A dog does not have to welcome every stranger or enjoy other dogs to have an appropriate temperament, but breed characteristics must be considered alongside individual behavior, safety, and the owner's needs.
Some dogs are naturally reserved with strangers or less tolerant of other dogs. Those characteristics may be consistent with the breed rather than evidence that socialization or training failed. The important questions are what this individual dog does, whether the behavior can be safely accommodated, and what the owner reasonably needs.
A breed characteristic does not have to be undesirable to be unsuitable for a particular household or job.
That distinction matters before you acquire a dog. It also matters when the dog you already own behaves differently from the dog you imagined.
What is a breed standard, and how should owners use it?
A breed standard is a written description of the ideal dog of a particular breed, including physical characteristics, movement, and temperament.
For AKC breeds, the national parent club develops the standard, subject to AKC approval. Standards guide breeding and provide the reference against which dogs are evaluated in conformation shows. They help preserve the characteristics that distinguish one breed from another.
Owners should read the temperament section before choosing a breed. Words such as reserved, aloof, watchful, territorial, or intolerant of other dogs deserve attention. They describe characteristics that may affect everyday life.
A standard tells us what the breed community formally recognizes or seeks to preserve. It does not tell us how frequently every characteristic occurs, guarantee an individual puppy's temperament, or establish that a particular dog is safe.
Use the breed standard to inform your questions. Use the individual dog's behavior to evaluate your situation.
Do breed standards require dogs to be friendly with everyone?
No. Some standards explicitly recognize reserve toward strangers and distinguish dog-directed belligerence from unacceptable behavior toward people.
The Rottweiler standard is particularly instructive. It describes confidence and aloofness rather than immediate friendship with unfamiliar people. It states: “An aloof or reserved dog should not be penalized, as this reflects the accepted character of the breed.” The standard also says dog-directed belligerence should not be faulted. However, a dog that threatens the judge or cannot be safely examined is excused, and an attack on a person in the ring results in disqualification. Reserve, behavior toward dogs, and conduct toward people are treated separately.
The Doberman Pinscher standard makes a related distinction: “An aggressive or belligerent attitude towards other dogs shall not be deemed viciousness.” Attacking or attempting to attack the judge or handler falls into a different category under that standard.
These are breed-specific judging provisions. They do not authorize owners to allow fights or excuse injuries. They do demonstrate that universal sociability with other dogs is not a universal requirement of accepted breed temperament.
What can an experienced breeder tell us that a standard cannot?
An experienced breeder can provide firsthand knowledge about particular dogs, bloodlines, selection decisions, and practical living arrangements.
John D. Johnson was one of the preservation breeders instrumental in maintaining the American Bulldog. His testimony matters because he bred and lived with the dogs whose characteristics he described. In David D. Jackson's published 1997 interview, Johnson described substantial dog-directed aggression and difficulty keeping his bulldogs together. He said you could have a female and male in the home, but not two males or two females. They also were not suited to be hog catch dogs since after the hog was cornered, the dogs might fight among themselves. That account provides practical breed knowledge from someone directly involved in the dogs' development and preservation. Johnson did not need a PhD for that experience to deserve consideration. The relevant questions are what he knew firsthand, which dogs he was discussing, and what conclusions his testimony supports.
His account does not establish that every American Bulldog will fight. It does give a prospective owner a serious reason to investigate compatibility rather than assume training will make it irrelevant.
Why did I decide against getting an American Bulldog?
I decided against an American Bulldog because the management requirements described to me did not fit the professional work I needed my dog to perform. In 1999, I spoke with Mr. Johnson while considering the breed. He was in Georgia and told me about dogs from his breeding that had gone to a breeder in Port Townsend, Washington. I visited that breeder and met one of her Johnson American Bulldogs. He was a super nice dog. She also bred Neapolitan Mastiffs and Dogues de Bordeaux. She told me she could not leave her Johnson American Bulldogs alone with those other dogs without a fight.
That information mattered. I needed a dog for my business that I could demonstrate around other dogs in public. The possibility of that kind of incompatibility did not fit my intended use, so I switched breeds.
Her report about unsupervised household conflict did not prove that the dog I met would fight during a public demonstration. It nevertheless identified a concern I did not want to build my professional plans around.
I liked the dog. I respected the breed. I chose a different dog for a different job.
Does research show that breed affects behavior?
Research supports inherited behavioral differences among breeds while also showing substantial variation within breeds.
MacLean and colleagues found heritable breed differences across multiple behavioral traits. Morrill and colleagues found that breed explained a relatively small portion of individual behavioral variation, with considerable overlap among breeds. These studies address different aspects of the relationship between ancestry and behavior.
Neither finding makes breed irrelevant or turns breed into an individual diagnosis.
A breed standard documents an ideal. A breeder describes experience with particular populations. My account describes a selection decision. Genetic research examines inheritance and variation. Each source contributes something, and each has limits.
Together, they support a practical approach: consider breed, investigate the dog's background, and assess the individual.
Doesn't socialization make a dog friendly?
Socialization should help a dog function successfully around people, animals, and everyday events; it should not be treated as a promise of indiscriminate friendship.
A dog may walk past a stranger comfortably without wanting to be touched. Another may work around dogs without wanting to play with them.
Before insisting on greetings, ask what the interaction accomplishes. Does the dog need to meet this person? Does the dog need to mingle with unfamiliar dogs? Or does the dog need to move through the situation safely with its owner?
The purpose of training is not to make every dog socially interchangeable with every other dog.
For many households, dependable behavior around others is a more useful objective than compulsory social contact.
What if I already own a dog that dislikes strangers or other dogs?
Start by describing the behavior and the circumstances instead of deciding that the dog needs to become friendly.
“Reactive” does not tell me whether a dog watches visitors, retreats from reaching hands, growls, attempts to bite, or actually bites. Those observations have different implications.
My first questions would include:
- Does the behavior occur at home, in public, or both?
- Does familiarity, distance, or the other dog's sex change the response?
- Can the dog move away and resume another activity?
- Has the behavior changed, and what else changed with it?
- What must the dog be able to do for this household to function safely?
Do not provoke a confrontation to find out what happens. Prevent unnecessary contact while gathering useful information.
Training may improve functional behavior. Environmental arrangements may prevent conflict. Some living arrangements may require reconsideration. The assessment should determine the objective before anyone selects a training procedure.
Success might mean passing dogs safely, remaining comfortably separated from visitors, or responding reliably when the owner moves away. It need not mean enjoying contact.
When does professional assessment make sense?
Professional assessment makes sense when there are bites, attempted attacks, fights, escalating threats, or difficulty maintaining safe separation.
Owners can often accommodate uncomplicated reserve by declining unnecessary greetings. A safety problem requires closer evaluation. Significant or sudden behavioral changes also warrant veterinary attention.
An in-home assessment can help distinguish the dog's behavior from the owner's interpretation, examine handling and environmental variables, and determine which outcomes are realistic. I provide private in-home dog training in the Phoenix area; information about working with me is available at SamTheDogTrainer.com.
Before acquiring a dog, read the standard and ask experienced breeders how their adult dogs actually live. If you already own the dog, compare those expectations with the behavior in front of you.
Breed characteristics do not have to be undesirable to be unsuitable. Decide what your household requires, then assess whether this particular dog can meet those requirements safely.
Glossary
Breed standard: A formally recognized description of the ideal characteristics of a breed, used to guide breeding and conformation judging.
Breed tendency: A characteristic associated with a breed or breeding population that may inform assessment without determining every individual's behavior.
Temperament: Relatively enduring individual tendencies in behavioral and emotional responding.
Social reserve: Limited interest in, or caution toward, unfamiliar individuals. Reserve alone does not establish fear or dangerousness.
Sociability: An individual's tendency to seek or welcome social interaction.
Socialization: Developmental experience and learning that help a dog function in its environment.
Management: Arranging access, handling, and the environment to prevent conflict or injury.
Reactivity: A broad descriptive label for conspicuous responses that does not, by itself, explain their cause or significance.
Bibliography
American Kennel Club. (1982). Official standard of the Doberman Pinscher (reformatted November 6, 1990). https://images.akc.org/pdf/breeds/standards/DobermanPinscher.pdf
American Kennel Club. (2022). Official standard of the Rottweiler (approved May 10, 2022; effective August 8, 2022). https://images.akc.org/pdf/breeds/standards/Rottweiler.pdf
American Kennel Club. (n.d.). Guidelines for writing breed standards. https://images.akc.org/pdf/breeds/guidelines_breed_standards.pdf
Gewirtz, E. W. (n.d.). What is a breed standard for purebred dogs? American Kennel Club. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/dog-breeding/purebred-dog-breed-standard/
Jackson, D. D. (1997, January 7). Interview with John D. Johnson. Alapaha Blue-Blood Bulldog Association. https://www.alapahabluebloodbulldog.org/interview-with-johnson-d-johnson-by-david-d-jackson/
MacLean, E. L., Snyder-Mackler, N., vonHoldt, B. M., & Serpell, J. A. (2019). Highly heritable and functionally relevant breed differences in dog behaviour. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 286(1912), 20190716. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.0716
Morrill, K., et al. (2022). Ancestry-inclusive dog genomics challenges popular breed stereotypes. Science, 376(6592), eabk0639. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abk0639
Source note: Sam Basso's 1999 conversation and breeder visit are the author's firsthand recollections, presented in the article rather than as a separately published source.
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