Scent-Marking:
A Dog's Way To Communicate

It doesn't take much to read a dog's mind, just look at his body language! A dog will growl bark and even snarl to let you or another animal know how he is feeling about something. In addition to these vocal communication tools, you can also read a dog's mind by knowing what it means when his tail wags or when his teeth are showing an aggressive manner.

One very popular way a dog communicates with the outside world is by marking his territory. This is called scent marking. This is quite obvious when a dog owner moves into a new house and notices that his house trained pet is urinating in different areas of the inside.  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.

You must realize that marking with his scent is a dog's natural behavior. 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.

When the dog is exhibiting marking behavior, he will typically sniff around at the spot, lift up his hindquarters, and then spray a tiny amount of urine toward whatever surface his target is.  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.