It's a funny and fascinating to realize how much dogs have co-evolved with us. Saundra Schimmelpfennig writes in her blog 'Good Intentions Aren't Enough" (which is one of the few blogs with a noble purpose) about her Thai Dog named China:
"For a Thai dog being around American dogs can be a confusing and scary experience. There's no starting out at a cautious distance as the dogs size up each other. Instead American dogs are immediately violating their personal space. The Thai dog tries to communicate that the American dog needs to stay back by raising their hackles and baring their teeth. Both of these signals are completely missed by American dogs. If there is more than one dog violating her personal space China feels surrounded and trapped. After a few attempts at socializing my dog at dog parks China now refuses to move once she realizes that we're in the parking lot of a dog park.
"For a Thai dog being around American dogs can be a confusing and scary experience. There's no starting out at a cautious distance as the dogs size up each other. Instead American dogs are immediately violating their personal space. The Thai dog tries to communicate that the American dog needs to stay back by raising their hackles and baring their teeth. Both of these signals are completely missed by American dogs. If there is more than one dog violating her personal space China feels surrounded and trapped. After a few attempts at socializing my dog at dog parks China now refuses to move once she realizes that we're in the parking lot of a dog park.
My sister's dog has spent a lot of time a my house since I moved back to the states. When my dog realized that she had no choice but to be near my sister's dog she set out to determine the pecking order. This show of dominance so cowed my sister's dog that he now refuses to have anything to do with my dog. The few times China has shown interest in making friends with other dogs there have been similar bad endings because American dogs and dog owners are unprepared for the ritual of establishing dominance.
China may have learned from her social faux pas because she has not tried to establish dominance with my brother's dogs. If she is with just one of them she's ok but she cowers under the table if both of them start shoving curious noses at her. On the few occasions when she's been brave enough to try playing with the dogs, neither of them have picked up on her Let's Play postures. She eventually stops trying to interact at all.
Although my dog was raised around lots of other dogs and had many dog friends back in Thailand, in all the times she's been in the states she's not had a single game of tag or a wrestling match. Despite my best attempts, she's not been able to adapt enough to dog culture here in the states."
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