My 11-month-old Labrador recently started marking, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad sign. For context, he’s always been a very anxious pup. From about 4 to 8 months old, we really struggled — we could not even walk him in our neighbourhood, traffic noises or even people looking at him would set him off. We would try to help him focus on sniffing to calm down (by throwing down food too), but he was usually too stressed to smell anything unless we were out in nature. We had to take the car for every single walk and go to a park. Now that he’s older, he’s doing much better and has started marking and lifting his leg when he pees (he used to squat). We’ve been letting him do it since I want him to explore smells more, but lately he’s marking every 10–15 steps. When it gets excessive, we either keep walking or gently pull him along. My question is: should I let him keep marking, or is it something I should discourage? Is this something insecure dogs do, or is it a sign he’s becoming more confident? I really want to help him build confidence, so if marking helps, great — but if it’s bad behavior, I’d like to know what I should do instead.
submitted by /u/missalwaysright2
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