[Cheezdude]

Just gonna say, I haven't bothered looking into this. I've just been thinking about it all day. And also, sorry if there's already a topic on this.

I know dogs definitely have different personalities, including introverted and extroverted, but to what extent do these personalities go? (i.e. can they have personalities as complex as kids, or as adult humans?)

For example, my dog isn't very social. He's extremely loyal, protecting, and loving though. Another dog of ours is extremely energetic and social, and my introverted dog (Hershey) gets really annoyed by him sometimes. Then Hershey goes to the corner of the couch and sleeps for a lot of the day.

Am I just being silly? I feel like this is a really silly topic, but I thought it would be interesting to discuss.

 

[ii V I]

Ya, I think animals are totally subject to primordial forms of being, or archetypes.
Humans probably seem like they express this more dynamically, because we are human.

 

[purplewool]

Going to ramble a bit:

I too have witnessed that dogs can be categorized by their personality. I have also noticed, however, that most of it is due to the nuturing side of things.

For example, every single dog my family has had becomes a total suck, always-by-your-side kind of animal. Towards other dogs, like in the dog park, they seem indifferent until I put my own attention on another dog, or another dog put their attention on me. Then, jealousy! rage! a normally sweet disposition turns sour.

This is because we don't make a point of socializing our dogs with others at a young age, and we spoil them heinously. Does this make them an introvert? It may make it seem like it. But maybe it's something else such as loyalty to the point of being their property.

But maybe that's not the kind of thing you're talking about. I don't know, like I said, I was going to ramble a bit.

 

[Laeona]

Maybe I'm taking this way out there, but I see individual personalities for any type of animal or bird, and even in insects. Some will be more aggressive, others gentle. Some will be more outgoing, others timid or fearful. Some are even more spiteful, others giving. I find I adjust my approach toward a creature based on what I read from their behavior, not preconceived notions of how something is supposed to be according to their species. o_0 I must be weird...

 

[milti]

I'm hugely interested in animal behaviour and psychology and spend hours around various kinds of creatures observing them. I definitely believe animals have more personality than we give them credit for. They probably don't have deeper motivations or ruses or "layers" to their personality like humans do, due to an inability to put on a facade, but each one is definitely wired to interact differently with the outside world, just as we are as babies and kids.
I've known pets whose strongest personality trait is just wanting to be pampered and spoiled (and these are dogs that grew up on the streets and never knew luxury to get used to it so much), others who just want to come up, say hello, and then be left alone, yet others who are openly thrilled when they have a big crowd of people to meet and greet, and some that are plain unfriendly. I can tell apart lil Grumpy (or whatever other trait) from his siblings from a litter of just a few weeks old.
We have had 3 cats in our life and the first one, who lived the longest, was definitely some sort of I..J. She liked only her favourite people (she had a heirarchy of "likes" in her head :tongue she liked things done only a certain way (a certain kind of fish on Sundays; if it didn't appear on Sundays she knew something was off; if it appeared on Saturday instead she knew something was off) and she was a great listener (easy to sit down with and talk to because she was rarely distracted by other things).
Her baby was some kind of E..P; she liked to explore the world and she ran away from home as soon as she could. She was always good at wriggling out of places.
Our current baby is some kind of I..P. Terribly opinionated, very cuddly, but hisses at people she doesn't recognise.

 

[milti]

@Laeona I totally get that! It's always been a part of my personality too, even as a child, to look for the human-like qualities in animals.

 

[amethyst_butterfly]

My dog is introverted with other humans, it takes her time to trust people including other members of the family such as cousins and aunts. She is agressive with strangers which is good because she serves as a guard dog even though she is a mutt.

She is very loving and caring, is funny how we communicate, we both know how we are feeling. She knows when I am in pain or happy, and I can read her emotions as well.

Dogs are obviously sensors since they rely on their senses to survive, they use a little of intuition as well.

She is very clean and organized despite that she sheds a lot of hair and we have to constantly sweep the floor. She is very obedient as well.

My wild guess is ISFJ just like my mommy!