Page 18 - (DK) The Dog Encyclopedia

INTRODUCTION TO DOGS | URINARY, REPRODUCTIVE, AND HORMONAL SYSTEMS

Urinary, reproductive,

and hormonal systems

In dogs, as in mammals generally, the urinary and reproductive systems share much of the same area
in the hind part of the abdominal cavity. Their tracts become linked together in the male, where
urine and sperm have a combined exit point through the penis. Like all body functions, both these
systems are fine-tuned by hormonal action. Hormones control the production and volume of
urine, and they ensure that a female dog’s reproductive periods occur at optimum times.

URINARY SYSTEM through which urine is excreted. The passer-by is male or female. The smell fades
The function of the urinary system is process is regulated by hormones acting on quickly in the open air, which is why male
to remove waste from the blood and the kidneys to maintain the correct balance dogs constantly mark spots with small
expel it from the body, along with excess of salts and other chemicals in the body. amounts of urine, often returning to the
water, as urine. The urinary organs Dogs urinate not just to relieve their same place to refresh the message. Bitches
comprise the kidneys, which work as bladders but also to mark territory and tend to empty their bladders completely in
filtering units and make urine; the communicate with other dogs. Hormones just one place. Urine of either sex contains
ureters, tubes that carry urine away from and chemicals carried in the urine have an nitrogen and it is this that is responsible
the kidneys; the bladder, which acts as odor that provides a sniffing dog with for the brown patches that appear on lawns
a reservoir; and the urethra, the tube information, including whether a recent where dogs have been.

Brain controls
most hypothalamic
activity
Hypothalamic region
controls pituitary activity

Ureters carry
urine to bladder Kidneys filter
from kidneys waste from blood

Spermatic cords
transport sperm to Pituitary gland
prostate gland stimulates and
controls other glands

Thyroid gland is
controlled by
pituitary gland

Uretha carries
urine and semen

Testes produce sperm Penis rests in Adrenal glands,
and testosterone, which protective adjacent to kidneys,
plays a key role in sheath produce adrenaline
the development of and cortisone
male sex organs
Baculum
(penis bone) Male systems
The urinary system is similar to that of the female,
Bladder stores except that it merges with the reproductive
urine system in the urethra. Except for the different
sex hormones produced, the hormone systems
are also alike. The reproductive system differs both
in structure and in the fact that a male dog is
potentially sexually active all year round.

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