We hear a common question from families with multiple dogs that we want to address: “Why does my dog love her brother and they can play so great together, but she really doesn’t like other dogs?” So let’s talk about what’s going on here.
Familiarity
To start, there’s a lot to be said when it comes to familiarity. Your dogs are around each other all day every day. Even if they don’t have personalities that make for best doggy friends, they’ve likely learned how to co-exist pretty well together. They may even love each other’s company. But when you first introduced them, that probably wasn’t the case.
Dogs that live together learn each other’s quirks, how they communicate, what each one likes and dislikes, and they’re able to use that information to create a good relationship. It’s the same for us humans: you may have grown up with siblings that you wouldn’t have chosen to be friends with, but you figured out how to co-exist, and maybe even shared some great experiences together.
Personality
This one is critical. As we said above, your dog likely has a good relationship with her brother because they’ve learned how to live well together. But that is not the case with any other dog you come across. And in fact, it’s very normal for dogs to not love every other dog they meet. Those friendly, life of the party, gotta love and say “hello” to everyone are the exception, not the rule, to dog behavior.
Think about your own personal relationships with people. You have your close-knit group of friends that you really enjoy. You have personalities that you’re drawn to that you find really fun to be around. And you also have personalities that you shy away from because that person is perhaps too loud, inappropriate, aggressive, etc. There may be absolutely nothing wrong with that person, but you simply aren’t a fan and don’t want to be friends. And that’s OK!
Your dog is the same way. Other dogs can give off bad vibes, can be too loud or pushy, or perhaps there’s nothing particularly wrong with the dog, but they just don’t click together. And again, that’s OK! We’d rather your dog be great friends with a few dogs, than to try to force friendships with everyone when the match just isn’t right.
Play Style
And lastly, we’ll talk about play style. You may find a great fit for your dog personality-wise, but they may have very different play styles. Some dogs like to play fetch, some wrestle, some chase, some don’t want to play at all. And all of these different play styles are perfectly appropriate. But mix two dogs with different styles of play, and you can create a problem really quickly.
So if your dog runs into another dog that just doesn’t match her play style, it’s OK to walk away and find another match. Again with the human analogy: we wouldn’t be successful at shoving an introvert and an extrovert alone in a room together and asking them to hold a long conversation. But two extroverts, and you’re more likely to see a successful encounter.
Conclusion
There are so many reasons why your dog might not like other dogs, and we really won’t know the reason until we see her try to interact with new dogs. But it’s perfectly appropriate, and good, for her to be picky about who she chooses to play with.
So don’t worry if your dog only loves her brother, but struggles around other dogs. As long as she’s fulfilled in other ways, she doesn’t need a bunch of doggy friends. She has you, and if that’s enough for her, then it’s enough for us!