So I have learned quite a bit about dog communication from
Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz and from browsing the internet. It's amazing what they are doing when they go out for a walk that most people don't even notice. Apparently, they are leaving messages for other dogs in the neighborhood. Every time they lift their leg on something they leave behind their scent and a message that they were there. A tree, for example can have countless messages about who has been there and when they stopped by. They can tell all of this info from smelling it and they have preferences for certain objects and certain other dogs.
Cody does this obsessively when we go out and it used to annoy me but now I let him go as long as he wants. It's his way of socializing. In an article I read, the author referred to it as their form of reading the newspaper and it's actually cruel to not allow them to sniff around and see what's been going on in their neighborhood. I think of it like Cody is checking his email. He reads a ton and sends out a few and then we go inside :)
