Dog Community

Silly Question

Posted : 9/27/2006 6:12:51 PM

Bailey, a male Maltese, ALWAYS lifts his left leg to pee. If an attractive bush is on the wrong side, he turns completely around so the bush in on his left.

Do all dogs hike one leg exclusively, or are some ambidextrous?

dogslyfe

Posted : 9/27/2006 6:16:00 PM

Zippy lifts either leg, but mostly prefers to squat. [

] He's apparently triple talented.

scoobychick

Posted : 9/27/2006 6:26:01 PM

Gizmo lifts on leg but squats if his in a hurry.

jennie_c_d

Posted : 9/27/2006 7:54:50 PM

Teenie and Emma will lift either leg. And yes, they're both girls[

]

Karen

Posted : 9/27/2006 8:00:03 PM

Mine lifts his leg most of the time, but when he wants to be lazy he squats

Mandy

Posted : 9/27/2006 10:44:56 PM

ORIGINAL: dogslyfe
Zippy lifts either leg, but mostly prefers to squat. [] He's apparently triple talented.

That's so funny, my doberman does the exact same thing.

corvus

Posted : 9/27/2006 11:20:55 PM

I think our boy Pyry seems to prefer to lift his left leg over his right. But I think he'd lift his right if the bush he wanted was on his right. Then again, it's usually on his left because that's the side he walks on.

It's an interesting question, not a silly one. Some birds show laterality. Apparently parrots tend to hold their food in one foot rather than the other, and some birds will always turn the same way to look at you out of the preferred eye. You can do the experiment yourself by following larger birds around. If you manage only to worry them and not scare them away, they'll keep stopping and turning their body so they can look at you with one eye. Ravens and crows are a great one for this because they are so big and heavy it's obvious which side they prefer to use. But you have to always be behind them so they don't automatically turn towards you.

Xebby

Posted : 9/28/2006 12:59:33 AM

Giz is a squater, she is a girl so has never really had the need to mark her spot. But she will only go on grass, she will not pee or poop on dirt, cement, carpet or any other surface. In a way it's good because she only goes outside in her spot but bad because if there is no grass around she will hold it till she finds some.

Terri

Posted : 9/28/2006 10:16:58 AM

Odin lifts his leg almost every time. And 98% of the time he lifts his right leg. He will circle to make sure he lifts the right leg. I always thought it was strange!

labcrab

Posted : 9/28/2006 10:35:16 AM

Not a silly question! There is a study going on in Australia that is looking at paw preference. They haven't begun looking at leg lifting preference, but I'm sure they will.

Slick is an ambidextrous leg lifter and paw user!!

Julie Stevenson

Posted : 9/28/2006 10:50:19 AM

One of mine will lift his left leg, like yours - the others will use whichever is more convinient [

]

luv_my_3_labs

Posted : 9/28/2006 7:01:28 PM

Tank my manly man dog squats. Come to think of it, I have never seen him lift any leg yet. Shiloh lifts both but only to pee an my truck tiers. He seems to squat all the time too.

rolenta

Posted : 9/28/2006 9:00:22 PM

Tojo just sort of leans forward most of the time. Sometimes when he lifts his leg, he lifts it too far and trips! I guess he never quite got the hang of it

Susan Chandler

Posted : 9/29/2006 3:49:23 PM

Lucky Dog will alternate between lifting of the leg and just a slight lift and more of a lean in approach. Dottie, being a girlie girl, just squats almost as close to the ground as possible. Hurts me to watch her. We used to have a JR that would literally pivot her weight onto her front paws and lift her entire bottom! I was always amazed at Luci!