i have an 8 month old beagle/greyhound cross. he is neutered. as of yet he has never cocked his leg to pee. is this normal or should he be doing it by now? do all male dogs do this or do some never do it? should i worry that he doesnt? also. we attend an obedience class weekly with 5 other male puppies all around the same age, he tries to mount them all at each session. none of the other dogs do this. i had thought that neutering him would have got rid of his testosterone. although it is embarassing, it hasnt worried me so far. should it? and is there something i can do to stop it?

Some adult dogs never learn to cock their legs. Having said that my chihuahua was 3months and my whippet puppy started just short of 4months,(probably copying the chihuahua!!).
Id defo discourage the mounting behaviour tho, often it is a sign of a dominance and wont be tolerated when he is older. He could get in fights so try calling him back with a treat if you see him start this.

there is no time limit, it depends on each dog and some never cock their legs, neutered or entire, however i did hear that neutering dogs early (before cocking of leg) did make it somewhat less likely that he would do it... not sure how true it is..
As for the mounting you need to discipline him when he does it and make it stop. As said above its a dominance thing, nothing to do with sexual urges, and he may get into real troubles if one day he does it to the wrong guy...

xx

Billy was just 5mo when he learned (it heralded the first day of the "kevins" teenage pup syndrome too). Billy however cocks his leg to scent and dribble tiny bits of wee, but if he really needs a BIG wee he still squats!

My mam had 2 littermate chihuahuas - harry (died this march at 14) was cocking his leg at around 4mo, Charlie his brother didnt learn until he was 16mo. Each dog is different and some never learn.

Arran is 26 months and he still pees like a girly, the only time he cocks his leg is when he's marking, personally I prefer it at least he won't go over to coats being used as goalposts in the park and pee on them as a few friends dogs have done in the past , nor does he stop at every lamppost we pass but that could just be him.

Terri

Simba has his first birthday tomorrow and he doesn't cock his leg. Some of my males do cock legs some don't. My greyhound William only coacks his leg in our garden he stoops like a bitch when he's on walks. He is 6 this year. We were told with him it was a balance thing because he is so tall he didn't like to balance on 3 legs . He's also very clumsy

My german shephard dosent always cock his leg. I have noticed he only does it when he is out on a walk when he is senting.
He will be 10 this year.

My little boy sqauts down, when he can be bothered he will cock his leg but very rare, nothing to worrie about hun, my rotti used to cock his leg on everything he saw not all dogs are the same

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Hi,

My lab never cocked his leg until he was 9months old, he is 11 months now and sometimes doesnt even bother to cock his leg. I also had the same problem with him mouting other dogs, he used to always try this with my partners Mum's dog - who is 7 years old - he was soon put in his place by the older dog, and each time he did this i would stop him, shout him, rattle things, or sometimes just push him off - anything to get his attention.

I think if you keep on at him and telling him off when he does things wrong, he will soon understand - he is still a puppy and learning things and the age he is, he will start to ignore you abit and maybe start to forgot what he has been trained....but this comes back to them. This is what my vet advised me.

Good luck

thanks for all responses, i'll not worry about his toilet habits anymore. now the mounting, pull him away or let the other dogs chastise him. im training him using the positive reinforcement method which to me implies i ignore the behaviour i dont want and reward the behaviour i want to encourage, however with something like mounting, im aware that its not me he's looking to for the reaction, its more of an assertion of dominance and he's likely to do it even if i do ignore it. can anyone help clear up my confusion??