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Scent-Marking: Your Dog's Favorite Way To Communicate

You don't have to be psychic. Your dog's body language will tell you a lot of what is on his mind. He growls, barks, and snarls when they have a suspicious feeling about something. And unlike the human race a dog is not afraid to show they are angry or nervous by wagging their tails or baring their teeth.

There is a way a dog communicates with other dogs in the world and that is by marking their territory. This little action would be called “scent marking.” This can be seen in situations like when a fully house trained dog starts to urinate in a new unfamiliar house.  Although your dog knows to go to the bathroom outside, he uses scent marking as a communication tool to let others know, as well as to remind himself, that this is his new “territory”. When a dog uses scent marking, he is also helping himself feel more comfortable and confident about where he is located.

Keep in mind that it is instinct for a dog to mark it's territory. Dogs have extremely strong sense of smell and when your dog picks up on an unfamiliar scent or is surrounded by an area that he does not recognize, his way of taking a “sigh of relief” is to urinate and mark his own spots.

Although spraying urine is the most common form of scent marking, some dogs may rub up against objects such as furniture, walls, and other vertical objects, in order to spread his scent. This behavior is very similar to what cats prefer to do when it comes to scent marking. However, as great as it would be for dogs to only rub up against objects, most prefer the act of urination.

You can always tell the difference in an potty training accident and marking their territory when they sniff around at the spot, lift up his hindquarters, and then spray a tiny amount of urine toward whatever surface his target is the are scent marking. The scent markers are now left behind for any other dogs that happen to be traveling by.

And if you live in an area where there are a lot of neighborhood dogs that roam outside of your house, this may even cause your dog to scent mark throughout the house to guard against these outside animals. Your dog does not know that these animals cannot get in the house but it is his way of making sure that they know whose territory it belongs to, just in case they do get in.