Have you ever wondered if your dog really knows how much you love them? Most of us are familiar with the idea of five love languages: affirmation, service, gifts, quality time, and physical touch. The idea of love languages was first proposed by Dr. Gary Chapman. In practice, the idea behind love languages is that because each of us experiences love differently, conflict within relationships can be avoided by understanding your partner’s love language, and then intentionally incorporating that into your interactions with one another. This got us thinking about dog love languages.
Before you got a dog, you probably had an idea, a vision of what life with your dog would be like. Maybe you pictured hiking together, cuddling together on the couch and watching movies, or competing in agility! Each of us wants different things from our relationship with our dogs, and similarly, each dog is looking for something unique as well—a love language if you will. Each dog is an individual, but there are breed and breed group traits that we think can correspond to some broader dog love languages. We hope this can help you better understand your dog and what they most want to do with you!
Remember, all dogs need enrichment, affection, and quality time with their people, regardless of their breed or breed mix. This article is just intended as a fun way to think about dominant breed traits and how they influence what your dog might see as the most valuable quality time with you.
Hound Dog Group
Hounds are an active group of dogs that were originally bred to help hunt either by finding prey with their highly sensitive nose or by chasing down game. These are dogs whose primary love languages are likely to be Give Me a Job and Let’s Play!
At Home: A fun way to help your hound feel fulfilled is to create games and challenges that utilize their natural instincts. This can look like chase games with you or toys, hiding treats in boxes, or pulling out some treat dispensing toys to help your dog use their skills
Out & About: If you’re ready to take your dog’s hunting and skills to the next level consider getting involved with sports like Scentwork or Fast CAT (open to all purebred and mixed breed dogs) or Lure Coursing (for sighthounds only).
Terrier Dog Group
Don’t let the (often) smaller size of these dogs fool you. Dogs in the terrier group are active and feisty little dogs. These dogs were developed to hunt rats and mice to protect their family’s farms and properties. Terrier breeds include Border Terriers, Cairn Terriers, Jack Russell Terriers, and Miniature Schnauzers. These spunky little dogs are active and tough, but also extremely loyal to their guardians and families making them pretty versatile in terms of love languages, but they are active busy dogs always looking for fun.
The lively loving and feisty terrier group is always ready for adventure, fun and games. The primary love languages of dogs in the Terrier group are Let’s Play and Give Me The Good Stuff.
At Home: Generally not content to be lap dogs, terriers are going to look for enrichment and activity in their day. You can create fun games/challenges for them to use their natural abilities by hiding toys or treats in boxes, under blankets, or in other rooms of your home and encouraging them to find them.
Out & About: Terriers excel at any sport or activity where they are able to use their nose. The terrier specific sport of Earthdog, where dogs go into man-made tunnels to search for rats (no rats are injured) is a lot of fun. Similarly, the sport of Barn Hunt which is open to all breeds is an excellent way to channel your terrier’s innate desire to find rodents.
Working Dog Group
As the name implies, the working group loves having a job to do. These breeds include Bernese Mountain Dogs, Boxers, Bullmastiffs, and Newfoundlands. These dogs were bred to do everything from guarding homes and pulling carts to rescuing people from drowning. Working dogs love to be needed and they take a lot of pride in a job well done.
These mostly very large dogs are powerful and passionate about training and learning and are very devoted to their people and their work. Their primary love language is Tell Me I’m a Good Dog and Give Me A Job.
At Home: These big dogs are always looking for something to do, and like to be of use around the house. To help your working breed dog feel fulfilled, teach them skills to help you around the house like putting their toys away, or helping you to carry things from room to room in the house.
Out & About: These large dogs love to work and there are a variety of sports and activities you can get involved with that use their natural abilities. Depending on your dog’s breed and what they were originally developed to do you might want to explore: water work, carting, or drafting.
Herding Dog Group
Herding dogs are some of the top athletes of the dog world. These exuberant active dogs excel at work and sports and are the kind of dogs who are generally happiest when they are getting to use their minds. No surprise, their primary love languages are Give Me A Job and Let’s Play.
Popular herding breeds include Australian Cattle dogs, Border Collies, German Shepherds, and Shelties. These smart and active dogs are extremely biddable and generally enjoy and excel in a variety of activities and sports. Herding breeds love to learn and be active. These dogs will feel the love if you keep them active with playing ball and other sports. Herding breeds enjoy solving puzzles and showing you how much they love you by having a job to do.
At Home: To show herding dogs how much you love them be sure to keep them active around the house. Playing with toys and learning tricks is a great way to show herding dogs how much you care. You can even give them chores around the house like teaching them how to put toys away in the toy basket.
Out & About: Herding dogs excel at a variety of canine sports. To help your herding dog feel loved and fulfilled consider taking classes or getting involved with sports like Agility and Flyball. You can even explore if your dog has the drive to herd through Treibball, where dogs herd balls, or actual Herding, a sport where a dog’s instinct around livestock and ability to move livestock from ducks to sheep is tested.
Toy Dog Group
Dogs in the toy group include the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Chihuahua, Italian Greyhound, Maltese, and Shih Tzu. Although the dogs in this group are as the name implies small in stature don’t underestimate them. Just because they are small doesn’t mean these little dogs don’t have big energy or personality. Most toy breeds were developed to be companion dogs, so these spunky little companions are very devoted and often see their person as the center of their universe. Their primary love languages are Let’s Snuggle and Give Me The Good Stuff.
At Home: These little pups are easy to spoil! Find time each day to spend quality time together. Anything big dogs can do little dogs can do as well, so even though these pups might love to cuddle don’t forget to get them up and active playing games you both enjoy at home or in the yard.
Out & About: Even though these small dogs might be right at home on your lap, it’s important to take them out on fun dates and activities like a vacation to dog-friendly destinations, visiting dog-friendly restaurants and shops. These little dogs can also be great athletes and enjoy sports and activities the same as any larger dog. Sports like canine freestyle (doggie dancing), agility, and scent work are all fun to explore with toy breeds.
Non-Sporting Dog Group
The non-sporting group is the most diverse group. Non-sporting breeds include Boston Terrier, Bichon Frise, Chow Chow, and Shar-Pei. This group looks diverse in terms of coat, size and appearance, and original function. From the Lhasa Apso that was bred to be affectionate but alert companions inside Tibetan monasteries, to Dalmatians which were bred to run alongside coaches, dogs in the non-sporting group have a very diverse range of love languages but are generally happy to be spoiled and played with! These dogs tend to have a love language of Let’s Play and Give Me The Good Stuff.
At Home: These spunky dogs enjoy a good time and make wonderful companions. You can keep these dogs active at home with training, games, and puzzles. You can purchase treat dispensing puzzles for your dog to play, or create your own by hiding treats in boxes or in a snuffle mat for your dog to find.
Out & About: Experiment with different sports and activities to see what your nonsporting breed excels at and finds most enjoyable. From Agility to Scent Work there are sports and classes that will fit the energy level of any dog.
Sporting Dog Group
Sporting dogs are athletic and active dogs always looking for a good time. They love to know when they’ve made you happy and to spend quality time with you. No surprise here, the primary love language for breeds in the Sporting Group are Tell Me I’m a Good Dog and Let’s Play.
Sporting breeds were first bred to work alongside hunters to retrieve or locate prey. They include setters, retrievers, spaniels, and pointers. They tend to feel at home in the water and field and enjoy the opportunity to be active alongside the people that they love. Most sporting dogs are happiest when they get to be out and doing things with you, and know that you are having a great time alongside them.
At Home: Sporting group dogs tend to love spending quality active time with you playing ball, hiking, and going on walks. They want to play and explore with you, so be sure to add lots of games and activity into your daily routines.
Out & About: To channel the sporting dog’s inner drive, spend time enjoying the great outdoors in activities like hiking. There are also a number of sports and activities you could consider, including Rally Obedience, field trials, or dock diving.
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Love languages in action
Here are some tips to keep in mind as you strengthen your bond with your dog through love languages:
- Give your dog more of what they want
When you are looking to spend more quality time with your dog, or just wanting to be more intentional in your daily life, it’s important to know what you want, and what your dog wants. A lot of conflict or challenges in people’s relationships and daily lives with their dogs come down to a mismatch of expectations in how you and your dog will spend quality time together aka mismatched love languages. For example, if you have a high drive active dog whose favorite thing to do is to run and chase balls, and your favorite thing is to cuddle, you might feel like you are spending lots of time with your dog, but your relationship is lacking something. Similarly, if you try to coerce your dog into cuddling, your dog might feel frustrated and just want to play. This doesn’t mean you don’t love each other, it just means you and your dog have different human/canine love languages. - Find Joy In Compromise
Like any relationship, the one you have with your dog can require some compromise. If you and your dog have different love languages or aren’t completely aligned on what sounds like the best way to spend time together. If you have a dog that isn’t naturally inclined to be cuddly with you but you like to cuddle with your dog use treats to call your dog onto the couch or into bed with you and praise/reward your dog for choosing to relax next to you. If you have a dog that you know is always ready for adventure, make sure to carve out some time in your daily and weekly schedule to play, walk, hike or learn new skills together. - Enrichment regardless of breed
Showing your dog you love them by meeting their social, emotional, training, enrichment needs is the best way that we can make clear to our dogs that we love and value them. It’s important to note that all dogs need enrichment. Check out our suggested ways to provide mental stimulation for your dog to exercise their body and mind
What are your dog’s main love languages? What are the things that you enjoy doing with them the most?
