If you ’ve ever sweep paths with a chihuahua , you ’ll love that some of the tiny dogs skin the gravid biz . They often rumble at and chamfer after dogs duplicate their size , and according to a raw possibility , they may aim higher while peeing to make themselves seem mightier than they wait .
modest dogs do run to sneak their legs at a higher slant to achieve a greater “ pee height , ” animate being behavior researcher Julie Hecht write forScientific American . These findings , published in theJournal of Zoology , issue forth from Betty McGuire , a pawl research worker who is something of an expert on canine tooth whiz . McGuire , of Cornell University , studies trail urinary behavior , in particular as it relates to societal and scent - denounce habits .
Dog piddle holds key info about the dog that leave its Saint Mark , appropriate dogs to intercommunicate with each other from a distance ( although anyone who has ever tried to stop a wienerwurst from sniff every phone pole they slip by probably knows that ) . But what investigator did n’t get laid was whether bounder pee height corresponded with the size of the click .
“ Small male seemed to make an extra exploit to raise their leg high — some belittled males would almost topple over , ” McGuire tellsNew Scientist . “ So , we wonder whether small-scale males seek to exaggerate their body size of it by leave gamy urine marks . ”
For this study , McGuire and her colleagues took 50 goodly adult tax shelter dogs ( altered and " intact , " if you must know ) of different breeds out on walks and recorded them urinate — for science , of course . Researchers then used the video footage to determine the angle of a weenie ’s kick upstairs leg as well as the tallness of the pee mark . When compare to information about a dog ’s height and mass , they learned that pee height does accurately reflect a dog ’s size of it in some font — just not when it come to minor dogs .
McGuire toldScientific Americanthat smaller dogs tend to “ shaft ” by lift their leg high to reach a higher trajectory . This may be because they want to seem larger so as to avoid conflicts with more levy domestic dog . Another theory posits that littler dogs might be examine to “ over score , ” or cover up another dog ’s pee — a demeanour that ’s common in mammalian .
For more conclusive resultant , we ’ll just have to expect for the next doggy piss study to leak .
[ h / tScientific American ]
