Are you a social phobe? Actually, so is the dog

It is a common belief that dogs are man's best friend and our loyal companion, so is that what dogs think?

The answer is: no.

Some dogs don't want to get close to humans, and some don't even want to talk to their own kind. Dogs can also suffer from "social phobia".

Understanding the "fear" first.

Before discussing social phobia, it is important to understand what "fear" is all about.

Fear is an emotion, a normal and vital reaction. For animals that live in the wild, an appropriate amount of fear keeps them alert and helps them to survive in tough environments.

Fear is categorized into non-social fear, which is caused by high decibel noise, sudden changes in environment and height, and social fear, which is caused by people or other animals.

A dog that is too "timid" will develop a strong sense of fear, which may even affect normal life and lead to behavioral disorders, or in the worst case scenario, the dog will become aggressive out of fear and accidentally injure a human or other pets.

Social fear in dogs is a form of fearfulness that is closely related to the fear of unfamiliar people or dogs.

Postdoctoral researcher Jenny Pruning from the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and others conducted a series of studies on social fear in dogs. They sifted through a dataset of nearly 6,000 dogs from a behavioral survey involving 14,000 dogs to analyze the factors that predispose dogs to social fear.

The results found that dogs were more likely to be sociopathic as they grew up if they were inadequately socialized due to a lack of stimulation during puppyhood. Spayed female dogs and small dogs were more likely to be socially fearful.

Interestingly, environment also plays a role in this - dogs in the city are more likely to be socialized than dogs in the country. Some studies have shown that fear is one of the most common behavioral problems in dogs, with 10 to 19 percent of dogs showing fear of strangers or other dogs. But new research has found that dogs living in more urbanized environments are 45% more fearful of strangers and 70% more fearful of unfamiliar dogs than dogs living in typical country settings.

Studies of humans have shown that people who live in cities are indeed more prone to psychological problems than those who live in rural environments. The mechanism by which this occurs is unclear.

Scholars hypothesize that because pet dogs live with us, these same environmental factors that can affect humans can also affect animals. City life is busy and oppressive, and dogs are often exposed to different stimuli, such as noise. Also, the countryside is much less densely populated, so dogs living in the countryside encounter other dogs or strangers much less frequently.

Different breeds of dogs are differently likely to be socially fearful in the same environment. The Chihuahua is the most fearful of strange dogs, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is the least fearful of other dogs, and the most likely to be sociopathic when confronted with people are the Spanish Water Spaniel and the Sheltie Shepherd, while the Irish Terrier is the most courageous. The popular Golden Retriever was in the middle of the pack on both counts, with different breeds of dogs having different levels of social fear, suggesting that genes also play a role in this.

Sociopathic dogs are not only under a great deal of stress themselves, but may inadvertently injure people or other animals around them.

We already know that there are a number of uncertainties that can lead to social fears in dogs, and that objective factors such as breed, gender, and size cannot be changed, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything about it.

Let the puppy appropriate more involved in social activities, accept socialization stimulation, can help them to a large extent to avoid growing up with social fear.

For scientists, this finding encourages them to carry out further research, especially genetic or hereditary research, in order to improve animal welfare, reduce the risk of social terrorism in pets, and enhance the relationship between pets and people in the future.