Interpreting Marking Behavior
By Roseann Fucillo
This article first appeared in the September 2011 AKC GAZETTE

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I have casually observed the marking behavior of my own Papillon "pack" and had not given it much importance. I have considered their marking to be a form of dominance over one another, whether it was over the same or opposite sex, or used t claim a mate, or even as a gesture to take possession of their owner or handler.

I have also observed my dogs on "pee patrol," diligently traveling, noses to the ground, sniffing to find bitches in season or ready to breed. I have even watched my bitches mark and lift their legs in the process. They were indeed "just being bitches," trying to dominate their competition while teasing the dogs. They urinated more frequently and in more locations when in season to leave their "calling card" for their prospective mate.

Now all of their marking behavior has taken on new meaning for me after I read an article by Anneke Lisberg and Charles Snowdon, "Effects of sex, social status and gonadectomy on countermarking by domestic dogs, Canis familiaris," published by the journal Animal Behavior.

In a controlled study, the researchers examined the urinating habits of canines of varous breeds and four categories- intact dog, intact bitch, neutered dog, and spayed bitch- and recorded the behavior. They also measured tail base position (TBP) as a measure of social status and noted the following:

Countermarking, consisting of either marking on (overmarking), or nearmarking (adjacent marking) to previous scent-marks, were more likely to occur from intact dogs, who also overmark from intact bitches to guard mates (no surprise), while both sexes likely countermark competitively.

They also found a correlation of marking behavior attributed to both dogs and bitches with higher TBP, who took less time sniffing, but did more urinating., countermarking and investigating of urine than members of their same sex with lower TBP. Those with low TBP spent the most time sniffing, perhaps needing to assess their risks.

However, the correlation of TBP whith "canine social status" intrigued me most. The researchers found that dogs who overmarked had a higher TBP (as a means of higher social status) than those who did not overmark.

To me, this added more meaning to that portion of the Papillon breed standard that says, Tail long, set high and carried well arched over the body. Could this be the reason as a whole appears naturally self-assured and they don't think of themselves as small when socializing with larger breeds? Could this be because of their tail-set, which, according to the authors, places them in a higher social status of the canine world?

Previous to this sturdy, the social functions of urinary communication in dogs had been poorly understood. We know have more insight regarding how both male and female dogs use several distinct urination behaviors "to advertise social status and reduce close contact in social introductions, and may investigate urine both to locate potential mates and to assess unfamiliar individuals." In so doing, it appears that dogs may use urine-marking and investigation to more safely establish social relationships, like a form of social networking.

We dog fanciers knew the olfactory capabilities of our canines who locate bombs, drugs, individuals and even detect cancer. However, what we didn't know was the entirety of their computerlike brain capacity to descern and process detailed information about others through urine investigation.