Why do dogs lift their legs when they go to the bathroom?

Answer 1

Maybe so they dont pee on themselves.

Answer 2

Dogs use their urine as a scent marker. You can think of it as a calling card, a signal letting other dogs know that they've been there. Many male dogs and some female dogs will â€Ëœmark their territory' by urinating in many places. This establishes their scent on their territory, something that other dogs will readily pick up on. It's not exactly certain why a male dog lifts his leg. By lifting his leg, the male dog is getting his urine on a vertical surface. One theory is that these vertical surfaces allow the scent of urine to last longer than horizontal surfaces do. Another theory is that this is more noticeable to other dogs because it's closer to nose level and thus less likely to be missed. I've also heard of a third theory which seems quite plausible. You may or may not have noticed that some male dogs seem to struggle a bit while lifting their leg, giving the appearance that they're actually trying to get the urine as high as possible. Some believe that this suggests that the higher the scent of the urine, the better. One reason for this might simply be that larger dogs can clearly get the scent of their urine higher than smaller dogs, thus the higher up the scent of the urine, the larger or perhaps more

Answer 3

back in a dog's wild days. they lifted their legs when marking a place. depending on the height of the urine told another dog how big and bad this dog was. this was used to get a mate, because the females bred with the strongest male. and we all know men judge things by size. :) enough said. so by lifting their legs and making their urine mark go as high as it could would make them look big. and also will override anthor males mark that's lower. and it's one of those traits that's carried down to domesticated dogs. much like when they circle when they go to lay down.

Answer 4

A lot of answers here state that dogs do not want to get urine on themselves, hence the leg lift. When did dogs care that much about personal hygiene? The answers about vertical height and dominance were correct.

PS MY dog cares, but he is very vain.

Answer 5

Usually the male lifts his leg and the female sort of squats. My female squats close to the ground but, also lifts one leg a little, usually her right one. I assumed it was so that she doesn't get urine all over her feet. She's so cute. I love her.

Answer 6

Male dogs generally lift their legs, females generally squat. Males mark territory with urine which is the primamry reason for the leg lift.

Answer 7

Male dogs lift up their legs in order for it to be easier to mark their territory and so they don't wet themselves.

Answer 8

to get better height and therefor better marking in the territory.
my female will back up and lift her leg also, to get her pee as high as the males to cover theirs.

its all about over riding the competitions urine, like taggers with graffiti. the dominant smell/coverage is the winner.

Answer 9

Male dogs lift their legs to mark their scent higher....the highest scent is the dominant scent.

Answer 10

I don't know why male (usually) dogs lift their leg to go potty. I should ask my husband, he does that too.

Answer 11

Hmm, so they don't pee on themselves! If they just stood there and went it would spray all over their legs. Then they wouldn't be let back in the house. They also do it to control where the urine goes because it puts their scent on whatever they piss on.