coincidence or not?

saleda

Our bichon is now just over 4 months old. As she was pretty scared of any dogs we would meet on our little walks, we decided to bring her to a puppy social hour. First two times we went she screeched every time another pup went near her and spent most of the time huddled up against a wall.
After skipping one week we went back again yesterday. This time there were quite a few bichons there. For about the first 20 minutes she was acting scared then suddenly seemed to start enjoying herself and was having great fun being chased around by one particular bichon. Fantastic to see her finally having fun with another dog!
Anyway got talking to the owner of the other dog and to cut a long story short, we discovered they were sisters!
I just thought this was so incredible that they had clicked and was wondering if they could somehow sense that they knew each other.
Interested to hear anyone's thoughts on this.

DBB

What an amazing coincidence! Do you mean they are littermates?
I don't suppose we'll ever know if they know another dog is their brother or sister, but the familiarity of their smell, maybe their behaviour or appearance, would certainly lend more confidence to a dog who is frightened of strange dogs.
You may have stumbled upon an answer to your problem: you've found one dog who your little lady feels comfortable with, and indeed, it is quite possible that she'll feel more comfortable with other Bichons anyway due to imprinting as a pup, so if you can, try and get playdates arranged with her sister, and gradually start adding new, dog-safe dogs into the mix. Start mayve with other Bichons, then add in other small dogs, eventually "graduating" onto larger dogs. If you can do this more often than weekly in your training classes, you'll get results faster! But do ensure any playdates are with really safe dogs, and if you see any dog getting too rowdy, calmly take them out of the picture for a minute or two to let them come down a bit!

Cherry Blossom

I've been told that litter-mates separated as puppies don't remember each other but I'm not sure I believe it. How old were they when they were separated?

Regardless of what the reason is, if you keep going when the other bichon is there she will quickly associated it as being a good place and it might just build her confidence enough to eventually have a play with some other dogs. I would be inclined to go at different times after a bit though so it's not just this one dog she gels with.

saleda

Yes they came from the same litter. Small world! There wtere lots of other dogs there just like her but it really struck me how they 'chose' each other. I'd like to think that they remembered each other somehow :-) will see what happens next week.

Edit, they were separated at 8 weeks.

suziwalsh

Having met the OPs pup at social hour and seeing the difference in her behaviour in the presence of a sibling I started to do a little research. I have wondered if siblings do recognise each other by smell etc. and usually I would suggest is that the pups get along because of similar behaviour, age and size. But the OP had been to social hour for a number of weeks with very similar other pups to her own of same age and size but was still very timid and did not interact with the other pups. The difference in the presence of a sibling wheather it was coincidence or not was remarkable.

Anyway here is a study that suggests that there may possibly be some evidence to show a recognition in dogs ..... http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0376635794900566

Im going to keep looking but if anyone has any other sources or studies Id be very interested.

saleda

Interesting reading! Thanks for that. Will have a search around the net later and see if I can find anything else. Though that article states that siblings don't recognize each other and will only recognize the mother, I am still unconvinced after seeing her behavior change so dramatically after meeting her sister. Will be interesting to see if she is the same next week.

DBB

saleda wrote: »

Interesting reading! Thanks for that. Will have a search around the net later and see if I can find anything else. Though that article states that siblings don't recognize each other and will only recognize the mother, I am still unconvinced after seeing her behavior change so dramatically after meeting her sister. Will be interesting to see if she is the same next week.

I'd be pretty sure it's a familiarity thing, in that familiarity brings security. I don't necessarily think they'd say "hey! You're my sister!", rather they'd say "hey! I know you and that makes me less scared".
Also, emotional conditioning would give a pup happy and positive associations with her mother and littermates, and indeed her breeder, if he/she was kind and spent time with the pups. They may be "forgotten" associations to the pup, until she smells that familiar smell of her past, or sees or hears something that reminds her, and these senses evoke feelings of happiness and security.
Smell is the most evocative sense, we've all had experience of detecting a certain smell that suddenly brings back long-distant memories (happy and sad) out of the blue. So I think that's what's going on when dog siblings are reunited.
I raised a litter of pups here, born three days after I got their mam out of the pound. They all headed off to the UK at 10wks. Six months later, I met them again at an open day for the UK rescue. They were all thrilled to see each other, and me, reacting far more positively to me and their sibs than to other humans and dogs there. They even met their mam that day, and i've pics of them climbing all over her.
After a while, I let out my old "dinner call" to them, a high pitched "puppy puppy puppieeeees", and every one of them immediately stopped what they were doing, looked in amazement at each other, and as one, galloped over to me in a big furry, leggy mass!

barbiegirl

We got Sindy from my aunt, and every Christmas day since we've alled out to her with the dog. Her mum is very shy and hides away looking around the corner wagging her tail at her now grown up daughter, whilst granny and grandad sniff and lick, happy out to see she is doing so well.

They definitely recognise one another

Shazanne

My daughter adopted a puppy more than three years ago. Five months later I adopted a dog from the same shelter and, by pure coincidence, it turned out to be the puppy's mother!!
They were ecstatic to see each other and, even though my dog was wary of ALL other dogs, she would light up when her puppy was around!!
I always wondered if they knew their connection. I definitely feel they knew something.
That puppy now lives in Canada and, when we are on Skype, they get really excited when they see each other, while my dogs does not react to my daughters other dog at all!!
Weird but very, very true.