Understanding Canine Behavior: Why Dogs May Not Get Along with Other Dogs

1. Introduction

There is a common misconception that all dogs should get along with each other. As canine companions develop social skills, they learn to communicate through various vocalizations, facial expressions, and body movements. Just like humans, each dog is unique, and they communicate and socialize differently. Some dogs may perceive other dogs' behavior as threatening or intrusive, whereas others see this type of behavior as an invitation to play. There are numerous reasons why some dogs may not get along with other dogs, and it is crucial for dog guardians to understand these reasons to ensure the safety of their companions and others.

It is important to consider aspects of the individual dog's personality that could be the reason behind a bad experience meeting other dogs. Anxiety, fear, or overexcitement can alter a dog's perception of the world. A shy dog that feels uncomfortable may withdraw, and if other dogs intrude on their space, the shy dog may react aggressively, causing a chain reaction (Cimarelli et al., 2019). Likewise, the body language of an excited dog can be interpreted as threatening by a more reserved dog, resulting in an aggressive encounter (H. Kinsman et al., 2022).

1.1. Purpose of the Study

Understanding why dogs do not get along with other dogs can be challenging. Canine behavior can be perplexing, especially when it comes to understanding why a dog may not get along with other dogs. Some dogs are just friendly and social, but some are distant or even aggressive towards other canines. This can lead to anxiety attacks at dog parks and dangerous encounters on the streets. This essay will discuss some reasons why dogs may not get along with other dogs. The purpose is to examine the likely causes using behavioral theory and biological knowledge. It will also explore how to prevent these issues and manage them accordingly.

First, some reasons dogs do not get along with other dogs may not have proper socialization skills and fear. A dog’s socialization skills are formed between 3 and 14 weeks of life. This is a period when puppies learn social skills from their mothers and littermates. If a puppy is separated from its mother and siblings too early, it can grow up to become anxious, fearful, and aggressive toward other dogs (Pongrácz et al., 2021). Socialization with other dogs also includes positive experiences. If a puppy only had negative encounters with other canines, it could fear all dogs and act aggressively toward them.

1.2. Scope and Importance

Understanding canine behavior, or more to the point, misunderstanding canine behavior, is a significant problem often encountered by dog owners, trainers, and animal shelters. A lack of understanding implies that two or more dogs will not get along or will only fight if one or both dogs misbehave; however, that is simply not the case. Understanding canine behavior is broad and cannot be narrowed down to a few simple adjectives. Rather, there are many behavioral aspects as well as early life histories that lead up to misunderstanding canine behavior. The importance of understanding this is immense and far-reaching. Millions of dogs each year are either put in shelters due to misunderstandings of their behavior or they are euthanized after injuring another dog or a human. On the other hand, an understanding of canine behavior can help ensure that two dogs get along before cohabiting (van Rooy et al., 2014) or it can help ensure that the first few days in a new household is peaceful and relatively stress-free.

2. Canine Social Behavior

While dogs are often described as social or pack animals, canine social behavior is more complex. Like many domesticated species, dogs have developed a different social structure from that of their wild ancestors and relatives (Cimarelli et al., 2019). The basic units of dog social structure are the dyads, triads, and loose aggregations formed by 2-3 or more dogs. Dogs are capable of attaching to and establishing different types of relationships with various individuals, such as humans, con- and non-species. Whether dogs consider those relationships as belonging to different social categories, or they use the same behavioral repertoire with both humans and other dogs, has been debated. Previous research examined the attachment system and the general structure of dog social relationships, a wide variety of both dog-dog and dog-human social interactions as active and passive forms of interaction, as well as aggression, competition, and the disparity of different play patterns. By examining the behavioral components of dog-dog and dog-human interactions, it was found that the relationship types dogs develop with human owners and conspecifics differ both in their direction and nature. This research contributes to a better understanding of how dogs perceive interspecific and intraspecific relationships and attempt to characterize the various behavioral patterns associated with them (Pongrácz et al., 2021).

2.1. Pack Mentality

An understanding of the complexities of canine behavior can assist in determining why some dogs do not get along with others. Dogs are social animals which exhibit an instinctual form of pack mentality. This pack mentality is drawn from a dog’s ancestry as a wolf. Wolves live in packs, for the pack provides protection, food, and training. In the wild, when a wolf leaves its parent pack, it looks for another to join. The decision of which pack to join is determined by the dog’s personality and social skills. Dogs have inherited this behavior, and if another dog is considered a threat, the result is usually aggressive behavior. If the second dog is perceived as non-threatening, however, the first dog’s behavior will be friendly, playful, or indifferent (Cimarelli et al., 2019).

Along with personal personality traits, a hierarchy is determined within the pack. Choices made for both playing and fighting reflect this hierarchy. The higher up the ranking a dog is, the more likely he is to win a dispute. The dog who is the lowest in ranking will know to react passively, thus helping to reduce an impending fight. Where more than two dogs interact, a complex system usually emerges with many different rankings. Although this system is present in many packs, some dogs rank equally or surprisingly canines even rank above their own parent, such as in a mother-offspring relationship. This is not common, however. Dogs are, first and foremost, pack animals, and are most comfortable in the company of other canines. Wolf packs are typically made up of related individuals. In addition, given that their lives depend on survival as individuals, though they remain loyal to the pack, wolves do not experience the same attachment to their pack as domesticated dogs do to their owners (Kotrschal, 2023).

2.2. Territorial Instincts

While many dogs are good-natured and enjoy the companionship of their species, some dogs are “nervous” or “aggressive” when near other dogs. Certain dogs may feel the need to lunge at, bark at, or growl and nip when approached or approached by other dogs. These dogs often have their tails raised stiffly, their ears up (or even forward), and their mouths closed against teeth that are bared threat. Dogs may also exhibit body stiffening, and they may jump forward, and back up or charge at the other dog. As it is the case with most social mammals, interactions of house dogs with other dogs range from employed approaches of amicable greetings and mutual sniffing to hostile attacks (involving growls, bites, or even a complete “throwing down”).

Dogs usually behave in a friendly manner when brought into an area that is new to both dogs. In a more familiar area, one dog approaching another may yield different responses depending on which dog is more familiar with the area. If familiar, the dog tends to sniff at the other dog’s sex and estral status, if the other dog’s urine indicates that it is both unknown and female. Investigating their own urine markings more intensely, domestic and wolves continue to avoid some, but not all, urinedelaying dogs. It occurs less often, as do burgeoning dietary, social, and hence demographic shifts (and certain behavioral changes—one example being increased human-directed approaches in dogs), without producing any net demographic changes (group compositional or size changes, or dispersals) as it is the case with domestic dogs (Wirobski et al., 2023). There may be differences between groups in the outcome of these intergroup encounters (in rabid encounters, for example), in the number or behavior of dogs within groups with county30, or in intergroup distance.

3. Causes of Aggression in Dogs

Aggression can be directed toward people, other dogs, and other species (e.g. cats). It is usually motivated by fear, frustration, or anger. An aggressive dog is fearful or uncomfortable regarding a situation, so it feels the need to establish dominance over it. Likewise, a frustrated dog might also feel the need to compete for a situation (Notari et al., 2020). A dog can incrementally respond with aggressive behavior to a long-term context. Aggression can be classified into offensive and defensive types. Defensive aggressive behavior is exhibited when a dog shows a lunge, growl, and bite at another dog before the latter dog shows any threat. This behavior is seen among dogs that are insecure or fear aggressive. Offensive aggression is shown by a dog that will approach another dog and lunge, growl, and bite it, preemptively. This behavior is usually observed among dominant dogs, or confident dogs who would like to challenge other dogs in a safe manner. The immediate cause of aggression is usually a provoking event, such as aggressive movement (e.g. barking, lunging, and growling) from another dog or human (KANEKO et al., 2013).

Aggression to other dogs may therefore have a defensive nature. Dogs that exhibited fear aggressive behavior were highly reactive to both 3D and 2D visual stimuli and dogs that became aggressive post puppy classes were also surprisingly gentle and well-mannered dogs pre-classes. Such dogs with a better bowing aspect may be insecure and fearful dogs that fear new dogs in their environment, and in turn, they exhibit exuberant friendly social greeting behavior to other dogs.

3.1. Lack of Socialization

Loops in the dog's social life caused by lack of exposure may lead to aggression to other dogs. Missing early predispositions, such as fear and school-age behavior, develops like tying knots in the loop of scavenger. Most easily seen are loops in the dog's language of social interaction (Di Lucrezia et al., 2023). Inadequate socialization has a timeless quality. If, for example, the dog owner at three months prevented his pup from playing with other dogs, this pup at six months would be blissfully unaware that she was missing all the fun of playing with other dogs. In aggressive displays, the same dog would be unaware that she should be running up to the otherwise unharmed contender to lick his lips and show the frontal upper teeth. All dogs are late in functional vision by a few months. Testing associations between different social ranks against the expressive quality of the barking. Determining whether the number of times they bark an order of magnitude differences depending on context. Depending on the voice and choice of words, bark calling illustrates many positive emotions (Pongrácz et al., 2021). Captures the dog offering a string of taps, followed only by intensive requests when she knows her owner is actively ignoring her and skilfully avoiding any consequences. Or was apparently unaware that barking plaintively while her owner was obliviously studying a book in the next room would elicit consequences not in her favour?

3.2. Resource Guarding

Resource guarding is instinctive behavior that all domestic dogs share, regardless of training or upbringing. While they might not act on those instincts as heavily as more wolf-like breeds, all domestic dogs are protective of their possession: kennels, beds, food bowls, treats, toys, and even favored humans. Other dogs approaching these possessions threaten the holding dog’s access to them, and the holding dog typically chooses to defend them. Dogs unable to successfully deter the asset’s removal are given up for adoption, dumped or worse, because this instinctive guarding behavior is misconstrued as aggression (A. Jacobs et al., 2018).

Every dog owner has probably witnessed some resource guarding behavior; an innocent puppy approaches the adult dog’s food bowl or chew toy and a snarl is issued. Concurrent with the snarl there will be body postures signaling discomfort: head turn away to avoid confrontation, sideways sideways posture, lip-licking and yawning. These are all calming signals that communicate the guarding dog’s intent to not escalate the conflict. In most cases, especially with small children, the alert digs into the object of contention. Normally this results in the less assertive party departing the scene (McGuire, 2019).

4. Signs of Aggression in Dogs

The most aggressive dogs can usually display this aggression by way of a number of signs. Understanding these signs can help you evaluate the relationship you have with your dog and, if needed, get the help you need. Dog triads, two dogs meeting each other, or a group of dogs already together, may display the most aggressive signs (Notari et al., 2020). The underlying factor of aggressive disposition is the drive for dominance over other dogs, which is controlled mainly by the genetics of the drive. Aggressive dogs are known to display signs of dominance more strongly towards subordinate dogs within the triad. The most aggressive dogs can show all kinds of aggressive acting-out behavior such as growling, barking, snapping, biting, etc. However, all displays of aggression are signs of more subtle behavior. Some dogs may not feel the need to get aggressive and thus may not display signs of aggression. Still, they may show more submissive behavior because they feel weak or inferior to other aggressive dogs (KANEKO et al., 2013).

A dog showing subordination may roll on the back, lower the ears, lie down or crouch low on the ground, or move away from the aggressor. Indications of submission are so-called appeasement signaling such as licking lips, yawning, looking away, wrinkling the muzzle, sneezing, or barking in a modified howl. Other non-to-lowly aggressive dogs may wish to prevent an aggressive act; for example, they point out that they are not a threat by moving their head away or jumping back. Close range dog fights can be largely caused by uncalibrated, aggressive, or out of context aggressive behavior initiated by a confused dog or human. Understanding canine triads and dog grouping behavior is the key to understanding the dynamics of dog social behavior, for instance, why certain dogs get along with each other and why other dogs do not like each other.

5. Strategies for Managing Aggressive Behavior

Dogs are wonderful creatures who provide companionship, protection, and love to millions of individuals. Dogs are social animals, display social behaviors rooted in instinct, and search for social groups, including other dogs, cats, and humans. However, they do not always behave well with others, particularly other dogs, even if they have had plenty of positive experiences with other dogs. Many dogs exhibit aggressive behavior before fighting, and the signals that may sometimes accompany aggression are easy to miss, leaving no time for intervention (D. Kapla, 2005). Accidents happen, and dogs sometimes scar and maul one another badly enough to need extensive veterinary care. Sadly, such injuries sometimes lead to retaliation that ends in the shooting of one of the dogs involved in the fight.

Aggressive behavior in dogs has become a topic of interest for dog owners, trainers, and behaviorists alike. In recent years, an increasing number of books and magazine articles on the temperament and behavior of companion dogs have been published. The general public’s interest in dogs as companions, in the burgeoning numbers of pet dogs in urban settings, and in the problems that go along with these changes has spurred interest in the study of canine behavior. The study of canine aggression has been undertaken on a small scale, and efforts to fully understand the subject are still in the infancy stage. Nevertheless, some meaningful conclusions and guidelines for dog owners and trainers can be set forth.

References:

Cimarelli, G., Marshall-Pescini, S., Range, F., & Virányi, Z., 2019. Pet dogs’ relationships vary rather individually than according to partner’s species. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Di Lucrezia, A., Scandurra, A., Pinelli, C., Musco, N., D’Aniello, B., Mastellone, V., Zicarelli, F., Elena Pero, M., & Lombardi, P., 2023. A Comparative Study of Dogs and Goats with Limited Human Socialization in the Impossible Task Paradigm. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

A. Jacobs, J., B. Coe, J., M. Widowski, T., L. Pearl, D., & Niel, L., 2018. Defining and Clarifying the Terms Canine Possessive Aggression and Resource Guarding: A Study of Expert Opinion. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

McGuire, B., 2019. Characteristics and Adoption Success of Shelter Dogs Assessed as Resource Guarders. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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