Not every dog is a social butterfly

Is your dog just not into other dogs? This is such a common conversation that comes up and for most owners it’s an emotional one. Many people (owners and non-owners alike) expect that dogs are going to be best friends with every dog that they meet, but that often isn’t the case. Do you love every single person you meet in your day? I’m guessing the answer is no - especially if you consider yourself more of a dog-lover! Realistically it’s very rare that a mature dog is highly social. Most of them sit in between ‘Dog Tolerant’ (get along with most other dogs) or ‘Dog Selective’ (have a small circle of pre-approved friends). It’s also common for dogs in the ‘Selective’ group to be mislabelled as ‘Aggressive’. This is where understanding dog’s body language is so important (see my post ‘Learning To Speak Canine’) so you can see when your dog or another dog is saying that they’re not comfortable, before things escalate. Sometimes as owners we have to intervene here as some dogs aren’t good at reading the signs or responding to them appropriately. It’s even more important to know that IT’S ABSOLUTELY FINE if your dog prefers human company to other dogs. Your job is to help support their needs whether it’s ensuring that they have safe social experiences wherever possible or intervening if required. The more you can help keep their dog-dog interactions positive, the less likely they are going to be to react in ways that we can find scary or worrying. Dogs will often use barking and lunging as an attempt to make the ‘scary thing’ go away if their other signals haven’t worked. Intervening before they feel the need to do this will help your dog to feel and act calmer around other dogs, as well as building their trust that you’ve got their back!

This great article from Paws Abilities Dog Training has more information about understanding Dog-Dog Sociability if you want to read in detail. I’ve also included a great chart below explaining the spectrum of dog sociability created by Cindy Bennett Martin (Certified Training Partner, Karen Pryor Academy and member of the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants).

Chart created by Cindy Bennett Martin

Image from Paws Abilities