Just curious - can anyone with a gentleman dog remember how old they were when they started to cock their leg to wee? We are rapidly losing our "lawn" to Coco who just squats & empties a full bladder. Our bitch doesn't have the same devastating effect on the grass.
Charlie is a rescue dog who is 4 years old and he NEVER cocks his leg just squats. I don't know if it's because he was neutered before he came to us at 9 months old as most rescue centres do, so he never got to the age of cocking his leg. Strange, we don't have any lawn loss though and we have a bitch too. How is Coco getting on? xx
My intact dog started cocking his leg around 9 months and had fully developed his ambition to wee on ever vertical structure by the time he was about a year old. He'll still squat time to time though, quite a lot in the garden. And nearly always if he really, really needs a pee (which isn't often, as he won't just "waste" pee if he can help it, not when he could water 50 lampposts....).
I seem to remember Shadow having his first attempt at around 6 months and within a few weeks he was doing it all the time. He very, very rarely squats anymore (and we point and laugh when he does, and call him a girl ). We don't have any grass, so no problem with that,
Back to the lawn question....I dug mine up and put slate chipping down. AND threw away the lawn mower....but I have a very small garden. Charlie cocking his leg anyway didn't stop the garden damage. My back garden is small and shady but was really lovely with an amazing collection of very big, mature ferns (most planted by the previous owner). ONE DROP of Charlie wee on a delicate young frond kills it. All the ferns are dead now....planning to replant with fushias (when I get a roundtuit).
LOL, I can almost mark the exact date as it was the day the OH came back with Oban thrilled to pieces he was peeing like a man. Just past 8 months. Now our lawn is safe, except for the patches at the end of snowbanks made by creating pee paths in winter. And a couple of shrubs have suffered.
Obi started cocking his leg at around 16 months and always pees like this now off our property. At home he still squats (no need to mark what is clearly yours I guess). He was desexed at 7 months.
..so the upshot is - they're all different Coco is getting on really well thanks, Helen. We even managed to ignore a couple of dogs this morning! (then the next 2 that came along...hey-ho). It's slow progress, but every positive step thrills me, no matter how tiny.
Cooper was 19 months old yesterday and still squats!! I've had him since he was 8 weeks old and neutered at 6 months....and, yes, I have several dead patches on my lawn!! And he is like a camel in the weeing department. Dont know how he holds it sometimes, but he does. I wonder how they know to cock their leg???
My friends older dog who is the king of cocking came round and showed Rory what to do when he was about 8 months. He watched Solo all afternoon then went and joined the cocking. He was a bit wobbly but now has perfected the style he likes as everything with Rory its very flambouant. We think Solo has specially designed tanks somewhere in his body to store all his extra wee. Mr vertical surface could wee for england. Doug hardly ever did when he was a pup he couldn't because of his problems. As he got older, we used to gauge how he was feeling by if he did cock. When he got to about ten he developed a way of leaning on things so he could cock without too much discomfort. At a extremely wobbley 14 he still gives it ago but he sort of goes bugger I just squat With 3 dogs the lawn was dug up years ago, we put gravel down on one half and gated the other and had a wee free zone. I planted a wildlife garden in ther with very robust types of grass and plants which could survive the occasional wee. My friends bitch used to cock her leg like a boy dog she was very butch and was found to have a hormone inbalance. This was treated but she still cocked. She always did after that
