Ask The Dog Guide: Leg Lifting Question

February 11th, 2008 by Dan

Question: We are fostering a male Treeing Walker Coonhound and I just let him and my female Newfoundland out to potty. My female squated to poop and my male circled around her a couple of times then peed on her. Why did he do this?

Answer: When male dogs lift their legs they are doing so to mark their territory and leave the message “I was here” to other dogs. Vertical surfaces are more attractive to dogs displaying this type of behavior and often they aren’t really paying attention to what they are doing. However, combined with his circling behavior, it sounds like your Newfoundland smelled a bit “odd” to your foster dog and he was trying to mark his territory. It is a pretty typical dominant behavior (especially in an un-neutered male dog).

Photo by NiinaC