Dogs and Pee: Hidden Messages in Urination

When a human finds a new home, we tend to decorate it with familiar things like photos or throw pillows and make it homier, more familiar to us. Dogs do the same, except to make unfamiliar territory more comfortable they use urine. Surprising as it may be to people, a dog’s urine holds a variety of information in it, making it useful as a calling card for other dogs who might pass by, too. More than that, it can be used to demonstrate to family humans that something is amiss. With so many messages to relay, it may be easier to understand if we look at the various uses for urine in context.

Markings Matter
Commonly seen at dog parks, in a new environment, when something exciting happens, or even on short walks: fixed and non-fixed, male and female, dogs like to lift a leg in a gesture of power and lay their urine over the remains of another dog’s passing. High-ranking dogs, who usually hold their tales and heads high, tend to mark more than a submissive or low-ranking dog, but almost all dogs will mark. This serves several functions for the urinator and those following behind. Urine can offer a biological profile of the canine, spelling out health, sex, age, fitness, social status, and so on. This can be used by other dogs like a snapshot, allowing them to recognize the dog via quick sniff later. What good does this do? It helps the sniffer and the sniffees to determine approach, judge aggression and know what posture to take when greeting face to face. This helps avoid confrontations.

Of course, urine can indicate when a female is ready to mate as well, helpful to her in finding potential breeders and helpful to the non-fixed male in hunting her down and presenting himself. As can be expected, those urine markings get a lot of attention paid them much like a picture of a supermodel might get more notice from young interested males. Non-neutered or non spayed dogs will mark more than their fixed counterparts.

Making a House a Home
Because urine is a signature and then some, it brings comfort to a dog who sees it as an invisible fence, a pheromonal staking-out of territory, a scent house that makes a home. Certainly this harkens back to the day of the wolf, from which all domestic dogs stem. Instinct is a powerful motivator and while the need to mark territory as a safe zone may not be exactly the same as in the wild, it still has its uses. In the undomesticated world, urine warns other predators, especially other wolves or wild dogs, that a virile canine lives on that parcel of land and he is willing to defend it aggressively if need be. It actually saves everyone a lot of time and energy to advertise by using scent billboards, if you will.

However, marking inappropriately can indicate stress in a dog’s life, usually in the form of a lack of confidence. More confident dogs may not feel much of a need to mark their living areas, where more nervous dogs may feel compelled to mark the stairs, their human’s belongings, maybe even the bed. This is overwhelmingly a stress marker that the dog is lacking human leadership and has taken the burden of leader onto her own canine shoulders. (It is possible that frequent urination around the house can be traced to a urinary tract infection or some other medical issue.) This is highly distressing to a dog because it proves very difficult indeed for the poor pooch to control where and when her humans come and go. The leader of a pack has that kind of freedom not the followers, so if a dog takes on the role of leader and the humans don’t fall into place like the dog expects, it can make a dog go a bit crazy. This is from where most bad behaviors stem in the canine world, including tearing up the house when the people leave, barking and jumping up on people when they return and lots of pee marking. Using urine to mark territory is the dog trying to protect her pack in a leadership role. Your dog does not want to be leader. Your dog wants you to be leader. She is much happier following her human.

If you have a dog who is marking on all your belongings or your furniture, try assessing what could be making Peepers nervous and provide the boundaries and guidelines he requires. Otherwise, marvel at the efficiency of a dog’s built in résumé as he puts it ‘online’ for every other dog to read.