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Imitation In Dogs Matches Humans and Apes

Posted by Unknown on from the that's-where-fido-picked-up-his-bad-habits dept.

sciencehabit writes "The next time your dog digs a hole in the backyard after watching you garden, don't punish him. He's just imitating you. A new study reveals that our canine pals are capable of copying our behavior as long as 10 minutes after it's happened. The ability is considered mentally demanding and, until this discovery, something that only humans and apes were known to do."

1 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Re:THAT explains it! by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 4, Informative

    That's behavior that most mammals do when they teethe due to physical discomfort.

    Just give your puppy his own chew toys that he KNOWS are his and quickly correct him when he tries to chew on things not his and he'll soon learn what he can and can't chew on. Of course, different breeds are easier to train than others so YMMV.