Does your dog dislike other dogs? Here’s why!

Does your dog react poorly to passing other dogs in public? You might find that your pup dislikes dogs or a certain breed, age or size. You are not alone!

Regardless of how well socialised your dog is, they won’t always be social butterflies. On the flip side, your dog might not be the cup of tea of other dogs.

Let’s look at some reasons to explain why some dogs don’t want to socialise with others:

Early life experiences can be crucial for helping your dog develop the skills to understand and communicate with other dogs. Dogs that have not had this experiences can find it difficult to play with or understand other dogs. Miscommunications can easily cause a harmless interaction to turn into a dangerous one.

If your dog has had a negative experience with other dogs such as an attack, bite or even boisterous play from a ‘rude’ dog, this can generalise to them having an overall dislike for other dogs. This is yet another reason why it isn’t a good idea to let an off leash dog rush up to a dog who is walking on leash, regardless of how friendly that off leash pup may be.

Like us, dogs have different personalities, and some of these may clash. Some dogs on the more introverted side might not take well to the bouncy extrovert pup that they meet on a walk. Some dogs might love chasing games but not wrestling whereas other might be the complete opposite. There’s also some dogs that will always prefer human company to canine- it’s all a matter of preference.

It’s important to recognise that every dog is an individual and, like us, some might be homebodies and not want to be friends with other dogs. However, some dogs struggle to cope with other dogs around them in their day to day life. If your dog fits in that category, contact a professional purely positive dog trainer to help you and your pup be the best dog they can be.