Why Do Some Dogs Urinate On People?
Having a pet is not always an easy path. Changing behavior is not a matter of a day and it is very common to have a dog, especially if it is a male, that marks all over the house. There are even dogs that urinate on people.
Yes, although not for most owners, some of them have been in the awkward situation of having to apologize to a stranger because their dog has used it like a normal tree.
Marking is a way of communication
Smell is very important in dogs. It is the main sense with which they guide themselves through the world. Each odorous signal provides a lot of information to a dog, which individual has passed, how big it is, what state it is in … For this reason, marking is a very useful communication tool in dogs.
Dogs adopt this strategy from their wild ancestor the wolf, who uses olfactory marking – by urine or feces – and visual marking – by scratching the ground or trees – to identify or define a territory, since in nature the space of a herd can span miles.
Not only the wolf or the dog mark with small doses of urine. Many other animals do too, especially mammals, for which smell is a key sense in their survival.
Where do dogs prefer to mark?
Dogs during their walk prefer to mark surfaces such as streetlights, trees, corners of the walls … places that favor communication to another possible dog that comes to smell.
The height at which the message is ‘recorded’ is also important. The greater the angle at which the dog raises its paw, the greater the height that the urine stream reaches. The height at which the mark is located gives information about the size of the individual.
Knowing this, it is curious to know the strategy that smaller dogs follow when marking. These dogs work harder to lift their paws to mask their size and thus appear much larger to other dogs.
In this way, small dogs ‘lie’ about their size, since it will appear to the nose of another dog that a larger one has passed through that place.
Inappropriate marking: dogs urinate on people
Many dogs pee when they are very excited due to the emotion itself. An example of this is dogs with separation anxiety problems, when their owner comes home.
It is common for very young dogs, which have not yet learned to relieve themselves outside, to urinate or defecate at home or in strange places, even on people. It can also happen in very old dogs, due to urine leakage.
However, when a dog has the habit of urinating in places that it should not or on people standing in the street, sitting in a park, strangers who come home … there is a behavior problem.
If dogs urinate on people, what can you do in cases?
Punishment after peeing, especially if it has been a while, is useless. The dog will not understand why he is being punished and that will only generate fear in the animal.
For these cases it is convenient to treat the problem at the behavioral level. If you find your dog just when he is urinating, cut the action with a “NO” and reward him only when he pees where he should.
You can consult with a canine behavior professional to start training and, thus, discover the root of the problem by observing the behavior of the animal (when the behavior began, what type of people does it usually mark, where does it repeat …)
You can also consider sterilizing your pet. males tend to have a deep-rooted instinct to mark and with castration this behavior is greatly reduced, especially if it is carried out at an early age.
