This is really fascinating. Though I've had cats for the past 25 years, I grew up with dogs, and have lots of friends with dogs, so I'm intrigued by their behavior. My sister had a male black lab mix named Indy who was super smart and generally well-adjusted, and one of my sister's best friends had a female yellow lab who was skittish and acted out when her people weren't home. They learned that if Indy came over to hang out (without people) then Ginger wouldn't act up! The joke was that Indy was Ginger's babysitter. Makes me wonder if she was anxious, and having him around calmed her down.