The new dog (Sierra) seems to be fitting in well. She’s looking up to the older dog (Darwin) and learning all sorts of new things. The cutest is something we call “kicky foot,†where she’ll periodically stretch all of her legs by kicking them back one at a time.
The one I didn’t expect to see was her lifting her leg to pee. I’ve never seen a female dog do that before. Dog owners – is that normal? or is it (as we suspect), just not right?
that’s normal. i’ve seen female dogs and male dogs at the shelter in all sorts of weird peeing (and pooping) positions, and there are times when they seem to be switching gears. dunno why they do it but it doesn’t bother them, so… 🙂 she might just have had a male dog as a model for peeing. or she likes to have her pee up as high as possible as if to announce “new girl in the neighborhood! do not mess around!” (ask seth to tell you the story of a basenji who jumped backwards at a tree while peeing, thus ensuring his urine was aimed at a great height).
the only time you might want to worry is if she pees a lot (as opposed to marking, which is just blind peeing). that’s a sign of urinary tract infection. you might also want to make sure that her anal glands and tummy are normal and that her lifting up the leg isn’t just a reaction to something uncomfortable.
Comment by Eunice — December 13, 2006 @ 9:26 am
that’s helpful. thanks!
the reason we thought it was odd is: a) we’ve not owned enough dogs to have seen that before; and b) she didn’t start doing it until several weeks after she got here
Comment by cec — December 13, 2006 @ 9:30 am