Observations of scent-marking and discriminating self from others by a domestic dog (Canis familiaris): tales of displaced yellow snow

Little is known about what stimuli trigger urinating or scent-marking in do mestic dogs, Canis familiaris. or their wild relatives. While it is often s uggested that the urine of other animals influences urinating and scent-mar king patterns in canids. this has not been verified experimentally. To inve stigate the role of urine in eliciting urinating and marking, in this pilot study I moved urine-saturated snow ('yellow snow') from place-to-place dur ing five winters to compare the responses of an adult male domestic dog, Je thro, to his own and others' urine. Jethro spent less time sniffing his own urine than that of other males or females, and that while his interest in his own urine waned with time it remained relatively constant for other ind ividuals' urine. Jethro infrequently urinated over or sniffed and then imme diately urinated over (scent-marked) his own urine. He marked over the urin e of other males more frequently than he marked over females' urine. The me thod used here can be extended to other species for which experimental data are lacking. Though based on one dog, these novel data may further our kno wledge of the role of scent-marking in territorial behavior and of sex diff erences in territory acquisition and maintenance. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science BN. All rights reserved.