How dogs learn from each other

Dogs are social creatures, which means they are very sensitive to language bodies and other “messages” of their relatives. And they learn a lot from each other. Not only do they learn – dogs adopt moods from each other, and even the hormonal cycles of dogs living in the same house are often synchronized. 

Photo: pixabay

That is why, if you have several dogs, the behavior of one of them is necessarily connected with the behavior of the rest of the pets. If the dogs are friends, they run together (and often synchronize movements), play and sleep at the same time. 

The more affection between them, the more their behavior is synchronized. And this can be both a plus and a minus.

Sometimes people take advantage of it. For example, a puppy can learn some useful skills by observing the behavior of an adult dog, which is an authority for him. There is even such a method of training a dog as “imitation”, which is based precisely on the ability of dogs to learn from each other.

Photo: pixabay

But this seemingly useful feature has a downside. If your dog has behavioral problems and you take on a second dog (often with the hope of correcting the first one on his example), then most often the first one is not “corrected”, but, on the contrary, the newcomer acquires the bad habits of the old-timer.

Let’s say one of the dogs is prone to excessive barking. And soon both dogs begin to bark, and not only support each other, but even more “push” each other.

That is why you need to think several times and weigh the pros and cons before making a decision to take a second dog.