What’s with all the Dog Pee?

What’s with all the Dog Pee?

by Gabrielle Bryden

What’s with all the Dog Pee?

Do dogs mark their territory with pee?

Are dogs checking their ’email’ when sniffing the urinated bark of a eucalyptus tree?

Are dogs revelling in the release of stress on the smelling of another dog’s wee?

Compatriot in the blogosphere Kate Shrewsday from England recently alerted her readers to a study in Psychology Today that attempts to wipe the dog owner blackboard clean of fanciful theories of canine intelligence and wizzing behaviour 😉

The ‘study’, if you can call it that (I would call it a musing) puts forward the thesis that dogs are deficit in the grey matter department and are merely reacting to bodily signals of stress, rather than marking territory and other silly theories put forward by the dog loving ignoramus contingent.

The author Lee Charles Kelley’s logic can certainly be argued against (and I would if I could be bothered) or cherry picked for the affirmative. But I would rather just throw up a poem I wrote some time ago (and I will be consulting with Labradoodles Jazz and Sheba to develop a more comprehensive and palatable theory of my own). 🙂

Social networking for dogs

Bum sniffing beasties

whiffing their way round town
straining at leads
checking pheromone laced emails

rolling over reeking
rigor mortised possums,
advertising

dropping logs
instead of blogs

dispensing regular pee updates
what’s happening
twitter feed for furry friends

wagging their happiness
howling their displeasure
nose to bum
ear to ear
disconnected but connected
neighbourhood pack.

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ps. Psychology Today (phfff!)

pps. I am a dog owning psychologist – so there 😉

ppps. Anthropomorphising in literature is not inconsistent with cognitive theories of dog behaviour.

pppps. If human’s are so smart, why is the planet in such a mess and why do we have reality TV shows?

ppppps. That Lee could be onto something but this is lot’s of fun.

26 thoughts on “What’s with all the Dog Pee?”

  2. My labradoodle Walle wants to compliment Jazz (or is it Sheba?) on his/her haircut. We will be copying this photo to show to our groomer as a how-to for Walle’s next cut. So far we haven’t managed to get the hairdo worked out to our satisfaction.

    Reply

    1. Tell me about it Chartreuse – haha – no-one tells you how hard it is to keep a labradoodle in a shipshape hairdo – we get them completely shaved once or twice a year (not our choice as the groomers insist it is the only way when their coats get to knotty – and that is hard to avoid with a coat of wool) – and when it starts to grow back it looks good – plus they are so soft when they get shaved they get heaps of cuddles and they seem to think that is pretty cool 😉

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      1. I had Walle shaved once and he looked just terrible afterwards – like a drowned rat (though admittedly he was a bit underweight at that time, when I initially adopted him). Then I found a lady in Tewantin who does a great job on the body, but leaves his head and ears a bit too shaggy, I think. And at $75 each time, I think it’s worth investing in a good instrument and doing it myself. I’ve managed to keep his coat reasonably clean in between cuts, but have more free time than you (I suspect) for combing and preening (and only one dog!)

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        1. Jazz used to be really skinny and looked funny when wool short but now she has filled out and looks fine. I did buy the best sheering tool around but both dogs have that neurotic poodle thing and won’t let me get near their legs and behind (I’m not confident enough and they pick up on that) – I was starting to get RSI and sore back from the whole fiasco and the dogs looked ridiculous when I did it (I do some scissor clipping in between shaves and that is fine).

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    1. You should be skeptical Ben 😉 – it is a very silly study and the author does have a dog apparently – maybe he someone else walk his dog. I had a thought last night and that is that my dogs just pee when they smell pee – even there own pee – could be a simple ‘who can pee the most’ competition between dogs with a seemingly never ending supply of pee – haha

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  4. I too disagree with the study, not having read it myself makes this a shaky argument, but if my outside dwelling beagles manage to break into the house, as soon as they’ve eaten everything they can reach they proceed to pee on all that remains. It seems quite territorial to me. And they never use it all up in one spot, they just to a little dribble on each sign post and bush we pass on our walks.
    Love the poem ‘dropping logs instead of blogs’ has me on the floor laughing. i hear the ROFLcopter coming!

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  5. I don’t know about the peeing (although I am very impressed by the strength of a dog’s pelvic floor – hold it in, pee a bit, hold it in, pee another bit. No incontinence pads in their future.)

    However, I do believe that dogs are very smart and in some cases are smarter than humans and if they ruled the world everybody would have incredibly strong pelvic floors (via the peeing a bit) and the ability to lie on the ground in front of perfect strangers to get their tummies rubbed. And that would make the world a better place. Arf arf.

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    1. Apparently he is but you wouldn’t think so Graham – the thing that strikes me is that dogs really love their walkies and a stress reaction doesn’t seem part of the picture (though they will pee when stressed too) most of the time.

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  8. As I write, the “bum sniffing beasties” (hahaha) are all peeing in LCK’s general direction. A riotously brilliant poem and post, Gabe 😀

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  10. I know from the many dogs I’ve walked that the pee is sacred. Someday all the newspapers may go bankrupt. And the internet will pitter out, just puny electrons with no where to call home.

    But dogs will always pee. And in peeing they will know what all the other canines were up to.

    And it’s a beautiful thing, too. Just ask any dog.

    Reply

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