I think your little experiment with the snow is quite interesting. However, the presumption that dogs and wolves "mark" doesn't make any sense, at least not to me, because it means they would have to be capable of creative visualization, projection (ToM), mental time travel, and hypothetical thinking:

“If I mark this fence (hypothetical/propositional thinking), Spike and Rex will come along later (visualization, mental time travel, plus more hypothetical thinking), they'll sniff it (more visualization, more time travel, more hypothetical thinking), and know they’re on my turf and start to feel nervous (projection).”

This is a behavior that would require logic and a fully-developed Theory of Mind at the very least.

On the other hand, since the need to urinate is controlled by vasopressin, and feelings of stress release cortisol, and the two hormones are linked (when we're stressed we need to urinate more often), it seems far more likely that detecting the scent of a male would cause some low-level emotional reaction, perhaps stress-related in a 2nd male dog, which would then slightly increase his need to urinate. As he urinates he would feel the pleasure of releasing tension and pressure in his body and thus, over time, would self-reinforce the behavior of peeing on top of another dog's scent. It would be a purely emotion and perhaps conditioned response (with some instinct thrown in), not one based on intellect or other mental faculties.

By the way, I love the fact that you picked up on Jethro's reaction to the scent of fear left behind by other dogs at the vet's office. That's amazing to me.

However, I've read some of your studies on play, and I don't remember seeing any supposition that the question of one dog recognizing the other dog's "intent" to play rather than to be aggressive might be scent-related. Did I miss that? Because it seems to me that if dogs are capable of detecting the smell of fear, and if aggression is based on fear (which it probably is), then that natural ability would at least partially answer the questions of intent, pretense, etc. in terms of unconsciously-produced sensory signals rather than consciously-produced intentional ones.

Personally, I think it's probably a combination of sensory data, plus a recognition of the looseness of the other dog's body language, and a natural ability dogs have to tune in to one another's emotions. Intent, at least as we know it, probably wouldn't enter into the equation.

LCK

hi there - how can i email you ... all best wishes, marc (bekoff)

how can i contact you .. all best wishes, marc bekoff

Hi, Dr. Bekoff,

Thanks for contacting me.

My e-mail address is kelleymethod@aol.com

Thanks again,

LCK