{"id":23040,"date":"2026-02-18T16:37:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T23:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=23040"},"modified":"2026-02-21T16:39:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:39:30","slug":"is-your-dog-a-social-high-medium-or-low-dog-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/is-your-dog-a-social-high-medium-or-low-dog-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Your Dog a Social High,  Medium or Low Dog?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Fran Jewell<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Every day, I am approached by people that want their dog to \u201cjust get along and be friendly\u201d wherever they take them. They also believe that socialization is the key to making a dog do that.<br \/>\nUnfortunately, that is not always the prescription. When socialization is done improperly, it can make things even worse for the dog that is nervous or confused about other dogs.<br \/>\nI think one of the hardest things for humans to understand is the pressure we put on our dogs if our dog is not naturally a social dog. When we have a dog that is nervous or unsure of other dogs, forcing them into uncomfortable interactions can worsen the dog\u2019s feelings about other dogs. Then, a dog that was once a dog that would just ignore or move away from other dogs might actually become reactive or even aggressive toward other dogs.<br \/>\nNOT ALL DOGS ARE SOCIAL!<br \/>\nIt is important for us to respect a dog that does not want to be in a social situation. I have many people think they are depriving their dog of relationships with other dogs if they do not teach them to be social. In fact, forcing them into those situations where they are naturally uncomfortable is not quality of life. It will not dissolve those uncomfortable or fearful feelings, in most cases. To me, THAT is not quality of life. Keeping a fearful, reactive, or aggressive dog out of those intimate social situations can be much more kind and productive for the dog\u2019s mental health.<br \/>\nI look at a dog\u2019s social desire much like a scale. Some dogs love every dog. There are some breeds that are programmed that way. There are dogs that only get along with a few dogs. Then, there are dogs that absolutely are terrified of other dogs. In simplification, I categorize dogs as highly social, medium social and low or not social. There are things you can do in all cases to improve the situation, but what most of us think of as socialization may backfire. However, in fairness to the dog, we must first accept who our dog is and move forward with realistic expectations.<br \/>\nOf course, a highly social dog can go most anywhere IF he is taught proper greetings that are not obnoxious. A medium social dog might do better with play dates only with his friends that he has established relationships with. And a low social dog might do better safely in his yard with just you to interact with.<br \/>\nThese days, much of the dog\u2019s social desire or needs are based on genetics. While we can influence that to some degree, it usually takes knowledgeable finesse and tons of patience to move a dog from being fearful and reactive to accepting. Many times, it will be unsuccessful or only with limited success. In general, this does not apply to a bully reactive dog. That is another story for another day!<\/p>\n<p><em>Fran Jewell is a dog behavior consultant, NADOI-certified instructor and vice president.\u00a0She owns Positive Puppy Dog Training\u00a0LLC and can be reached at (208) 721-7221.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Fran Jewell Every day, I am approached by people that want their dog to \u201cjust get along and be friendly\u201d wherever they take them. They also believe that socialization is the key to making a dog do that. Unfortunately, that is not always the prescription. When socialization is done improperly, it can make things [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":23041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-commentary","8":"category-no-bones-about-it"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23042,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23040\/revisions\/23042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}