Can a Shepherd Recognize Another Shepherd?

We went to the dog park yesterday.  Oh, joy!  Oh, joy!

There were lots of dogs.  Big dogs like me.  I didn't know any of them. They weren't doing much of anything except hanging around.  So Mom decided to take things into her own hands (and my paws) and pulled out - you guessed it! - my Frizbee!  WOW! Instant pandemonium.

First Sherm had it.  That's me in the back trying to catch Sherm.  That's Bella in the middle.

Then Bella got it.  And that's Camp trying to tackle Bella.  And me in the back again.

You might think I should be more anxious to save my own Frizbee.  But really, I just like to chase around with the other dogs and if it takes my Frizbee to do it, then so be it. 

I didn't tell you about Camp.  He's BIG.  And he came up to me when I came into the Dog Park.  He growled at me through the fence.  Mom was a little scared and she wouldn't let me out of the second gate until me and Camp talked a little through the fence.  When she was sure he wouldn't eat me, she let me out.

We did our regular sniffing dance.  And then he got to playing pretty rough.  Well I know how to play rough too.  So we tussled and hassled each other and he growled a little.  His owner asked Mom whether I had some Shepherd in me.  Mom told him she thought so.  He said that his Shepherd only plays rough like that with other shepherds. So maybe that answers whether I'm a shepherd or not?

When we got home, Mom helped me Google whether a dog can recognize it's own breed.  We found some pretty interesting stuff.  Apparently no one has done an experiment that shows that a dog CAN recognize his own breed.  Although there is some speculation that because a dog sees his brothers and sisters when he is young, he might recognize and be more comfortable with dogs that look like that. 

But there was a different question that they did do an experiment on.  And I didn't think about it, but I know when I see a Chihuahua that it's a dog like me.  I also know that when I see a Great Dane, it is also a dog like me. 

The experiment said that dogs can recognize their own species even though they are really different.  Lots different than say a human from Asia and a human from USA.  I think that's pretty cool.  We are all dogs.  Just like Asians and Americans and Iranians and everybody else are all humans. 

I think that might be what they call profound.

Go out and say hello to all your humans!

Love, G.