24/02/2022
YOUR DOG MAY NEED FRIENDS, BUT NOT RANDOM INTERACTIONS
You probably know that dogs are social animals. For dogs, social engagement is an extremely powerful motivator and will often be prioritised over food and sleep. The benefit of social behaviour for dogs is well supported by research, intraspecies play has been indicated to support with motor development, social development, and seems to make them feel happy (Sommerville et al., 2017). We also know that dogs that have been isolated from the mother and siblings at an earlier age are more likely to display social deficits, and similarly, pups taken from their mum too early are at greater risk of behavioural problems in the future (Dietz et al., 2018).
So given these benefits, you might assume we should be aiming for as many social interactions as possible. Sadly, things are not quite so simple. It has also been identified that dogs that visiting the dog park resulted in an increase of the stress hormone cortisol for most dogs (Carrier et al., 2014). Similarly, dogs showing hunched or low posture while at the dog park were more likely to show increased cortisol levels (Carrier et al., 2014). Even more concerningly, 98% of the dogs examined showed at least one stress related behaviour while at the park.
This is not such good news as it indicates that many dogs are not having the best time while at the park, which really defeats the purpose of going. It also means, interacting with lots of unknown dogs every day is actually quite a stressful experience. While being able to manage in a trickier social situation is an important skill, we cannot count this as pleasure time or enrichment. Increased cortisol levels are also associated with an increase in amygdala activity (the fear centre in the brain), which means dogs may also be more reactive whilst cortisol levels return to baseline (van Stegeren et al., 2007).
What is normal social interaction for the dog?
If we turn to studies of free ranging dogs, we can see that dogs are often observed to live within social groups which will share resources and territory (Font, 1987), sometimes forage socially (Majumder et al., 2013), and often choose to sleep in close proximity to each other (Bódizs et al., 2020). Dogs outside of social groups tend to avoid each other, and when they do interact, these interactions are commonly agonistic (Pal, 1998).
This means while dogs enjoy social interaction, this is primarily amongst their own social group. It can involve play, but also calmer activities such as foraging and sleeping. There is little evidence for any benefit of social interaction with unknown dogs, and it may be stressful for them because they have evolved to expect interactions with unknown dogs to be agonistic.
This raises questions about the sort of social interaction we provide for our dogs. If we want to meet our dogs’ social needs from an evolutionary perspective, we need to think about how to set up regular friendships for dogs to enable them to form social groups. This may be in the form of multiple dogs in the same household, or a dog from another household that your dog sees regularly.
The content of time spent together is also important. Social time should not just be based on play, but also encourage social sleep, foraging, grooming, and exploring. All of these are hard to achieve with unknown dogs met on walks. However, having a regular friend means dogs can spend time sharing a territory and exploring new locations together.
We also know social time with regular companions can have a great effect on improving dogs’ confidence. Cimarelli et al. (2021) found that dogs with stronger affiliations were more confident when faced with stressors, this is known as social buffering. This was an effect found in dogs that had been in stable social groups, which again indicates the quality of relationships is key to the social buffering effect.
Finally, remember this does not apply to all dogs. Some dogs are not social. This might be due to bad experiences in the past, a lack of socialisation opportunities, or just preference. It is fine for dogs to choose not to be social. There are lots of other great ways you can enrich your dog’s life.
But if you do have a social dog, make sure they have a regular companion. Local Facebook groups can be a great place to start. Interactions need to be set up appropriately and body language needs to be monitored to ensure the dogs are safe and enjoying themselves (a dog trainer can help with this). And once you have found your dog a friend, make sure you keep it up as the long-term benefits are incredible.
Full references available on our website. https://animalbehaviourkent.co.uk/our-blog/f/your-dog-may-need-friends-but-not-random-interactions
