Charley and I were out doing our normal walk, to partly give us both some exercise and part 2 is to have her to go to the bathroom. 

I’ve noticed that although Charley is female, she raises her leg to pee on things where I thought only male dogs did that. I even had somebody declare to me after watching her that they’ve never seen a female dog urinating that way.  

Another thing she does, whether she pees or poops, she will spend a good 10 seconds flailing her back legs and kicking up whatever dirt is around, and sometimes flings her poo which makes it difficult to pick up at times. 

Before she poops she’ll spend a good 5-10 seconds going around half circles, then a full circle, then a back up to finally settling down to do her deed.

I decided to look all of these things up. Why does a female dog raise her leg when she pees? Is it normal? Why do dogs go in circles before they poop? What is up with the kick up of dirt after doing the duty?

Circle before pooping

There’s a few things I found out about the circle thing.

• Checking to make sure there are no critters around that could bite them.
• Laying the grass down so the poop doesn’t get on their tail and fur
• Gravitational pull of the axis
• Marking their territory

I can see there may be some truth to all of these answers.

According to the American Kennel club a lot of this behavior is ancestral. Because dogs used to live in the wild, and are descendants of wolves, they are always on the look for predators. Turning around and around helps to flush out any snakes, scorpions, or other insects that may prove bad for their health by biting them.

They can also check their surroundings for larger predators and don’t want to remain vulnerable to an attack. 

Patting the grass down so they won’t poop on their tail could also be from an ingrained history of learning to be clean. They learned if their surroundings were laid down then they don’t have to worry about pooping on tall grass and have it cling to their fur.

North & South pole axis

A study was performed that dogs may use the Earth’s magnetic fields to align their bowel movements, preferring to relieve themself along a south-north axis. They will avoid going to the bathroom in a east-west direction according to the study. (www.sciencealert.com). A few scientists from the Czech University of Life Sciences and the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, monitored 70 dogs from 37 breeds over a 2 year period. The findings were published in Frontiers in Zoology after watching”5,582 urinations and 1,893 defecations” when compared to the positioning of the dogs during the “acts in variations of the Earth’s magnetic field.”

Marking Territory

What I’ve learned is by flailing their legs and whipping up the dirt around their poo it spreads their scent around, informing other dogs of their presence and to let them know they have been there. 

It’s almost like a phone message, or an e-mail. (Pee-mail is what I’ve heard it be called.) Communication between each other. It may alert other dogs if something is wrong around that area, or they are just saying hello to one of their buddies. 

Not letting your dog sniff around is just like pulling the plug on all social contact/media. When dogs are out sniffing it almost gives them the mental simulation that they can’t get from a run around the block. It’s important for their communication to one another, and to also let them know if they have been to that particular spot. It connects other dogs together.

Lifting her leg

Some dogs are squatters while other ones are lifters from what I’ve read from the American Kennel Club. My dog is a lifter of the leg.

Information I got from Dogster.com says these can be some of the reasons for the leg lifting of a female;

• Mark their territory
• Comfort
• Signaling a mating season
• Anxiety
• Social Learning
• Size
• Health Considerations

Marking their territory & Comfort

Marking their territory is what every dog does, but the female dog may also be just as assertive and territorial as their male counterparts. From lifting their leg they are able to mark their scent more prominently by applying to a vertical service than the ground because it sends a stronger message about their status and to let others know about their presence around the area.

Comfort may be a reason as well, for they are feeling quite at ease at their surroundings and just let other dogs know they belong there. Some owners may notice their female dog does it when they are having a good time, or just when waking up.

Mating and Anxiety

Mating is also a reason for that is how female dogs let other male dogs the are sexually ready, especially if they are not spayed yet.

As opposed to the comfort aspect, the female dog may lift their leg out of nervousness or anxiety, especially in unfamiliar territories. They may feel unsafe, or feel threatened, or vulnerable. 

Social learning and size

Because dogs are great observers of everything around them, they may have learned the behaviors from others around them. They may mimic the behavior after watching it as a puppy and just continued into adult-hood. Just like the wild, it helps them learn and adapt following older dogs to maintain their survival. 

It’s also been noted that smaller female lift their leg to pee, which may also be something from a learned perspective.

Finally, there are some health considerations to take in, especially a female dog that used to squat but now lifts the leg. It may mean they are feeling discomfort, have a urinary tract infection, and other ailments. See a vet to make sure their are no health problems causing the behavior. 

I don’t feel I’ve got anything to worry about when it comes to my female dog, Charley. She has been a leg lifter from about the age of 1 year. She did not get fixed in the first year so that may be part of the reason for her continual leg lifting. I have to be more observant about the north and south pole theory and see if that comes into play with her poop behavior, but the best thing is all of these suggestions seem to play into why my dog does what she does when she goes to the bathroom.