Do your dogs teach each other?

Bad boy Duke teaches Freckles how to get into mischief and then acts innocent of any wrong doing. I know this from the following example. Duke use to pull a prank on us by going to stand by the door to go out as soon as we sat down at the kitchen counter to eat. One of us would get up to let him out but as soon as we would open the door he would walk away and I could almost hear him chuckling like "Ha, made them get up again". We finally wised up to this little ruse by observing that when he really needed to go out he would touch the doorknob with his nose. When he would do that he would go out.
Duke finally quit with this "joke" but now Freclkes pulls the same antic. Problem is we can't read when Freckles really needs to go out so we get up every time. Most of the time Freckles will pull the Duke trick and walk away as soon as we open the door. Duke had to teach him to do this.
Another "lesson" Duke has passed on is how to escape the baby gate. We usually just keep it propped against the opening to contain the boys in the den. About two weeks ago when we returned from our jog the boys met us at the front door having squeezed between the gate where it leaned against the door frame. Duke is the one who figured this out as more than once I caught him with his nose in the gap. Now Freckles has learned that it must be OK to "escape" in that fashion so now I have to lock the gate into place whenever we leave them alone.
If it were a case of Freckles just following Dukes example, why did Duke then stop the door trick once he got Freckles to do it? I truly think that Duke just amuses himself getting Freckles into trouble.

 

Lana was the third dog that I got. I never trained her to do anything, but she learned everything by watching Winnie. She can sit, laydown, shake, sit pretty, come, and stay, and I never taught her a thing.

Sydney taught lana to bark...lol...I dont like that one!

 

Nala taught Bonnie to chase the cats (swell). Nala also learns from watching the kids. The kids were climbing over furniture rather than taking gates down, so Nala learned to scale the furniture as well. We had to buy more gates (and train the kids) in order to remedy the problem.

I think Bonnie learned to wait for a release word before eating from watching Nala. I tried to teach Bonnie, but it wasn't happening. I finally gave up. Several months later, she suddenly started doing it.

 

Sebastian taught Natalie to howl at the fire engines, to lunge at the cats if they come near the couch if she is laying on it and to lift her leg and mark everything during walks.
Natalie taught Sebastian to bark at the next door neighbor. :roll:

 

LOL, Nern. It sounds like they are being really helpful. :?

 

Yep, I can't think of anything beneficial that they've taught each other and although, I do get a kick out of them howling at the fire trucks I'm not sure my neighors feel the same. :|

 

Our dog learned from the cat, unfortunately. She thinks she can sit in our lap (she's a 50 lb Aussie Shep mix), fit under the bed, and climb the cat tree. *Doh*

 

Dogs are great mimmickers, one of the problems that comes up in training is the owner will say that the dog 'suddenly' started digging when he's never done it before, I ask them if theyve recently been doing any gardening and putting plants in, or diiging holes to put in fencing or something and if the dog was there while this was being done, almost every time the answer has been yes or another dog has been brought into the house that already digs, the original dog that may have never done this before will start to do it....the dog is just copying what theyve done. They learn to copy so easy, its what make training possible, they associate certain movements with commands, Ive had dogs that have been reluctant to lay down (Ive found this works with fearful dogs more than any other type), Ive actually laid down on the ground next to them...it works every time. Even on automatic sits, I will act as though Im starting to sit down and they 'fall' into a sit position (that probably sounds a little odd...it doesnt look as crazy as it sounds)

 

We were always VERY careful to NOT dig in front of our rat terrier mixes. We figured once they got started, they would tunnel to China and back. We never did have digging problems with them.

 

LOL, thank god nothing, since they each have their own bad habits, dont want that to multiply, interesting Delauk about the digging, that they would mimic you, I have never heard of that.

 

we have a 9 year old Keeshound who has had the entire house to himself for all that time, then came Winnie, she is an 11 mon. old maltipoo who does what ever she wants. LOL BUT there are times when she crosses that line and here comes Logan (keeshound) to correct her. She use to jump on the trash can until Logan started pushing her off, she no longer does it. He also corrects her if she tries to check out the bags from the grocery store (if I leave them on the floor while bringing them all in from the car) He knows what is off limits in the house and he make sure she knows it. Logan is our built in babysitter.

 

Thats hillarious! I think Natalie (my aussie x) learned from my cats too. When she was younger she jumped up on the coffee table a couple times to get onto the couch...she saw the cats do this all the time. And I used to have a huge rabbit cage a few years back and the cats would always sleep on top of it. I caught Natalie up there with them on more than one occasion, she was much smaller back then of course.
Also, whenever I bring out the wands that I play with the cats with she joins in batting at them with her paws just like the cats do. :mrgreen:

 

Maybe it's just the Aussies that're the weirdos? :m39:

 

If so, then Nala must have some Aussie in her because she's definitely a weirdo!

 

Definately my dogs teach each other...

I haven't planned it this way, but it seems a new dog finds it's way into our lives during the last years of an older pet... The young one learns just how to act in our household, and the old one seems to get a little younger with the puppy around...

The tricky part is to enjoy the puppyhood, without making the older pet left out in it's retirement...

Course now that we are up to six pets, there is never a lack of some critter willing to keep the new pet in line...

:roll:

 

Harley definately learned from the cats she lived with before we rescued her. She always nuzzled with them and saw them rub their little heads into the owners face. She also attempts this now, but she is my 70lb muscle baby. It feels more like a head but, but I can't get mad b/c I know she means well. hehe

 

It was great training my two Rotts, because I found the easiest one to train and trained him. I tought him to sit, stay, give a paw, lay down, etc. But didn't teach his sister a thing because she didn't have the patience for it. I would give him alot of love, treats, and make his sister jealous. Lo and behold, I asked her to sit and give a paw, and she did it.
On the other hand...He did teach her how to bolt out the door and out of the yard when the door was open, so we had to put them both outside whenever someone was coming over. :roll: