Male dog urination posture preference: A survey of owner observations

Abstract

Some mature male dogs often or almost always raise a hind limb to urinate, whereas others do so rarely or never. Previously, the largest studies exploring this behavior have focused on observations made in animal shelters. This study sought to use a citizen science approach to enable owners to report their observations of their male dogs in the home environment. A survey was devised using Google Forms and distributed via social media (Facebook, Reddit) asking owners to report the castration status, age, urination posture preference, and geographical region of their male dog(s). The survey was open from 31 March 2020 until 7 April 2020 and received 120 responses. Results were tabulated and analyzed in Google Sheets and using online statistical calculators. Approximately 76% of dogs were castrated, with contributors located in Australia/New Zealand (24%), Europe/the United Kingdom (22%), Asia (22%), and North America (32%). Many owners reported that their dog never raised a leg to urinate (n = 36, 30%) or had no clear preference (ambilaterality) for right or left hind limb during urination (n = 20, 17%), whereas other owners reported a moderate-to-strong preference for raising the left hind limb (n = 21, 18%) or the right hind limb (n = 43, 36%) during urination. Of the 36 dogs that never raised a hind limb to urinate, 33 were castrated (92%). The survey results indicated that castration was negatively associated with raised-leg urination (RLU) and that in dogs with an appreciable right or left preference for RLU, the right hind limb was raised by more male dogs than the left hind limb; however, most dogs were at least occasionally ambilateral with respect to RLU behavior. There was no statistically significant difference between age categories with respect to urination posture.