Some dogs do not want dog friends. Oh dear, I know some people will have conniption with this concept but it is reality.

Let me repeat that, some dogs do not want dog friends. Period, end of story. And that is perfectly fine. Dogs, like humans, have different preferences when it comes to social interactions. Just because your dog is incredibly social does not give you the right to allow your dog to invade the space of other dogs.

While some dogs are gregarious social butterflies that can get along with just about any dog, others may prefer humans or other animals to their fellow canines. There is nothing “wrong” with this. I’ve had both ends of this spectrum with my own dogs.

Learning to read your dog’s body language can go a long way in determining whether your dog enjoys interacting with other dogs. There are many great resources online about body language, Sophia Yinn has some excellent easy to understand content. Anyhow, back to the matter at hand.

We humans have this odd notion that our dogs should love all other dogs and be fine with all of them in proximity, all the time. Not only is this unrealistic, but it can set your dog up for failure. Let’s dissect this odd human notion by asking the following questions:

1. Do you LIKE every human you meet?

2. Do you ALWAYS want to interact with other humans?

3. Do you ENJOY when your boundaries are crossed despite your best efforts to communicate said boundaries?

4. Are you COMFORTABLE being forced to be around people you don’t like? Does it make you want to be around them more?

If you answered “NO” to any of the above questions, ask yourself why you’d expect such a level of tolerance from your dog.

It is important we appreciate the dog as an individual. Like I stated earlier, some dogs are social butterflies that get on well with most dogs and read social cues well. Other dogs may have a select few friends, and some dogs are content without up close and personal canine interactions.

Issues arise when we refuse to understand and work with the individual dog. Just because your dog doesn’t want canine companions does not mean you should not train your dog and go out in public. Please use common sense and good judgement.

If your dog has previously been that lovely gregarious social butterfly and all the sudden it seems as if you’ve got Kujo on leash, it would be wise to have a thorough veterinary exam. Some changes in behavior can be due to injury or illness and the dog’s bandwidth has been shortened. Once the dog has a clean bill of health it would be wise to reach out and work with a skilled trainer or behavior consultant.

It is ok if your dog has just a handful of friends, and it is equally ok if your dog doesn’t want to play with other dogs but prefers hanging with the humans. This blog was inspired by a former student who has a lovely dog who does therapy work. He is fine in the presence of other dogs and enjoys his therapy work. He has a few dog friends, but he is not into having other dogs invade his space. There is nothing wrong or abnormal about this and she was relieved to hear her dog is normal.

If you’ve got the social butterfly, you’d better put time into making yourself just as fun and interesting as other dogs. If you’ve got the dog who prefers no interactions with other dogs, you will need to set your dog up to be successful in environments he is unlikely to be accosted by other dogs (uh, NO dog parks for this type of dog… this is falls under common sense and good judgement).

Food for thought and caveats, there are some dogs that truly enjoy engaging in aggressive displays. This may start out as insecurity or fear but if left unaddressed you run the risk of creating a Kujo on leash. There are a variety of ways to train, and it is imperative that you make it known to your dog that unwarranted aggressive displays will simply not be tolerated. I learned first-hand with one of my own dogs that dangers of thinking all displays of this nature are rooted in fear, but maybe I’ll share that saga in another blog.