curious dog behaviour

seefin

Have two rescue dogs since last summer.they hated each other and fought most days but for past few months, while they still don't play with each other I've seen them investigate each other and interact a little.
The female dog(both are neutered ) usually raises her hind leg and invites him to sniff.is this a submissive sign? She also has done this to my partners leg a few times-he obviously doesn't sniff her so wondering what it means!

JustAThought

Haha!! Don't know but it's very funny to imagine! Maybe there's still a bit if hormone there & she's feeling a bit up for it !!!

JustAThought

Haha !! Very funny imagining that with your partner!!! Don't know but maybe there's still a bit of natural instinct/ hormone there & she's asking for a happy ending!!! ; )

seefin

I was wondering that! I mean if human got sterilized theyd still be up for it( as you so eloquently said)! Never seen it in other dogs. I still haven't worked out which dog is dominant so wondered if this would tell me

Zapperzy

Well iv seen a few females cock their legs to pee, maybe she's letting off a few drops of pee as she's doing it to mark the other dog or your partner as hers (my male used to mark me around other dogs, also marked another dog once or twice) and you just haven't noticed. I would think its more a dominance/submissive behaviour rather than a sexual one if she's neutered, dogs are just driven by what their hormones tell them to do and only to reproduce.

Vince32

It's not sexual, dogs don't mate for pleasure, only when they are in heat, but it could be her saying, im not so bad once you get to know me, or as zap suggested she could of learned to cock her leg to pee from a male, I know males that pee the girl way

Most likely the act would be a token ceasefire, calling a halt to the fighting and squabbling for the dominant position in the pack of 2, they either are lead, or they lead, and in this situation I remember a phrase from star wars lol, always two there are, a master and an apprentice.

Millem

seefin wrote: »

Have two rescue dogs since last summer.they hated each other and fought most days but for past few months, while they still don't play with each other I've seen them investigate each other and interact a little.
The female dog(both are neutered ) usually raises her hind leg and invites him to sniff.is this a submissive sign? She also has done this to my partners leg a few times-he obviously doesn't sniff her so wondering what it means!

I have 3 female labs. Millie, the middle one (and most dominant of the three) will occasionally cock her leg over my knee if I'm sitting on the couch, and I'm pretty sure it's an act of dominance. My reckoning is that she's trying to 'mark' me to let the other two know who I belong to!

seefin

I have 3 female labs. Millie, the middle one (and most dominant of the three) will occasionally cock her leg over my knee if I'm sitting on the couch, and I'm pretty sure it's an act of dominance. My reckoning is that she's trying to 'mark' me to let the other two know who I belong to![/Quote]
That's interesting! Would always have thought Ellie was a submissive dog but I'm not too experienced with dogs so still trying to work out which of my 2 is the dominant one. It would explain why she does to humans thou. with male dog she really seems to be inviting him to sniff -offering herself to him as it were! If they could only talk.ah well, one of lifes mysteries,will never know for sure.