# My almost 3-month old puppy is lifting his leg. Isn't this a little young?



## kna (May 7, 2010)

Our first Westie never lifted his leg his entire life. We did get him neutered around 6 months but the urge never came to him.

Our new puppy is a almost 3 months and has recently been occasionally lifting his leg to pee. It's not a full hike yet, but more like a squat with one hind leg raised. Should I be nervous that this means he's more likely to be a marker?


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

my youngest dog, who is 2 now, lifted his leg and peed on the cat's scratching post at about 9 weeks old! he is not much of a marker at all. he will pee on a few things on our walks but not much and since he was house broken he hasn't peed inside at all.


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## kna (May 7, 2010)

I hope so! I mentioned it to a couple friends and their reaction was basically that he was more likely to be dominant and territorial to start lifting his leg at such an early age. I know the whole "dominance" term is thrown around too easily but I'm wondering if there's truth to that.


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## Melting Candy (Jul 28, 2011)

I wouldn't worry too much, my puppy is now 5 years old, and started lifting his leg when he was 3-4 months old. He's never been a marker in his life.


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## flippedstars (Jul 28, 2011)

I had a male that did the same, he started at 4 months though. I got him neutered at 5 months and while he still lifts his leg to pee (and to poo, too, actually...ha), he has never been a marker, inside, anyway. Take him somewhere other dogs have been, and, well, he'll be a boy dog! If you're planning to neuter I don't suspect "marking behavior" will be an issue, just don't wait past 6 months as then they start to be much more hormonally driven.


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## IWlover (Sep 4, 2009)

This is kind of funny but, my Cav, Puck (neutered at 7 months) only started lifting his leg when I got Leo, when Puck was about 2 years old. Sometimes he lifts it so high that he ends up peeing on himself :doh:. Sometimes I've wondered if some of his testicles got left?


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## ThoseWordsAtBest (Mar 18, 2009)

kna said:


> I hope so! I mentioned it to a couple friends and their reaction was basically that he was more likely to be dominant and territorial to start lifting his leg at such an early age. I know the whole "dominance" term is thrown around too easily but I'm wondering if there's truth to that.


No, they're silly. I have two adult males in my house and sometimes they lift their legs, sometimes they squat. I have a puppy male who is intact and he started lifting his leg when he was 4 months or so. I even have a girl who will on a rare occasion raise her back leg to pee.


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## kna (May 7, 2010)

Just an update: Today, I brought up this issue of my nearly 3 month old puppy already lifting his leg during Puppy-K (because we were talking about housebreaking and I wanted to know about how to discourage marking while encouraging going outside), and my trainer advised that I get him neutered as early as possible. I originally intended to get it done at EARLIEST 8 months, but I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on an early neuter for an early leg lifter.


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## ioreks_mom (Oct 1, 2008)

well, i wanted to wait until brom was at least 1 year old to neuter him but i got nervous about a stray female and him jumping the fence to get her so... i got him neutered at 11 months. he is not what i would call a marker. he pees about 3-4 times on a walk but isn`t marking every single blade of grass.

he is the one who lifted his leg and peed when he was about 9 weeks old.


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## Dober (Jul 30, 2011)

kna said:


> Just an update: Today, I brought up this issue of my nearly 3 month old puppy already lifting his leg during Puppy-K (because we were talking about housebreaking and I wanted to know about how to discourage marking while encouraging going outside), and my trainer advised that I get him neutered as early as possible. I originally intended to get it done at EARLIEST 8 months, but I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on an early neuter for an early leg lifter.


:O shock .... that's complete BS ... neutering has nothing, absolutely NOTHING to do with lifting a leg. 
neutering should only be done in case of medical issues, not in case of behavioural problems (just my opinion from experience)


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