#1

The first thing we have to know is that dogs can urinate for two reasons: to empty their bladder or to mark territory. There are many ways to make these markings but urine is one of the most frequently used dogs to indicate that they have passed through and alert other animals to their presence.

You can tell what type of urine your dog is expelling if you look at the amount of pee it removes; if he only throws a jet it is because he is marking and all he wants is to leave a trace of his smell but if, instead, he is urinating for 15 or 20 seconds what he is doing is to remove excess liquid without the sole intention of marking .

#2

Dogs mark the trail with urine since they have a sense of smell much more developed than humans and with a simple smell, they can detect very different information of the animal that has urinated (the age of the dog, sex, its attitude, etc.). To give you an idea of ​​the great smell of dogs, here are some relevant facts:

• His sense of smell is 1000 times more developed than that of humans.

• They have 200 million olfactory receptors in the part of the nose; instead, we only have 5 million.

• The nerves that come from smell become extended for 100 cm2 in the body of dogs, however, in our body it extends only 10 cm2.

This is one of the essential factors that will help you understand why dogs smell urine.

#3

Now that you know the enormous canine capacity, it is easier to understand that the reason they smell the remains of urine is that, thus, they can obtain the information that the other dog has wanted to indicate with the marking.

He thinks that by means of the pee and the feces the dogs mark his territory and, when smelling another animal, he receives the information of to whom that space belongs and when he has left it then, the most recent pee is the one that will indicate the dog to which he now belongs that space It is for this reason that the animals, if they smell the urine of another dog, are most likely that they also leave their mark to take over that area.

In addition, it is also frequent that if you always walk in the same area, your dog always pees at the same points to reinforce his presence and indicate to the rest that this is his place.

#4

What information does a dog’s urine give?

• How many dogs are in the area: by being able to distinguish the different traces of the dogs, the animal will know how many have passed by and, therefore, how many there are.

• How long they have passed: the smell also allows them to determine how long they have been there and, therefore, to know who has been the last to score. The most common is that they also leave their mark to become the owners of the place.

• If there are females in the heat : urine is a clear indicator of whether there are any dogs in heat and, therefore, as soon as you find it you can try to procreate.

In addition, if you have ever seen that your dog wallowed in its own urine, this is because it wants to highlight its smell and thus ensure that other animals that are friends can find it easily. This especially occurs in-game or prey animals that often travel through forests or large areas where it is easy to get lost.

#5

So when faced with the question of why dogs smell the urine, the answer is clear: to know which dogs have passed through and to be able to specify the territory of each one. But, there is more, because many dogs can get to wallow in the pee of another animal or even in the feces and although it seems a disgusting act, the truth is that it is a most natural instinct whose origin is found in their distant relatives: the wolves.

There are different reasons why a dog can do this task although one of them is to camouflage its smell and, thus, to be able to hunt, a natural instinct that, no matter how much they do not use it now, they get out of control. but it is also possible to do so to remove the smell of soaps or chemicals that they don’t like. How we tell you in detail why dogs rollover.

#6

Another of the most common habits they usually do is to lick the pee of other dogs or even their own. There are different causes that can cause the animal to end up licking urine and then we discover the most common:

• For cleaning: if the animal is locked in a cage or spent many hours a day in a carrier or in a small cabin, it is normal for them to lick their own urine to keep their environment clean. In the event that your dog usually urinates at home, we recommend our article on eliminating the smell of dog urine.

• Due to thirst: another reason is that the animal wants to drink and has not been able to obtain water at home, so they will go to the source of the pee to quench their thirst. It is important that you always have a bowl that clean and fresh water for your animal to hydrate.

• Out of curiosity: it is also possible that they lick the pee of other dogs to obtain all the information of the other animal, another way of getting to know who has passed through there.

• To discover a female in the heat : in addition to the smell, the taste of the pee of females in the heat is also notorious so it is likely that the animal wants to try it to finish obtaining all the information about it.