While dogs are generally known to be man's best friend, a new study reveals that not every dog breed showcases the same level of friendliness and human sociability. Some dog breeds enjoy the company of humans more than others.
Man's Best Friend
Per MailOnline, researchers have looked into the dog breeds that have the lowest and highest human sociability levels. The researchers from the University of Helsinki looked into canine personalities to see if there were any interbreed variations.
Dr. Milla Salonen, the study's leader, explains that the dog breed was the most important factor that determined any underlying differences in terms of personality, Earth.com reports. Each dog is an individual creature, and each breed has various sets of traits. However, dog breeds vary in terms of the personalities that the dogs belonging to the breed have, according to their study.
Their research showed that bull-type terriers, teacup dogs, and golden retrievers were all list-toppers when it came to human sociability levels. This affirmed the status of these creatures as "man's best friends."
Personality Differences in Dog Breeds
On the other hand, livestock guardian dogs, primitive sighthounds, and Asian primitive breeds were all found to enjoy human company the least.
These findings resulted from analyzing an extensive behavioral dataset that covered the data of 11,000 dogs and 300 different breeds. The researchers then sorted the dogs into 52 different groups.
Cautious examination revealed that the data had strong links between dog breed and seven different personality traits, namely, aggressiveness or dominance, training focus, insecurity, dog sociability, energy, perseverance, and human sociability.
Bull terriers were at the forefront of the human sociability aspect, while teacup dogs, retrievers, Jack Russell terriers, and Dachshunds closely followed behind them.
Livestock guardian dogs, on the other hand, were the least social breeds. Following them were Asian primitive breeds, primitive sighthounds, northern hunting spitzes, sled dogs, and Pinscher/Schnauzers.
The researchers also looked into other factors, aside from breed, that may affect human sociability. Their findings revealed that female dogs were generally more sociable compared to male ones and that human sociability plummeted as the dogs aged over time.
The results thus suggest that, from their pets' early age, new pet owners should intentionally expose their pups to social environments where humans are involved. These pups should become familiar with unfamiliar animals, places, and people. However, the pup should determine the conditions for socialization and should not be forced to face and endure frightening situations.
Prior to this, researchers from the University of Helsinki had also examined the intelligence levels of dogs and looked into which breeds were the smartest. Per NDTV, the researchers found out that the Belgian Shepherd was the smartest dog breed.
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