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dog messages are everywhere

Note: This post contains quite a few references to a natural bodily function. I hope you will forgive me for what my grandmother would call "bathroom talk."

Our walk this morning took us to the beach - Kanga's favorite place.

As we walked, she galloped, then paused, then sniffed, then went back and sniffed again, and then let loose just a tiny few drops of pee to "mark" spots she liked. She must have left fifty little deposits in our half hour walk.

I call this reading the newspaper (sniffing) and writing the newspaper (peeing), and Kanga only likes to do it outside.

Kanga had little trouble with housebreaking and came to us most of the way there. After Maui's incontinence for the last year of her life, Kanga's bladder strength has amazed me. She can wait to pee - what a miracle!

But sometimes her holding it so well makes me think it's less about not wanting to go in the house, and more about going outside for a walk around the block, or better, a walk on the beach.

Kanga has become a master of what I call "The Great Pee Embargo."

Most days when I take her out first thing in the morning she will sniff the wind, nose around our backyard, and then look at me like "When are we leaving?"

If I head for the front yard and the sidewalk, she will happily leave her little pee deposits everywhere in our neighborhood.

If we go to the beach, she will wait a full half hour for us to get ready, and then ride patiently in the car to our favorite beach. When we get there, she will find the perfect place to "write" her little article for her friends. Then a few feet away she will write another little article.

But if we don't go for a walk right away, she will just sit there in the backyard until I give up and go back inside. After enough time, she will realize that we aren't leaving the house this morning and will resignedly scratch to go outside.

On these few occasions her long, abundant pee sessions are marked with a distinct look of annoyance.

"Why write a novel which no one will read," she seems to be thinking, "when I could write fifty articles that everyone will read?"

Does anyone else's dog do this? I thought I was making it up at first, but I really think she is saving her pee for places she likes.

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Comment by Diane on October 11, 2009 at 6:08am: My little girl Yorkie hikes her leg up almost like a male. The the paw on the back leg she hikes is parallel to the ground. It's the funniest thing to see her do it. She's a real tom boy anyway and will take charge of the yard if another dog comes close (except for her brother Yorkie whom she can beat up hands down!). I recently lost the daddy dog in Jan.'09. He used to stop and sniff and pee every two seconds (its seemed). I really wanted to take a nice walk but he had other things in mind. He needed to "read" the newspaper.

Comment by Maltese Mom on August 27, 2009 at 3:01pm: My mom trained me to use a piddle pad aka wee wee pad when I was 8 weeks old. I was a quick learner (3 days). Since then I will only piddle on a pad. Whether I am at work with mom or visiting friends, my piddle is there for me. When we go for car rides I can hold it, but once I arrive home I run straight to the piddle pad to tinkle. I prefer not to piddle outdoors. When I do piddle I either squat or lift my leg. My mom is funny she'll tell me to go pee pee when we reach our destination....If I need to then its off to the piddle pad to piddle !

Comment by Julieann on August 21, 2009 at 4:28pm: Yes my Charlie the poodle snoodle has developed a certain "whinge" not whine he whinges until i take him up the road to poop. For the first time recently i went away for the weekend to my God daughters wedding and i gave my house mate a commentary on "The low gruff whinge" is I`m hungry....The soft quiet butter wouldn`t melt in my mouth whinge is ..will you pat some attention (does this when i`m on the computer) and the high pitch pestering non stop whinge ...is take me up the rosad to poop i`m NOT going in the back yard and if i hang on for 2 hours then i will but i`m still gonna pester you.

Comment by Jan A. ALden on August 21, 2009 at 5:04am: I love the "pee-mail" from Papillion One. My Chloe and Kebo have to mark each mail box they pass and Kebo wants to leave his mail on just about anything vertical. Kanga, you keep writing "pee-mail" and I hope your Dad keeps sending us wonderful stories about your exploits.

Comment by Mrs. Lorna R. Lanyon on August 20, 2009 at 11:50pm: HIO James: My FOUR GIRLS PLUS A GUY MUST READ ONCE, Then MARK TWICE every Telephone pole in our area as these seem to be THE PLACE for catching up on the latest gossip and finding out who's who and what's what in the neighbourhood! Being 'THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK' having just moved to Bala, Ontario, Canada, they're intent on letting ALL andf SUNDRY know 'THEY HAVE ARRIVED!!!!'

Comment by Lannie Newman on August 20, 2009 at 3:27pm: I used to have a male golden retriever who squatted and now have a female terrier/beagle mix who lifts her leg. I thought I was alone with this situation. I now am glad to see I am not. It is fun to see what others are experiencing.

Comment by colleen robinson on August 20, 2009 at 8:42am: we've always called it "pee mail or P-mail" -- leaving messages for the other dogs in the 'hood is what my three do every day on our walks -- what cracks me up is when one decides to 'overwrite' the other dogs 'mail' -- it's not everytime, just some of the time -- what makes those notes any different? hmmmm ....

Comment by Roberta McNutt on August 20, 2009 at 4:49am: My RatGirls refer to this as leaving a "pee mail."

Hugs,
Roberta

Comment by Barb Sellers on August 20, 2009 at 3:24am: Lexi has to leave her pee-mail on the light posts as all our mail boxes are up on neighbors' porches. That would be just a little high for a Bichon. Holly, your furry family is so cute, and I'm sure much quieter than our yappy Lexi!

Comment by Holly Meaders on August 20, 2009 at 2:56am: That is so funny, but reading all your comments explains why my little boy will hold it for HOURS to get me to walk him out front. He has a doggy door into a nice big yard, but apparently that's only for emergencies. Both my boy and girl have to leave peemail at every mailbox along the way.