Q: How to stop a dog from peeing on front legs?
I am training a service dog but I can't give him public access because he pees on himself 1-3 times a day. He has feathering on the back of his front legs so it is difficult to just wipe it off. You would have to use shampoo and conditioner to make it possible to comb through it again.
Answers and Views:
Answer by Julie Mahana
To be honest it'd not something your dog will grow out of. My dog lifts his leg to pee and every darn time that pee hits his front legs and he is 3. It has to do with sheath opening and confirmation. My standard poodle is tall and short-backed.. he lifts his leg and his penis goes straight towards the front elbow. It's not something I can train out of him... if he squats the pee hits the back of his front hocks. I show poodles... so while growing his hair out every time he had to pee I would have to put waterproof left warmers on him called pee legs.
Photo Credit: audi_insperation/Flickr CC
He is now a finished champion and I can't keep him nice and fluffy because he constantly pees on his legs. I spoke with my vet.... a surgery to adjust the penis hole is my only option. It's a few hundred dollars and to keep my boy clean.. even though he gets weekly baths... it's one I'm planning on doing very soon.
Answer by Amanda
My groom told me to keep the hair on the penis longer (don’t ever cut it all off)...she would form/allow or cut so it was longer and was like a guide for the urine...that seemed to help lots!
Answer by Katy
Okay, my male German Shepherd lifts his back leg to pee and it gets all over his front paws. It’s worse when we are at the park because he’s excited and starts to walk before he’s finished.
Fixing:
Back when he was younger and I was putting in a little bit more effort into the issue. I would gently pull on the front of his leash and put my arms out in front of me while he was peeing. It would encourage him to take a step forward with his front paws, but not be enough to interrupt his business. It took about a week for him to realize what I was asking him for. But eventually, he learned that a gentle pull on the leash and my arms out in front of me meant that I wanted him to take a step forward with his front paw. I would also look at his feet when I would tug on the leash to let him know what I was forced on.
Answer by Frank Baumann
I came up with a solution for our King Charles Caviler. I invented a doggy urine deflector that fits around his midsection with the deflector hanging down which deflects the urine straight to the ground. He has not urinated on himself once in the past 3 years since using it. I recently filed a patent and have started a Kick Starter Campaign. I am in the process of ordering all the materials to produce these for retail. Please take a look as this could very well help you out like it did us.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects
Answer by Chris
Our poodle, Sherlock has the same issue. He's black and white and urine turns his hair yellow. He hikes his leg but just can't aim out. Like the urine deflector idea!
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Answer by Kat
I just call my pup “tinkle toes” and wipe his feet off at the door every time. They also now have theSe paw cleaners you can dip their paws in. Not sure it will help for every dog, depends on their aim I suppose.
Answer by Brandon
I just got a dog from a rescue center. I've been searching the net to see if I could find any tips to help with the dog peeing on his front legs. the problem with mine is the stance he hikes his leg but he arches his back like a cat. also, he always has one front leg a bit back. he is about a year old. he does better when he squats but he pees right through his front legs. I love this dog very much and I'm never gonna give him away, but if anyone has some advice or a tip on how to maybe correct his stance that would be awesome.
Answer by dorothy s
Your dog sounds like a contortionist. Although I have never seen a dog do this, he is still very young. Mature dogs lift one of their back legs when they pee. If he is a rescue dog, he may be younger than you think, however when he starts to lift his leg to pee there is no way that he can pee on his front leg.
Most of my dogs have been females, however, my friends who have had male dogs appear to be concerned until their males lift their legs to pee. Be patient, at present his front legs might be a bit smelly, this will cease when he cocks his legs to pee. In the interim sponge his legs with vinegar and essential oil of lavender.
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Syd says
My 14 week old puppy currently gets pee on his belly when he squats but I think most of this is from him standing up to walk before he is completely finished and “wiggling” it everywhere. Wondering if trimming the hair in the area would help at all?
George says
I’m hoping to find a simple legging that’ll work. Poor Scout tries to clean himself to no avail and I constantly am wiping his legs. Aussie doodle so he’s woolie. A nightmare.
Batman says
I have a 3 year old pure bred German Shepherd rescue and he has a … rather sizeable instrument and for some reason he never quite learned to lift his legs to pee, though he sometimes does and most of the time he squats a bit. Either way, he does seem content when his very strong stream hits his front paws or even sometimes sideswipes his belly/chest area.
Is there any hope for this? I read somewhere online that surgery might help, but when I brought this up to his very reliable vet, she simply laughed that idea off.
Amanda says
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Kat says
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Rachel says
I have two male standards. The older 4 year old is very tall and large and exceptionally clean. Never had a problem. However, his little brother has much more of a junk yard dog mentality…my 8 month old recently started lifting his leg and almost every time, pees all over the back of his front leg or legs. It’s driving me crazy! I was hoping this was a phase and am so disappointed to hear many adult dogs have done this thier whole life. I keep the backs of his front legs shaved close so it’s easier to clean and wipe him down after but it’s such a pain. I would think dogs would not like that smell on themselves. I’m hoping he will grow out of it but grateful to hear about everyone else’s experiences. Thank you.