Letting a dog scent-mark along the boundary tells other dogs that the ground is occupied and helps the dog treat it as its own, but the marks do not deter people and the proof that they deter wild predators is weak. Keep marking away from wells, vegetable beds and food caches, because urine contaminates water and food and can draw the dog to dig at a hidden store.
Part of Guard Dog Training
Scent marking is the dog’s habit of leaving urine and other scent at boundaries and landmarks, which communicates to other dogs and sets out the dog’s own map of its territory.
Marks Speak To Dogs, Not To People
The parent article says to allow the dog to scent-mark along the perimeter, since this establishes the boundary in the dog’s mind and creates a scent fence that other animals, including feral dogs, will detect and respect. Predator Protection lists marking territory with urine and scent among what livestock guardian dogs do on patrol.
Two parts of this are reasonable and one is not supported. It is reasonable that marking helps the dog build its map of the area and that other dogs read the marks. It is reasonable that a dog on a regular route marks the same places, so that fresh marks by another animal are something the dog notices. What I could not support from the corpus or from any source I could cite is that the marks stop feral dogs or other predators from crossing; call it a possible extra and not a defence. Marks do nothing to people.
What You Need
- A regular patrol route so the dog marks the same boundary
- Places the dog may not mark: wells and water sources, garden beds, stored food, firewood stacks for the kitchen and cache sites
- A way to wash marked surfaces and to keep the dog out of sensitive areas
- A hygiene routine — handwashing after handling the dog or its waste
Method: Allow At The Edge, Keep Out Of The Middle
Step 1: Let the dog mark the boundary during the patrol, at fence posts, trees, corners and gateposts, as the parent article advises.
Step 2: Keep it away from the places that matter. Fence off wells, springs, garden beds and compost heaps. Dogs mark the vertical surfaces they find along the way, including a food store door.
Step 3: Keep it away from cache sites. A dog that has caught the smell of food, or marks over a freshly disturbed patch, may dig; keep the dog out of the area. See Cache Scent Masking and Hidden Food Caches. A dog that digs at a spot tells every watcher where something is buried.
Step 4: Deal with marking in the house. Unneutered males mark more, which I am recalling from general knowledge; if the dog marks indoors, clean the spot thoroughly and restrict access.
Step 5: Note new marks. A strange dog’s marks on your boundary are information; add them to the patrol log.
Step 6: Wash hands after contact. Dog urine can carry disease.
Common Mistakes
- Believing marks defend the property. They are information for dogs, not a barrier.
- Letting the dog mark the water supply. A dog’s urine can carry leptospirosis, which rodents and dogs both maintain; see Zoonotic Diseases.
- Ignoring digging at a cache. It means the smell is getting out.
- Scolding a dog for marking on patrol. It is normal; steer, do not punish.
Safety
Dog urine and faeces spread disease; digging dogs betray caches
Dog urine and faeces can contaminate drinking water, gardens and food, and some diseases pass from dogs to people; see Zoonotic Diseases. Keep dogs away from wells and springs, wash hands after handling the dog or its waste, and bury or dispose of faeces away from water and from children’s play areas. A dog that finds a buried cache and digs it up exposes it; buried food in particular follows the botulism rule in Waterproofing and Preservation, so do not feed the dog food from a swollen, hissing or foul-smelling container.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Off-Leash Reliability — control when the dog is beyond the lead
- Combine with: Interpreting Animal Alerts — reading what the dog’s interest in a mark means