I wonder if they do but my OH thinks I'm just a romantic.

He says dogs see dogs by smell and body language and not the fact that they look the same. I'm sure though that when my BC see's another she gets extra excited and when my GR see's another she gets even sillier, if that's possible :-D and all of my Shelties seem to have a special bond between them.

So am I just a silly old softy and he's right?

My TMs definitely know another TM from other dogs, without doubt.
Jeff.

The few of our breed that ours have met....a big yes.....they are so excited to meet each other it is really sweet.
Karen ;)

yes mine do know thier own!

mine spot another irish a mile off - I have to send friends round to block off other irish when im just about to run at agility because Fagan will leave the ring to go say hello.  And as Irish are the only ones Alfie has been allowed to mate he goes mad if he sees an irish bitch - although he cant stand the males.

Buster met a mastiff x bullmastiff bitch the other day, he was sooo happy & exited to meet her. When he meets dogs he normally stands and lets them sniff him, then he sniffs them, then he asks them to play (huge playbow! they normally run away then :( ), but when he saw the mastiff x he wanted to play a.s.a.p., he was so happy to see her.
Bless him, all his exitement put her off and she wouldn't get too close to him (she was nearly blind and a little shy), so they ended up laid on the floor (or slumped out on the floor in a lazy mastiff way)about 6 ft away from each other, sniffing through the air at each other while me & the other owner had a 40 min long chin-wag (we had never met before & were both pleased to bump into another giant dog owner so were admiring each others dogs :) ).
I don't know if Buster recognised the other dog as a Mastiff, but I have never seen him act like that (sooooooo happy) with any other dog, despite always being happy at meeting dogs.

ETA, that's the first dog of that size he's met.

awww, the sweet boy! i wish you were closer and we could set up a play date with one of our girls :)

So do ye think ye're dogs know what they look like? Dont think my fella knows the difference between a ddb & jrt to be honest.

> awww, the sweet boy!

He really loved her - he has good taste, she was really stunning, fawn with a black mask and a bit of a bum wiggle when she walked - looked like a right diva, but she was a complete 'lady' and couldn't be doing with Buster's childish behaviour, LOL :)

> i wish you were closer and we could set up a play date with one of our girls

That would be great :) I wish we did live closer, it's so hard to find anybody willing to let thier dog play with Buster the slobber that flings about with the big play-bow puts people right-off :(

> it's so hard to find anybody willing to let thier dog play with Buster the slobber that flings about with the big play-bow puts people right-off :-(

aww thats a shame, i love a slobbery big un :)

kiz and keeper would be a good chunk smaller but well able to cope with him i think... kiz grew up with our mastiff odin and had him wrapped round her paw lol

My Spanish definitely recognise their own breed, no doubt about it.

I think dogs certainly recognise their own breed as of course they would have that imprinted on their earliest memories seeing Mum and other relatives.

In the same way they will also recognise breeds they have had good or bad associations with.

for example all my older ones live Goldens as I used to take my friends girl out with mien every day.

Definitely Pinky - and my lot know their 'mates' in the other varieties of their breed too LOL.
Tell hubby he's wrong (bet he's heard that before :-p )

I think dogs do recognise their own breed as well. 

My own seem to when they get the chance to meet others, they start wagging their tails more and generally look as if they're getting ready for a good play session which they don't do with other breeds.  I have one dog of another breed and i always feel sorry for him because when the other 3 are resting they sometimes huddle together and leave him out.  I dare say he's glad as i'm sure he wouldn't want 3 hairy monsters sharing his bed but he looks funny being on his own, LOL

I think it is very, very difficult to say if the dog is not just picking up some signal or scent from the owner  at the little thrill I think we all feel when seeing another of the breed but I do recall that my Dandie always exhibited a great interest on the rare occasions that we saw another although, perhaps, thinking back, it was any low long bodied dog so maybe it was being able to look into their eyes on the same level :-). 

> That would be great :-) I wish we did live closer, it's so hard to find anybody willing to let thier dog play with Buster the slobber that flings about with the big play-bow puts people right-off :-(

if you ever come up to central scotland give me a shout! my boy needs big friendly dogs to play with, i have a problem finding dogs that are big and robust enough to take him. he has a tendency to "shoulder" them away and always looks round surprised when theyre no longer running by his side but rolling on the ground 10foot away!

im sure my boy does recognise other RRs, but mainly from shows, he knows he gets to have a sniff and play about with them and that theyre fun!

> So do ye think ye're dogs know what they look like?

I love the idea that our dogs have no clue what they actually look like - might account for the shock and surprise when they catch sight of themselves in the mirror

~~~"Well goodness me, I thought I was taller; and who on earth do those ears belong to??"  :)

Pinky, I am sure spaniels recognise each other--put 10 dogs in the park and ours will always make a bee line for the spaniel. Of course it could be that there are not so many other breeds that like to swim and 'box' quite so much.

I think my girl, Airedale,does but as she has only seen about 2 of her kind it is hard to tell.

Do you think if they dont see other dogs of the same breed they start to think they are special !!!!!! or unique !!!! Ha Ha  just a thought as My girl is "the only airdie in the village"

I think that it is pretty easy to assess that they do.

Breeds have slight and sometimes major differences in how they interact with one another so when a breed of dog shows the same traits as themselves they are easily recognised by our own dogs. :-)

I think that they do.
When at ringcraft my boy can be interested in other dogs but not to the extent that i can't get him to concentrate on me.

We often get other Berners here and when they see each other they go into a real squeel and can't contain themselves, can't even get them to walk past each other nicely without the whole hoo ha of jumping about to get to each other. So i say yes on this one.
Though think my boy thinks he's a Newf at times when he see's them he does the same dance about..

I definitely think they recognise their own breed. Our Samoyed used to live with other Sams before we got her, and we had friends stay over once with their Sams - Megan was beside herself, her face was a picture when she first saw our friends Sams. If ever we're at an event with other Samoyeds I take Megan where possible as she loves seeing them all and loves her day out.

My Cavalier though isn't that bothered with other Cavs, but she does have a 'thing' for boy Jack Russells and gets very giddy if she meets one out on a walk.

My Paps do recognise other Paps, a good example is when I take them to shows, they lay quietly in their cages while their waiting to go in unless a different breed goes past then they all bark like mad to "defend" their territory lol, when Paps walk around them they dont make a single sound, proves it to me.

I think they recognise the breed they live with.

At a time when I had all Boxers and 1 GSD I used to attend our local club match nights. My dogs would be lying at my feet (1 of each) and watching all the other dogs come in.

The Boxers would go all wiggly when a boxer or a GSD came in without fail and the shep would do the same but blanked the GSDs.
When I had 2 GSDs they would acknowledge both because they saw each other everyday.
They dont have mirrors they just look at each other everyday.

Well that's my take on it anyway :-)

Well having read everybody's comments I think it's a sure thing, dogs do have some sort of affinity with their own breed.

Once again OH is wrong, I will put him right, mind you he should be used to that by now :-D

I think they have an affinity with the breed they live with, we get the same reaction. Always happy to see any dog really excited to see another Berner or spaniel etc.
Such a simple life

I took Fozz to a Leo show the other week and he was absolutely beside himself - didn't know where to look first!! As some of the other posters have said we also have trouble finding dogs robust enough to play with him, and even Fozz was in awe of some of the adult dogs!  He got particually excited when he met up with his mum and 3 litter mates (his Mum couldn't have cared less!) but I'm sure he recognised them despite not seeing them since coming home with us, he also saw his Dad but didn't have the same response (but then he'd never seen him before). 

So if they recognise their own breed is it also possible they recognise relatives??

> So if they recognise their own breed is it also possible they recognise relatives??

Well I wouldn't be surprised if they recognised them by their scent even if not by sight. I don't really know how long a dogs memory is for visual things but I'd like to bet it's quite good on smell.

My young dog meets his family regularly. Mum , Dad and Brother, his behaviour is completely different around them than any other dogs. His brother was a very dominate one in the litter and my boy changes when around him. No hugely but enough to notice. I was not sure for a while, ( I have always had rescues so never known the relatives),  I was thinking I was just putting human emotions on him but his change in behaviour can not be put down to anything else.. And I posed the question on here and so many responded confirming this. So I know it must is true
:-)

Well when we took our Vizsla pup to a game fair, he was chomping at the bit to say hello to other Vizzies :) though he does makes a bee lie for chocolate labs as he lives with two :).
I met a lady while walking my male lab once, and she said her (choc) lab only played with other chocolate labs LOL.

I have heard of it before but cant say my dog takes much interest in other poodles. Saying that we have only bumped into another poodle on 3 occasions in the last 2 and a bit years but he didnt care :-)

Yes, mine do and get very excited, full of smiles.

Denese

My Beardies and Boxers definitely recognised their own breed, also my Boxers were brought up seeing a lot of my friend's GSDs and went nuts if they saw one. :-D

My young girl has a Basset hound friend, and when we are at a dog show and she sees a Basset , she gets really exsited thinking its him. At the hound show she became very attached to a Beagle. She was born in to a house with a beagle.  And she always gets very existed to see her own breed so I say yes, they do recognise there own breed and many others :)

My Berns can recognize another at a huge distance...they all know what they look like...after all it takes ages in the mirror every morning to put thier brown eye shadow on..LOL ;) ;)

LOL! :-)
Yes my dogs recognise other poodles - and especially their parents.  Mummy and daddy are still "mummy" and "daddy" 4 years on - my boys are still spoiled rotten.  I've been to a few breed shows in the past and they are just pandemonium :-)

> after all it takes ages in the mirror every morning to put thier brown eye shadow on..LOL ;-) ;-)

One's got to look one's best don't you know :-D

in my dogs case, he definately does. he can sniff out another husky from a mile off!
which then leads to whoever's on the other end of the lead being pulled at breakneck speed to go over and say hello

So if they recognise their own breed is it also possible they recognise relatives??

Yep - my GR is 4 1/2 does not see his litter mates from one year to the next but when he does he is beside himself with joy and even more silly with his breeder. Kez does get very very excited around other GR's rolls around with them, play stances and chases. But like another post said I am more excited to see another GR so maybe he senses that :o)

Mastifflover, my Kez would love a big play mate like buster, his best friend is a Irish Woolfhound, its great to watch them rolling around and chasing each other, Kez has never been afraid of his size or strength - it's a shame people are not more open minded, people often cross the road when they see us walking my GR and IW ;o)

Our Rott was not docked and was quite unusual  when we got her 14 yrs ago - lost her 8 mth ago - aged 13 & bit, as a pup/youngster she used to go to class and often met an older Rott b, both acted different with each other to diff breeds.
Wij used to have a silly fit and chase her tail, Polly, the other girl, used to look very confused and look at her own back end then up at her mum, almost 'what IS she doing and why can't I'.
Chris

edited to add anyone with big dogs who like rough play live in W suffolk as I have one as well...:-)

I have with my BT noticed that when he has come across another of his type has been very happy and friendly?
I have believed in the past that he knew he could not be a git and act all; 'I'm the top man ere respect me now or else' act as they would just be a bully back?

> But like another post said I am more excited to see another GR so maybe he senses that :o)

That's possibly a lot to do with it. There's no mistaking the GR flag i.e. the tail wagging in with the walk and the seductive Marilyn Munro hip wiggle, we notice that and the nippy fleet foot of the BC, I would imagine that most of us get a little excited when we see our favoured breed and I'm sure this transfers to our dogs, I do believe they feed off our energy.

I don't see too many Shelties when we're out walking but the few we've met have all brought excitement and barking from our lot, it's a Sheltie thing :(

I'm pleased to know that I'm not a total fruit loop because I feel that my dogs do recognise their breed.

One thing that I think is a shame is that a lot of you with big breeds feel that you have to contain your dogs when they meet smaller varieties and so the big chaps and lasses may not get to ronce and play as much as they could.

That could be a fault of the owners of the smalls, I've never held my smalls back from playing with a Newfie or a Leo or anything of that size, even though they may have an affinity with their own breed there is a lot of fun to be had in playing with the big ones, after all you can run rings round them and nip between their legs :-D

> there is a lot of fun to be had in playing with the big ones, after all you can run rings round them and nip between their legs :-D

my boys best friend is my sis's whippet. they wrestle all the time and its so funny as shes learned to play fight with the bullies so tries to use her weight and shoulder them the way they do- of course to little effect. eventually her breed kicks in and she runs round and round and round... till the bullies fall down dizzy :)

the only damage shes ever had was a tiny nick out of one ear during a particularly excitable bout whihc oucld happen easily in any play

I like to see dogs of different sizes and breeds play, I have small, middle and large breeds, mine are laid back and easy going.

They do enjoy a good ronce especially with their own breed types but with others aswell, I've not had any accidents so far and yes there is a sort of pleasure to be had in seeing the smalls out manoevre (spelling?)  the bigs. :-D  What they lack in size they sure do make up for in attitude :)

> They do enjoy a good ronce especially with their own breed types but with others aswell, I've not had any accidents so far and yes there is a sort of pleasure to be had in seeing the smalls out manoevre (spelling?)  the bigs. :-D  What they lack in size they sure do make up for in attitude :-)

Oh yes! so true! :-) my GSD and Chihuahua play so nice together, the little one is the one with the attitude though! my GSD is so laid back.

Both my dogs love seeing their breed, same with if my Chihuahua spots a GSD he gets so excited, and the GSD seeing other Chihuahua's :-)

Reading through all of these posts the answer to my question is clear, dogs do recognise their breed, OH is so wrong :-D  :-D  :-D aint it always so though!!

I also think that with differing breeds size does not matter, little thinks big and big thinks little, leave them to their own devices and they'll generally get on,  vive la differance. Don't you love dogs eh :)

Mine certainly do!:) When i took my bitch to her first ringcraft class there were fourteen other dogs but only one other husky and she dragged me right across the floor to get to him, totally ignoring all the other dogs! He was equally smitten and it was hard getting either of them to listen to the trainers, much to their annoyance, lol.

i think my great dane not only recognises his own breed- but alos his own colour as he always makes a bee line for harlequins LOL.
however i dont think my rott recognises his breed ( he is actually really scared of rottie bitches!) but he was taken from his parents at 3 weeks- however he too recognises great danes & loves to play with them. he also plays very similar to a dane.

mine seem to know their own breed, my jr is  just happy to see any dog...the bigger the better. Shes 8 and thinks shes still a tiny pup....nuts.