Bathroom Talk...Beware

Stop taking pics!  I need privacy!

I often here people say one of the reasons they prefer a female dog over a male dog is because of that awful lifting of the leg that male dogs all do.  I used to think ALL male dogs did this as well, until I got Piper and then it was reinforced again once we got Murray.  Neither of my male dogs regularly lift their legs to pee.  I won't say it never happens, but if I had to give it a percentage I would say the leg lifting is only about 2% of their pee stance.  I don't know for sure why they are not leg lifters, but my theory is that we do not have many trees in our yard, so perhaps as pups they didn't have much to "lift" on?!  I know some male dogs will lift anywhere, but our guys don't.  They are both squatters, and most people who see it, surely think they are female.  Both boys have very different bathroom behaviors though.  Piper was relatively easy to house train as a puppy, even though it was winter and very cold out.  He now has no scruples about peeing or pooping ANYWHERE.  That's not always so cool.  We have a patio in our back yard and he often pees just on the edge of it so most of his pee streams down the cement.  Quite irritating!  Piper will also poop several times a day, anywhere he happens to be.  If he's home in his own yard, he circles and circles, for what seems like forever, before finding the perfect spot.  Put a leash on him and take him anywhere else though and you will absolutely be scooping up his poo.  The second he gets the chance, he pops a poop squat while on a leash.  While in Cape Cod he had pooped twice before we hit the beach one day, but no fail, as soon as his paws hit the sand, so did a poop.  Another added quality Piper has is that during the winter, if he can find a frozen poop, he eats it down like it's a tasty treat...but only frozen (sorry if that's TMI), thawed are not appealing to him.  Murray is a much different "pottier" than Piper.  He took a long time to house train as a puppy.  While the weather was great, being mid-summer, he just couldn't regularly hold his pee long enough for us to get him outside until he was about 6 months old.  He peed right at the door for a long time.  I guess we had to wait for his bladder size to catch up to his brain size.  When it comes to his pooping, he is very quick and very private.  At home he likes to hide himself in a patch of deep grass, behind a tree, where he thinks he can't be seen.  As soon as you might think he's going, he's done.  On vacation he's tough.  Pooping on a leash is not his cup of tea.  The extend leash helps, but he still prefers more privacy...hence the reason I was pulling prickers off him one morning because he went too far into a shrub for his business.  I think I have grossed you all out enough now!  I hope this wasn't too graphic.  Obviously I am quite comfortable with the topic!  LOL