Your Dog’s Temperament Will Influence How Far It Will Travel

One of the main factors that influences a dog’s travel distance is its own temperament. The way a dog behaves towards strangers influences how far it might travel when lost before someone intervenes and rescues it. There are THREE behavioral categories into which lost dogs are classified.

GREGARIOUS

You know the type – very social dogs that will likely go directly to the first person who calls them and then greet them in wiggly-butt fashion. Gregarious dogs are usually found close to home or will be picked up by someone close to the point of escape. More often than not, due to their friendly nature, gregarious dogs are often adopted by the people who find them.

ALOOF

Dogs with aloof temperaments are wary of strangers initially and typically try to avoid human contact. When they become hungry enough and have overcome their fear, they will accept contact from people. While these dogs can travel a great distance, aloof dogs eventually can be won over with food and patience, typically by those who know how to approach wary dogs. Dogs with aloof personalities are often not recovered for weeks or months after their escape and usually will appear homeless or abused because of the long amount of time they have spent outside of their home.

XENOPHOBIC

Xenophobia is defined as the “fear of things strange or foreign”. Dogs (and cats too) become xenophobic due to genetics or traumatic experiences when they were puppies. Dogs exhibiting this temperament are more inclined to travel farther and are thus at a higher risk of being hit by cars. Due to their fearful behavior which often presents as cowering, people assume xenophobic dogs were abused by their owner and will refuse to contact them even if the dog is properly tagged. Often, xenophobic dogs will even run from their owners. Baited dogs traps are a great way to recover them without incident.

You know your dog better than anyone. Often a dog won’t fully fit into a specific temperament category but will show characteristics of more than one.