Last week, as I was driving down the road, I came across a large champagne-colour­ed male labrador squatting in the middle of the road and very obviously in the middle of urinating.

I have often seen this dog walking on the street. He must weigh about 35 kilos and is well-built and well-nourished, a full adult but not advanced in age, so he is probably anywhere between two and four years of age.

Judging by the size of the puddle that had already accumulated, the panting relief on his face and the fact that there was no indication of him letting up anytime soon, this was clearly his first pee of the day. So, rather than disturb him during this delicate moment, I opted to wait it out.

Male dogs usually cock their leg to pee. They do this as a means of marking their territory, and they tend to do this as high as they possibly can. Various theories abound as to why male dogs attempt to aim their urine stream as high as possible. Some think that they do this so that other male dogs catch the scent of their urine from as far a distance as possible, while others say this is a tactic used to trick other dogs into thinking that the urinating dog is larger than it actually is.

Young dogs start to lift their leg to pee with the onset of puberty, which sets in at about six to 10 months of age. However, it is perfectly normal for some male dogs not to lift their leg at all when urinating. The labrador in the middle of the road was squatting to pee but, given the circumstances, I could only wonder as to why he was not lifting his leg.

Male dogs that do prefer to squat are not lazy, as often misconceived, and there is no need to force the issue with your dog by attempting to train it to cock its leg. Neutered males are more likely to squat, rather than lift their leg to urinate, though the likelihood of this depends on the age when the dog was neutered and how much of an ingrained habit it had become for him to lift his leg.

Neutered males are more likely to squat, rather than lift a leg

Either way, I do recommend you bring up the subject with your vet during your dog’s next check-up to make sure there is nothing untoward. All things considered, your vet will probably check that your dog’s genitals are developed normally and that there are no signs of instability in the hind legs.

If your male dog does normally cock up its leg and then changes habit, it could be a sign that something new is going on. A common reason for such a change is the onset of arthritis in the hind legs, which gets too painful and prevents your dog from balancing on one leg. But there are other causes for such a change in habit. These are sometimes less obvious and picking them up depends on your vigilance while your dog is peeing.

Stranguria is the medical term we use when there are painful and frequent attempts to urinate. It is invariably a sign of an urgent underlying cause such as urinary stones, inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) or some form of tumour in very serious cases. Your dog will be in a lot of pain and you should consult your vet without delay.

Anuria or oliguria are the terms used when there is no urine or very little urine passed. This could be a sign of dehydration or renal failure. Again, you need to urgently speak to your vet, as this could be life-threatening.

Polyuria is the opposite of this and this means that there is a lot more urine produced than expected. When polyuria occurs, urine normally loses its normal straw colour and starts to look like plain water. This is usually coupled with an increase in water intake and the most likely condition resulting in polyuria is classical diabetes or diabetes mellitus, which needs to be managed in consultation with your vet before it becomes life-threatening.

There are other conditions, such as diabetes insipidus and Cushing’s disease, both serious hormonal conditions that need attention.

Haematuria is the medical term used when there is blood in the urine. The pink or red colour of the urine would be more or less intense, depending on the amount of blood in the urine. It could be helpful if you also notice whether the blood is visible at the beginning, during or at the end of the urination.

Prostate problems are one of the issues to think of, especially in the older male dogs when haematuria occurs at the end of urination. When considering the colour of the pee, you also have to make sure that this is not due to anything your dog has eaten that might contain natural or artificial colouring. A classic example happens when your dog has eaten beetroots. The natural colour found in beetroots will make its way into your dog’s urine. This is perfectly natural and there is no cause for alarm.

One other condition to recognise is urinary incontinence. This condition is more frequent in female dogs and what occurs is that urine is released without knowing and a patch is often found where the dog had been sleeping. Unfortunately this is not such an uncommon condition, with hormone imbalance being the main culprit. The good news is that there are various effective drugs to control this condition.

Thankfully, all seemed well with my road companion. His stream was normal and straw-coloured. When he finished urinating, he got up with ease, so he was probably squatting because this came more natural to him.

While waiting for him to finish, I did get a flashback of an incident that happened many years ago when there was a fault on an overhead power line which caused an electricity pole to become live. The danger was luckily alerted by a hapless dog who yelped as he lifted his leg and peed onto the pole.

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Dr Martin Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.

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