I am woundering if some thing is going on with my boys.
Befroe today none of them marked/sprayed.
Dexter ude to squat with one leg off the gound. Harley just squat.

Today Dexter started to pee up on things during our run in the woods. (tree, weeds, stump)He does not do the ground kick with his back feet. Harley started off smelling and peeing near the same place as Dexter. Never did that before.

By the end of the walk Harley was also peeing with a leg up over Dexter's spot or at least go for a snif.
Dexter pays no attention to Harley's pee.

So what is going on, simple dog stuff, maturity, dominance?
They still play nice together under surpervision.

Do I need to change something in their interactions? They are both fixed and Dexter 18mo and Harley 14mo.

Its probably that Dexter is maturing and Harley is being a copy cat.

I don't really have any advice, I haven't lived with two males at the same time before.

Having 4 fixed males right now, I get to witness a lot of peeing. And not that I’ve ever been concerned with it, you do see some patterns.

Echo, who’s 2, still squats to pee. Not all the time but I did notice it today even. And Vince who’s 3 will still squat every now and then. Often, with my guys, depends how tired they are. If it’s a late night pee, I can pretty much guarantee the two young ones are gonna squat. When we head out for our daily hike in the woods, and they gotta go, they can’t lift high enough.

I think it has a lot to do with what they’re marking too and who gets there first. I’ve seen both pee on each other’s. Almost like teamwork, seems it was just a smell they both felt needed to be covered.

Garrett the older husky squatted till he was about a year and a half and I’ve never seen him squat since. He does have balance issues though and squatting is a chore with the other business. However, he also is a bit slower and will always get the last mark on a particularly interesting pee spot, never as high as the other two but he does what he can.

Our guest Chucky, who’s a pretty balanced guy, loves to mark everything in our yard. When I let them out in the morning he feels it’s his job to freshen up the place. My boys will just pick a spot, stand there and pee. He marks every tree, corner, gate, stump, anything there is to pee on. My boys could care less and don’t pay any attention to him. And while my three will pee on the same thing in the woods, Chucky very rarely marks anything in the woods.

I think some dogs just do it and others don’t, depending on what’s tickling their senses. Echo would love to roll in dead salmon and Garrett pees on every one. Vince doesn’t wanna roll or pee on them. Personally I think it’s just kind of a scent game they play. I’ve never seen any fuss over peeing.

It's spring and your pups are young, lots of animals moving around out there right now, lots of damp, fresh scent everywhere and they're wanting to get theirs out there too.

Sounds like pretty normal behavior to me, I wouldn't worry about it.

There are lots of great smells out in the woods. Frankly if you had a bitch you might of seen some leg hiking too. Never ceases to impress me to see how high girls can back themselves up a tree to mark over the right odor.

I didn't know that fixed males changed their peeing position. Darwin is fixed but pees on everything when we're out walking (but never in the house or garden). He also especially seems to seek out places where others have "gone" before. It kind of makes walk time frustrating for those humans who want some exercise too.

I accidentally leash corrected my male as a pup for lifting his leg. He hasn't scentmarked since and still squats @ 5.

Oops but I cannot say that I regret it. No stopping on walks etc.

To the OP, think it's just them maturing and males love to compete in the 'how high can i pee' game

I have 2 fixed rescue dogs. One we got at 2 months old and he's almost a year now. He always squats to pee and I have never seen him lift his leg. We asked a trainer about it just to make sure its normal. She said most likely since the Shelter neutered him so young (they won't let you take them otherwise) he may never lift his leg.

Our beagle we got at 4 years old and he started by always lifting his leg, but now he will sometimes squat to pee. He also will just lift his leg and pee in the middle of a field as opposed to finding something to mark.

My Vigo is nearly 11 months old. I would say he started lifting his left at about 9 months. It's not consistent, maybe 75% of the time? He is a goof because he doesn't lift to pee on anything, he just stands in the middle of the yard with his leg heisted. I wish he would pee on the tree and stop killing my grass

Worst dog I ever saw for marking was my hubby's old family dog...beagle/cocker spaniel mix...She, yes SHE!, marked every two steps along a walk.

My dogs are not really allowed to pee whenever they want on a walk. I make sure they go before we leave or I will specifically stop and say "go potty". Otherwise, walking is for walking!

I have a neutered male and spayed female. In the morning when I let them out, if I don't hold the male inside for a few seconds to give the female a chance to pee first, he will often hike a leg over her and pee right on top of her.

Usually, though, in our own yard, he never marks anything (there are lots of trees and fenceposts if he wanted to) but, rather, he just stands in one spot, hikes one leg up and empties his bladder all at once. When we are out someplace, he has gotten a little more into the habit of marking. He's going on three now, and he was neutered at 19 months (retained testicle), so it's kind of surprising to me that he's marking more now than before.

The most persistent marker I ever owned was a female. If I would let her, she would mark about every 20 feet on a walk!

I guess we're not answering your question directly, Ariane, about what is causing the behavior and if you should do anything about it, but I think all of us sharing our experiences might reassure you that different dogs just develop different habits in this regard.