Peeing on the bed and dominance....

mudpuppy

[hmm. Interesting. I find it hard to believe a puppy was trying to be "dominant". But let's come up with a possible alternative:  what do people do when they are housebreaking puppies? puppy pees in the correct place, and then puppy gets praised and possibly treated. So you've had a bad day fighting with your puppy, and your puppy decides to demonstrate how good she is, and get some much-needed praise and attention. Ah ah! perfect. Here's nice absorbable surface, not the floor (we figured out the floor is no good for potty), it must be a potty place!  hey mom, look, I'm doing "good potty", please praise and reward me!

So what is the possible alternative to Marvin the foster hound's behavior.  Do we all just accept that the dog as weird and incomprehensible? 

 I think unusual behavior can sometimes be very illuminating.  Regardless of Marvin's intent, the other dogs abandoned the tug toy after Marvin had peed on it. One could see how a dog might use marking to claim an object, if it is effective in pushing other dogs away.

One of my cats, who hates dogs and is easily stressed in general, will pee on the dog beds when he's pissed at life in general. The result? That bed gets avoided by the dog(s) until I discover it and wash it.  My dogs don't want to sleep on cat pee.  Once again, without speculating on the cat's intent, the result is avoidance.

 True, but the problem with that reasoning is that the dog's own pee isn't any better than another dog's (or animal's) pee when it comes to sleeping or eating near it. There's a very good reason why dogs don't want to play with something someone has peed on, and that's because it's extraordinarly unhygenic and could make them very sick. Same thing for sleeping. There's a good reason why dogs don't want to soil their sleeping places if they can help it. The way I see it, peeing on another animal's sleeping place can extend your territory by making them move off it, but it's not like you're going to sleep there, at least not until it's been rained on or doesn't smell so bad anymore. Peeing somewhere odd due to stress is a whole different thing with different driving forces.

 ETA: I think Marvin's behaviour is odd and it strikes me as a little wrong the way my mother's cat wanting to suck on my nose is a little wrong. It's my unprofessional and possibly way off the mark opinion that Marvin may not have received enough tuition as a youngster from his mother. That's how I would account for such behaviour. My mother's weird cat was orphaned and raised by people.
 

corvus

 True, but the problem with that reasoning is that the dog's own pee isn't any better than another dog's (or animal's) pee when it comes to sleeping or eating near it.

It could be a dog in the manger type deal - if I can't have it, neither can YOU. Notice that Marvin pees on the toy when he leaves it. The general dog rule is that possession is 100% of the law.  If I leave an object, it is fair game for whomever.  Ruining an object prevents someone else from acquiring it.

BTW I don't have a position on dominance & marking stuff.  I'm playing around with ideas.  

yeah, but dogs in general like and enjoy pee- they seek it out, they don't avoid it, and will even consume it at times. Are you sure Marvin's behavior is deliberate?  my neighbor's dog has often been observed running around with a toy in his mouth, he has to go, he stops and pees, and often drops the toy while doing so and sometimes pees on it by accident. And oftten forgets about the dropped toy and goes running off.

mudpuppy

yeah, but dogs in general like and enjoy pee- they seek it out, they don't avoid it, and will even consume it at times. Are you sure Marvin's behavior is deliberate? my neighbor's dog has often been observed running around with a toy in his mouth, he has to go, he stops and pees, and often drops the toy while doing so and sometimes pees on it by accident. And oftten forgets about the dropped toy and goes running off.

Well, Pyry has peed on Penny's head a number of times when she's been too eager to get in and go exactly where he's going. And yes, dogs like to sniff it, but I don't see our dogs paying much attention to pee in their home territory beyond generally going in the same place, which could be partially for territorial reasons and partially for hygienic reasons. Nonetheless, I don't recall ever seeing a dog deliberately get itself peed on or peeing on something it wants to use. I've never seen or heard of a dog peeing on its food bowl, for example. I do remember when I used to carry my baby hare in a calico bag and one day he peed in it and suddenly he was hellbent on getting out of the bag when on all previous occasions he'd been happy to stay in there. And we all know that the majority of wild animals that use dens or nests go to large lengths not to soil them.

I'd suggest that a dog's interest in pee reflects his interest in the local gossip. There's not much gossip in the home territory he doesn't already know, so in that environment, pee is just waste and territory marking. Nothing more. Whereas outside of the home territory it's the equivalent of the local rag. Seeing as this issue is about pee in the home territory, perhaps we should stick to discussing that.

mudpuppy

yeah, but dogs in general like and enjoy pee- they seek it out, they don't avoid it, and will even consume it at times. 

Jack went through a stage where if Sally peed on our mulch he would lick and eat the mulch where she had just peed and I've often seen him lick spots in the grass where I know she's peed before... 

I suspect the "don't pee where you sleep"  instinct is due more to the avoidance of predators while unconsciscous  than to any concerns about germs.

Liesje

I'm sure there are dozens of possibilities, I'm just wondering why so many people go with "dominance" as the most likely one.

Maybe because there is not need to do research on "Dog sickness and pooping in bed" or "UTI and peeing in bed"

Please make sure your pet does not have diabetes.I diagnosed my schnauzer after findind a wet bed and his belly fur was wet.I dipped a urine dipstick for glucose.Another dog had a uti.Lastly,my dog trainer says to crate the sweetheart at bedtime.If it's not medical related,she says it is a dominance behavior.