“Social animals, i.e. dogs, or ants for that matter, will congregate, but it’s not to celebrate a class reunion, visit old friends, etc.......”
Well I don’t think anyone who has a domestic pet would think that either. But most people also don’t confuse a pet animal’s basic survival instincts with their “personality” (ie what makes them a unique animal to them). People who have multiple animals ofthe same kind know all those animals have some basic things in common in terms of general behaviors and what certain signs are pretty universal. But then the person sees that some like certain things more, dislikes other things more, really enjoys certain activities, doesn’t like so much other activities, does a certain thing if you’re late, does a certain thing to express happiness, displeasure, sadness, has different favorite places in the house, etc etc - the unique attributes of their own personailties. We know this to be true because as we spend more time with our pets and get to know them better, we begin to recognize what ‘normal’ behavior is for them. “Charlie always jumps all over when he sees me coming with his bowl, but Rufus always runs over and sits at the same spot and waits for me to set the bowl down. Charlie isn’t jumping today, that really isn’t like him, maybe there’s something wrong.”
Nobody here is talking about animals having the same cognitive abilities that people do, but you don’t have to have all that to have unique traits and personalities (animalities if that is getting to you) that make that animal different and special to you.
And that's a human interpretation of typical alpha and beta behavior between two associated dogs...purely instinctual roles they have assumed. Certainly, when one acts out of sorts, that's an indicator that something is wrong or there's another external stimuli they're responding to. That's precisely where humans, as the responsible keepers and stewards of animals, assume the onus of knowing and understanding these drives so they can interpret them correctly in the context of their being dogs, rather than read human motivations onto them.
A typical example is when novice pet owners visit a breeder and one of the puppies departs the litter and walks to them. They'll choose that dog because, "He chose me!" In fact, they've probably merely chosen the most assertive, alpha-oriented puppy in the litter and nothing more.