With their instincts and great senses of smell, hearing, and intuition, it’s a well-known fact that many female dogs make great parents to their litter.
They protect them and teach them how to interact with each other. But what about male dogs? Do male dogs play with and protect their puppies? And do male dogs recognize their own puppies?
In this article, we explore the reasons behind modern dogs’ behavior towards their puppies compared to their wolf ancestors.
How do dogs recognize each other?
You probably already know that dogs have a powerful sense of smell and that many dogs sniff each other when they meet. Dogs get a lot of information from smelling each other when they meet!
Dogs have two heavily scented sacs inside their rectum called the anal glands. These glands continually secrete a concentrated scent through two imperceptibly tiny openings. You don’t notice this scent since your dog’s stool masks it, but other dogs are acutely aware of it.
Your dog also has a unique tool that enhances its sense of smell. This device is called the Jacobson’s organ. Located in their nasal cavity, your dog’s Jacobson’s organ is designed especially for identifying the pheromones that make a dog’s smell unique.
What do dogs smell from each other?
When a dog sniffs another dog, the first thing they notice is whether they have met the other dog before, and they also get a sense of how the other dog is feeling. Are they healthy? Will they be aggressive? Will they be playful? How old are they?
The more dominant dog in the relationship is usually the one to begin the sniffing session, while the more submissive dog waits. Equally, the more submissive dog may be the one to start sniffing but retreat away early.
A more dominant dog may growl when they want the other dog to stop sniffing, while other dogs may simply sit down or clamp their tail down to hide their odor and avoid being sniffed at.
Can a dog recognize other dogs from long ago?
Yes, a dog’s scent memory is fantastic! If a dog has been separated from its family for a while, they sniff each other when they meet again. In this way, they can catch up on how old the other dog is now, where they’ve been, even what they ate and did! They can also smell if the other dog is the dominant or submissive one in the pair.
This relies on the dogs having met each other properly in the past, i.e. having sniffed each other thoroughly before.
Do puppies recognize their family?
As we touched upon above, for puppies to begin to recognize their family, they have to get to know each other properly.
When your dog was born, they probably lived with their mother and the rest of the litter for around eight weeks. They mostly slept during this time.
Then, at around three or four weeks, the mother started to leave the litter for short periods. As your puppy’s body developed and they got more freedom, your pooch started to play with their siblings and mother, learning how to get along with other dogs. This play is an important time in their life.
After this, at 3 to 12 weeks, your dog’s senses were fully developed. At this point, they began to get properly socialized with dogs outside their litter, putting the new skills they learned while they were playing to the test. At this stage, your puppy learns to discern between the scent of strange dogs and dogs in their family.
If your dog learns these skills as a puppy, they will be able to recognize their family.
Are male dogs paternal?
In the wild, wolf packs function as a big family. The social hierarchy is fundamental in a wolf’s life. One result of this sociability is increased paternity; a male Gray Wolf, for example, will often be seen bringing food to his mate after giving birth without question so that she can better focus on raising her newborn litter.
A father wolf is also incredibly protective of his pups. He will guard them against all danger and teach them all the skills they need to survive and hunt.
But modern dogs are not wolves. Today’s dogs have hardly any of the instincts they once had as wolves, including the paternal instinct. Humans fill most of the roles a father dog would usually carry out, like providing food and a safe place to rest.
How do male dogs behave towards their puppies?
Just because male dogs have less paternal instinct doesn’t mean they are automatically aggressive or indifferent towards their puppies. Just like with any other dog, a male father dog will go over to his puppies, greet them, and show some awareness that the puppies are young by acting a little more carefully. Male dogs may be gentle and playful towards puppies, playing with these small pooches carefully and without hurting them.
Do dogs recognize their own puppies?
According to a study at the Queen’s University of Belfast, it is likely that a dog can recognize their own puppies if they have been living together.
Several Golden Retriever, Labrador Retriever, and German Shepherd litters were placed in a room in the study. With both the puppy’s mother and an unfamiliar dog of the same breed and age in the room, 84% of the puppies preferred to approach and spend more time with their mother over the strange dog.
Even later, when the actual adult dogs had been replaced by the blankets they had slept on, 82% of the puppies preferred their mother’s bedding. And when it was a choice between their littermates’ bedding or that of a strange dog of the same breed, 70% of the puppies preferred the scent of their siblings.
What about when the pups grew up? Well, this researcher later conducted a similar study on dogs who were then two years old. Though they had been separated since eight weeks old, the dogs and their mothers still recognized each other’s scents on the clothes.
So, just because a male dog may act either playful or indifferent around their puppies, this doesn’t mean they don’t recognize them. It just indicates male dogs have very little instinct to be paternal or caring towards puppies.
How can I help my male dog recognize their puppies?
If you want your male dog to recognize their puppies, they must have the opportunity to get to know them while young. This means letting them sleep in a bed near the litter or taking them for walks with the puppies. When the puppies are a bit older, encourage them to play together.
