my chihuahua puppy is coming up 7months now... hes my puppy (bred my dog and kept him) and this is the first time iv ever had a male pup! but i thought by now he would lift his leg to pee.... but he never has, he just sort of bends his back legs a little. im not sure if him being long haired is anything to do with it? as in he doesnt want to pee on all his fluff??

Some pups are late developers in that way, and some simply never do cock their legs!  It's perfectly normal, don't worry :-)

I have an 8 and a half year old who still doesn't bother.

LOL.   Having lived with Bassets forever, this comes as no surprise.   In fact with our first, we almost broke out the champagne when he finally actually lifted his leg.   They know they can't reach the heights other dogs can, so being sensible, don't bother.   I've had bitches lift more than some of my males who often do a brief lift and then put their leg back down again.

It's no big deal.

Be thankful is all I will say, it's one of the main reasons I choose not to own males ;)

Seriously the age at which males lift and the extent to which they do is hugely variable.

Many German Shepherds for example are often very much older than a year when they do it.

It's little dogs with small man syndrome who seem to lift everywhere most, so you must have a nice mellow little man with nothing to prove.

I've got a 12 year old who often doesn't bother. :-)

My 9 year old boy very rarely cocks his leg and far prefers to squat.

then I have a 6 year old female pom cross who does. I think she is actually protecting her skirts from getting wet lol

I wish mine didn't he's always managing to pee up his front legs

>he doesnt want to pee on all his fluff??

A dog wouldn't even consider it going all over his coat.  Why would he?  They want to pee, so they pee.  That's all there is to it. 

I'm still waiting for my 9 year old Border Collie to start lifting his leg, but I do think there is a chance that he might not start this late in life.  If you haven't got a male in the house already, he hasn't got a dog to copy. 

(You call him long haired - the correct term is long coat.)  My long coat stud boys are in competition as to who cocks their leg on the BC's ball.

I'd find it a lot easier if males didn't cook their legs, at least on the ground it's easier to manage than pee dripping off things x

Someone who agrees with me LOL

I had a female Westie (who sadly passed away at 13) who nearly always lifted  her leg to wee and similarly my Greek girl (houndy) does too. I always put it down to copying the boys!

I have had several bitches do it, usually when they are fully mature at about five years of age they start, often after their second litters.

In their cases it's dominance as in the males, weeing over another scent mark, or advertising when about to come in season.  Never done for a simple emptying wee.

> I'd find it a lot easier if males didn't cook their legs

I've never considered it a problem, but Bramble never pee'd indoors or on people's legs etc :) At least people see a male cocking it's leg and know that they are only doing a wee - rather than thinking a female is doing a poo and reminding you to clear it up - which happened to me once :)

> Never done for a simple emptying wee

:) Tara occasionally scent marks, but almost balances on her front legs and lifts the back ones up :)