Has there ever been any research on whether dogs themselves recognize canine breeds? Would a labrador retreiver for example think that another labrador retriever was more like itself than a collie or a german shepherd? Would a great dane even recognize a chihuhua as being another dog or would it think it was some different kind of animal? All other things being equal, do dogs shows patterns of preference for playing with or breeding with specific breeds? When cocker spaniels aren’t in the room, do all the other dogs tell jokes about them?
Portuguese Water Dogs supposedly have a reputation for what is called “breed recognition.” When Bailey (one of my PWDs) was younger, she showed a preference for playing with other PWDs. If there were 20 or 30 other dogs at a dog park, and one of them was another PWD, she’d usually end up playing with it. Bailey is now six, and she’s now more sedentary at the dog park; still friendly with other dogs, but usually sticking around the humans or her adopted brother, Guinness.
Guinness, my seven year old PWD, will play with any other dog, regardless of breed.
All anecdotal, of course.
More anecdotes:
Each of our Boxers has demonstrated a very different reaction on seeing other Boxers than other breeds. Both have been rather friendly females that would take notice of other dogs when seen from a car or while taking a walk, but when they would see other Boxers, they would give the high-pitched “let me go visit my friend” whine that was generally reserved for our family or regular visitors to our house.
And to echo tomndeb’s observation: Buster, my boxer, has another boxer, Bruno, as his bestest friend in the world. In general, he displays more happiness when he meets another boxer, except for Oscar, who is quite dominant and hard. Oscar’s idea of fun is fighting.
I’ve also noticed that Buster shows greater affection for similar breeds (either superficially or in style): The flat face of a pug seems to trigger his “aaaw, a puppy” reaction. English bulldogs get a positive reaction too, as do amstaffs and pitbulls.
Let me share a pic I got of Bruno when he recognized Buster. That’s uncontrollable joy.
All anecdotal, of course.
From my experiences at ADBA shows I’ve seen that Pit bulls are more aggressive towards other pit bulls than towards other breeds. I think that is due to meeting another dog with a pit bull temperment and dog-on-dog aggression.
I heard once (sorry, no cite) that sometime in the 1960’s on a children’s television programme in northern England, the largest and smallest dogs in Yorkshire were brought on to the same programme. The big dog was something like a Pyrenean Mountain Dog or similar, the small one was a chihuahua which reacted to the big dog by yapping continuously.
The big dog finally got annoyed and - live on children’s TV - bit off the little dog’s head.
I got the feeling that neither dog realised the other was from the same species.
This may just be an urban legend, so take it with as much salt as you wish.
My GF’s Border Collie mix definately recognizes certain breeds that have shown her agression in the past. She is nice with most dogs, but will pre-emptively growl and pull towards an Akita and some other breeds.
While we’re sharing anecdotes: I know a labrador who doesn’t quite look like other labradors. His face and ears are different to the point where I doubt that he is in fact a purebred labrador, but he’s got all his papers and yada-yada. Anyway, he generally doesn’t care about other dogs. Usually, it’s like he doesn’t notice them unless they really bother him. Except this one time, when he encountered a dog that looked exactly like him. Same face and ears. He froze in place, dropped his tennis ball (which he otherwise guards with his life), stared at the other dog, and then ran over to play. He stayed around this dog until it and its humans were going home, when he followed them and even tried to enter their car.
In his case, at least, he definitely noticed a difference. Our best guess was that the other dog looked like his siblings or parents and triggered some childhood memories.
Yes, I fully believe that dogs recognize their own breeds.
I refer to my Papillons as snobs. They largely ignore other breeds of dog, except other Papillons. They will only play with other Paps, and I have noticed this with friend’s Paps, as well.
The Gordon Setters will play with other dogs, but their reaction to other Gordies is unmistakable. I’ll give an example. In late summer of 2003, I had to have my male Gordon, Corey put to sleep, leaving my Gordon Girl Fancy without another Gordon to play with (there are VERY few here in town). In May 2004, I went to a Gordon Setter specialty dog show, just to watch, and took Fancy along. As soon as we got out of the car and she saw ALL those Gordons around her, she just went bonkers! Wiggling from nose to tail, making high-pitched puppy yips (this from a dignified almost 10 year old dog!). It was so obvious she was saying "They’re like ME!!)
I work at a doggie ay care facility, and I see it all the time there, too. Labs hang out with other Labs, Dachshunds with other Dachshunds.
More anecdotal evidence:
I grew up with a couple of German shepherds (Alsatians for some of you I suppose) & they both became far more agitated/exciting encountering full or half breed shepherds than any other type of dog. Sometimes it’d be playful & sometimes aggressive, but always more intensity.
I have no anecdotes to offer, nor any other contribution except a word of caution. Dogs are receptive to the behaviour of their owners and proud owners may, inadvertently, communicate their own preferences to their dogs.
One of my parent’s Irish Wolfhounds was raised with their Jack Russells. As a result, she thinks she’s a terrier and will happily play with them. The other Wolfhound is dumb as a box of rocks. I sometimes wonder if he realizes he’s a dog.
-Lil
I used to know a male chihuihui who got real friendly with the female german shepard who was in heat at their house. It didn’t go well, but he certainly recognised her as another dog.
My sister’s irish wolfhound thinks the cats in his household are other dogs, either that or he is just making do. Something about a 100 pound puppy that is problematic.
Drat, I knew I should have looked up the spelling of chihuahua. Curse you Less Nessman!
That’s Les Nessman.
The key question, of course, is “Do other dogs think French Poodles belong to some weird religious cult?” "D
My Malemute doesn’t meet too many others specifically of her breed, but she is definitely predisposed to like dogs who are furry, have prick ears and curly tails. She’ll go play with an American Eskimo or a Shiba Inu in preference to a Labrador because they look more like her, even though the Lab is much more her size and much more likely to want to play with her. She goes apeshit whenever we see a husky, and the few times we’ve met up with wolf crosses or other Malemutes she’s just ecstatic.
I definitely think dogs prefer their own breeds–it makes sense, since doglike animals are pretty much cross fertile and if it weren’t for snobbishness we’d see a LOT more coydogs and wolf crosses occurring naturally than we do. 
I don’t understand how a dog would recognize its own breed, because dogs don’t usually know what they look like. (My dogs all think the dog in the mirror is another dog and will bark at it.)
I’m thinking that there might be some sort of scent-imprint-- that they might be more attracted to dogs that smelled like their mother or siblings, but if a poodle was raised with a litter of boxers, it would stand to reason the poodle would think he’s a boxer.
I’ll offer some anecdotal “evidence” as well.
I owned a German Shepherd pup and there was an adult German Shepherd we’d meet each night when I walked him. Since the first time they met, it was almost like a family reunion - kind of a “big brother little brother” relationship. It was really something to see. They’d run back and forth, playing with each other. I like to think that they recognized each other as “special” because they were both German Sherperds.
Still as ticker has said, maybe a lot of this has to do with the owners as opposed to any canine phenomenon.
I think it might have a lot to do with disposition, as others have mentioned.
My Dolly has been going to school for 4 years. She’s always been ambivalent to other dogs - she’s way more interested in people. There’s another, older, male Golden Retriever named Rex who’s been in school with us for about 2 years. All of the other (usually smaller) dogs jump on Dolly when they’re excited, and they bark. Rex is very laid back and never says a word to her. And he’s also not too interested in other dogs. In fact, he was rescued and used to be a mean dog. After some training he got better, and Dolly was the first dog he was around that he wasn’t agressive with - because she’s his size, and doesn’t jump and bark or get up into his face.
If you visited our class you might think that Dolly and Rex were buddies because they’re both goldens. But it’s really because they have very similar temperments and attitudes towards other dogs.
At my aunt’s house there’s a big mutt (possibly wolf hound and lab) and a crazy boxer mutt. Occasionally my cousin’s spazzy, barky golden retriever is there too. He’s the same size and color as Dolly and looks more like her than Rex (the one at school) and she can’t stand him. She can’t stand the crazy boxer either. Just the big, laid back dog.
I would LOVE to see her interact with a bunch of goldens though. It’d be really interesting to see how she interacts with a bunch of dogs that are about the same size and temperment.