Dog pheromones are chemicals that are secreted by the dog’s body and are transmitted via various means, such as urination. Dogs are not the only animal that emits these chemicals. In fact, insects as well as other mammals emit these chemicals as a means of spreading information to the immediate vicinity. These chemicals are what cause dogs to seek out places where other dogs have urinated as a way of finding out what other dogs have been in the area and whether they are known or strangers.
A wealth of information
Dog pheromones as well as the pheromones of related species, such as wolves, hold a variety of information that is important to the animals. When a dog smells another dogs urine, which is filled with pheromones, it can tell whether it is supposed to be in that territory or not. Dog pheromones act like a public message board for dogs, letting the entire community know who they are and what they are about.
Besides territory, dog pheromones let other dogs know what gender they are. This is especially important to dogs that are not spayed or neutered. A male dog can smell whether a female dog is in heat from miles away. It is always said that a male dog goes crazy when there is a female in heat around it, and that, just when the owners thought there weren’t any other dogs in the neighborhood, all of a sudden there are five on their back porch, all wanting to ‘get acquainted’ with the female dog.
Peace and Security
In addition to information, dog pheromones also provide a sense of security, not only through knowing who the other dogs in the community are, but they can also provide a leap back in time to when the dog was a puppy at its mother’s side. The pheromones created by a female dog that is lactating serve to calm her puppies down so that they are even more likely to stay at her side. This is why puppies will tend to show anxiety when they are taken from their mothers.
Scientists have been studying dog pheromones to discover ways that they can be used to help train dogs and possibly help to alleviate problem behavior when nothing else seems to be working. The pheromones created by lactating female dogs have been reproduced to create D.A.P dog appeasing pheromones which reportedly help to calm anxious or fearful dogs.