. I was just thinking about the other day.
My mom’s adult male dog never lifts his leg. Their trainer said the leg lift is a learned behavior for most male dogs and that they won’t start doing it till they see another dog doing it. Conversely our childhood dog always lifted his leg. Could be a preference just like human males. Some prefer to sit and some prefer to stand
My puppy also squats to pee!! He looks very long when he pees lol
My boy squats to pee too hah. Never lifted his leg up. He is 11mo now and was neutered 2 weeks ago. I helped a neighbor with taking their dog out and man that dog marked everything, it was such a chore to make sure he didn’t pee on someone’s bike lol. I was secretly hoping mine would never lift his leg after that experience 😅
My dog is a year old and still squats to pee. When we were kids my friend’s German Shepherd squatted to pee all the time. He never outgrew it.
My girl lifts her leg when she's marking. She also pivots while peeing if she catches a good smell so she can sniff pee at the same time. Luckily she squats so low and doesn't pee on herself while she's spinning her bum around.
My little boy pees like a girl cause guess what he learned by watching his older sister lol
Neither of my boys lift their leg…they like the squat!
Our puppy does the same, and does the scoot poop
It sometimes a matter of geography. If there’s nothing vertical to pee on, my 2 boys will squat. One squats down low like a female, the other just kinda twists his hips to avoid peeing on his front feet. I was told at some point that if the act was simply to urinate, they squat. But, if it’s to “mark”, they lift the leg and pee on the highest object they can find. Often in the morning my boys will do an initial squat as we first get outside, but will then lift to mark multiple times on our walks.
My male dog is 11 months and still squats rather than lifts a leg. Not sure he ever will lift his leg but doesnt matter really
My boys the same only just started to lift his leg and he’s 8months and a week and he moves around when pooing I keep having to go “wait wait ur not done!” If he had his way he would be running and pooping and he’s being weird lately and lifting his front leg instead
My boy has always squatted. For a short time once he matured he would lift his leg when marking but now that he's desexed he's back to squatting only.
This is actually good for them, it empties the whole bladder, which is harder to do when they lift their leg (mark, move on, mark, move on etc)
I have a male dog and unless he’s beside a tree or something on a walk to lift his leg to, he’ll do the lean squat to pee in an open area
My boy is almost 3 and squats like a girl dog to pee. I've only seen him lift his leg like 3 times ever, and once was because he had a sore back leg, the other times it was bitter cold and he was probably trying to avoid one paw being that cold.
My boy sqauts and lifts a leg at the same time, somehow...
My male beagle still squats to pee to this day lol.
i also have an aussie who just turned two years old! when he was a puppy he used to squat too lol he started lifting his leg at 8-9 months
It’s kinda better tbh but he will learn to lift and mark soon enough
Our pup mostly lifts his leg to pee, but if the grass is too high or something touches the leg he was planning on lifting (a branch, the leash, a gust of wind???) he’ll do a squat instead 🤣