Do dogs actually like to piss on fire hydrants like you see in cartoons?

26 comments

1. My dogs just pee on everything they see outside.

2. I don’t know why fire hydrants are shown in cartoons so much. Dogs pee on a lot of things: fire hydrants, trees, telephone poles, etc.

3. Yes, usually male dogs. Dogs like to mark where they’ve been and mark over others, and fire hydrants, compared to street signs, are short and stout and optimal peeing posts for a lot of them.

4. No, but most dogs who are peeing on every fire hydrant are also peeing on every tree, rock, and light pole.

   I suspect that the hydrants make it into the cartoons because they’re red, so it adds more color than a wood phone pole.

5. I always talk smack to my dogs for being stereotypical when they do this.

6. Fire hydrants and essentially any vertical object and especially any vertical object another dog has peed on.

   Mostly applies to boy dogs but girl dogs will find horizontal surfaces previously peed on.

7. My dogs won’t walk by one without peeing on it

8. My old dog would pee on any tree he passed by, but for some reason fire hydrants scared him, so he stayed well away from them lol.

9. Yes and everything else. Just male dogs though

10. Dogs will pee on pretty much anything that’s standing.

11. Dogs will pee on anything and everything vertical.

    I’m not sure why fire hydrants in particular have that reputation.

12. My old dog used to lick fire hydrants. He didn’t really ever learn how to lift his leg and pee on things. Not sure if that’s something male dogs have to be taught?

13. Hydrants, sign posts, trees, rocks, park benches. My dog will pee on literally anything sticking out of the ground.

14. Dogs just like to pee on things, sometimes that’s a hydrant.

15. My dog did. I would often make a comment like “how original.” For the record though the hydrants around here are yellow.

    I don’t think they’re different from regular trees or posts other than they are often found nearby sidewalks.

16. They like to pee on anything standing up outside that other dogs have peed on, this includes fire hydrants.

17. yes about every time

18. Mine does—I always let him but urge him not to be a stereotype. But he’s an equal opportunity kind of dog—nothing is safe.

19. Mine pee’s on what other dogs have peed on. Called “pee” mail.

    They gotta mark their territory.

20. Yes, they’re like bulletin boards of the dog world

21. Dogs like to pee on everything. Fire hydrants aren’t special.

22. My dogs will but they like leaf bags and old Christmas trees (there were a few into March or April) more. Mattresses and carpets left out on the street (comes up more often than you’d think) get barked at loudly.

23. Is this a subtle way of calling American people dogs? But yes, only American dogs pee on fire hydrants.

24. Any vertical surface or place where a dog has peed before. My current one is horrible for and seems to be doing the equivalent of leaving post it notes “Rune was here” along our entire walk route. It’s been pretty much impossible to break him of and it’s annoying.

    Our other Mals have been better although our female had a wicked sense of humor and made a point of marking high on the fence where an annoying little dog barked at her every day.

25. My current dog doesn’t seem to be picky about what he pees on. But my previous dog wouldn’t walk by a fire hydrant without peeing on it. Even if it was just one drop.

26. Believe it or not the behavior of American dogs is indistinguishable from the behavior of non-American dogs.