From an evolutionary perspective, marking territory is of great importance for dogs. Researchers have now discovered that small dogs tend to cheat when it comes to marking their territory. All dogs have an excellent sense of smell, which is why dominant dogs, usually males, use their urine to mark their territory. This allows other dogs to sniff out that the area has already been claimed by another dog. Researchers have found that the height of the urine trail also contains important information for dogs. Dogs associate a high urine trail on a tree or wall with a large dog, indicating someone particularly strong. Interestingly, Betty McGuire and her colleagues from Cornell University in Ithaca also observed that small dogs often try to cheat when it comes to their size. As the researchers report in the Journal of Zoology, smaller dogs try to make themselves appear larger by lifting their leg higher when urinating.
For their study, the researchers filmed numerous dogs of different breeds and sizes during their daily business. During the evaluation of the footage, the researchers measured the angle at which the male dogs released their urine stream. They also documented the height at which the urine actually hit the ground. The first evaluation brought no surprises, as the higher a dog lifted its leg, the higher the stream was. However, the researchers noticed that small dogs lifted their leg significantly more than large dogs. The researchers suspect a compensatory behavior behind this. According to the researchers, small male dogs try to exaggerate their competitiveness in this way. However, the researchers have another theory: it is also possible that small dogs are trying to cover up the scent mark of other dogs more strongly. “But anatomical reasons cannot be completely ruled out,” says McGuire.
In conclusion, marking territory is an important behavior for dogs, and the height of the urine trail contains important information for other dogs. Small dogs tend to cheat by lifting their leg higher when urinating, possibly to compensate for their size or to cover up the scent mark of other dogs. The study sheds light on the behavior of dogs and their evolutionary instincts.
