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You're almost home from the walk, and your dog stops at a post and lifts a back leg again. But not a single drop comes out. Is it peeing on thin air? Here's the thing. When a dog lifts its leg on a walk, it often isn't going to the toilet. It's stamping a mark.
A real toilet stop means a lot of pee in one place. Stamping is different: just a little each time, a dab here, a dab there. The stamp goes right at another dog's nose height. The next dog sniffs it and knows someone was here. So why stamp with nothing left? Because going to the toilet and stamping a mark run on two different switches.
The toilet switch checks how full the bladder is. The stamp switch checks what the nose just smelled. Smell a new, strange scent, and it wants to stamp one right beside it. The nose says go, the leg goes up, and it doesn't care if there's anything left. And lifting the leg is a message all by itself. A scientist who studies dogs noticed something: when other dogs could see, dogs lifted a leg without peeing far more often. Once no one was watching, they peed for real.
Some dogs then kick at the ground with their back legs. Their paws have tiny scent glands, and the scratches stay on the ground. A message you can smell and see. So it's not peeing on air. Out of ink, it stamps anyway. The stamp says one thing: I was here. One case needs care. If it strains again and again at home and nothing comes out, that's not stamping. It may be a blocked bladder, so see a vet right away.
Next time it lifts a leg at nothing, don't laugh. It's saying hello to every dog on the street. What odd thing does your dog do that you can't figure out? Tell me in the comments.
It isn’t going to the toilet. It’s stamping a mark. Out of ink, it stamps anyway.
The dotted circle under the leg: not one drop.
In plain words: a leg lift on a walk is mostly a mark, not a toilet stop.
Dog scientist Marc Bekoff noticed that dogs lifted a leg without peeing far more often when other dogs could see them.
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