Does Your Dog Mirror Others?

[corvus]

I was at the dog park with Kivi and Erik yesterday and Erik got into this submission contest with another dog. It was pretty funny as they both determinedly tried to greet from the lower position. They ended up rolling around on the ground like fools. Photographic evidence:

Anyway, it occurred to me that Erik doesn't often greet that way. He used to do it to all dogs when he was younger, but these days not many dogs get that treatment. I wondered why he would particularly do it to another dog that was behaving very submissively. We know this dog a little and he is extremely submissive to everyone. I wondered if Erik was mirroring him, kind of like other social animals sometimes mirror each other when they are together.

Have you ever seen your dog act out of character to match another dog's behaviour?

[corvus]

Oh, oh! I just thought of another explanation that's probably better. We'd been doing a lot of training and tug with Erik just before this, and he'd been on the ground sharing a stick with Kivi a moment before. I wonder if he was just in a particularly social state from all those happy social activities and that made him behave more submissively than usual and this other submissive dog coming along was unrelated?

[wuffles]

My younger dog copies my older dog A LOT. I haven't noticed her copying any other dogs though.

The older dog was shaking his head for a day or two due to an itchy ear. I took them on a walk together. He stopped and shook his head. She stopped, looked at him, and shook her head. Twice on the same walk.

The younger one wees when the older one wees. It's quite amusing because he cocks his leg on everything, she looks at him and squats in the middle of whatever she's doing at the time.

She watches him like a hawk for his reactions to other dogs, and just does what he does. If he gets excited, she gets excited. If he ignores the other dog, she will ignore the other dog.

People at the dog park have commented about her 'copycat' behaviour. He will play with another dog, then once he's bored, he will walk off. Ava will go to the same dog and engage play, doing the exact same things as Satch had just done, even if it's not in her usual play style at all.

This is one of the reasons I walk and train them separately as much as possible There are a few habits of his that we do NOT want her picking up on!!

Edit: Just thought of yet another one. If he eats grass, she eats grass. He only does it occasionally and she ONLY does it after she's seen him doing it.

Edited January 18, 2011 by wuffles

[dee lee]

Occasionally Honey does.

She wasnt well socialised when I got her and had difficulty relating to other dogs (my theory from observing her).

She has been exposed to a lot of dogs in the last year and is much better now (though not very social- which is fine with me) but I believe she is still learning about body language and every now and then mirrors other dogs if they run up to her.

Its cute- its quite clear that as a fairly submissive dog she has worked out a non confrontational way to relate to other dogs.

[Bundyburger]

No I haven't, but I have synchronised peeing and pooping with my two if that counts as mirroring behaviour? It happens nearly every time they go outside

[mita]

Funny you should ask! We used to notice, a great deal, that our 2 shelties would mirror each other. They'd be snoozing, yet both would be lying in exactly the same position. Like flat out on side with legs stretched out, or curled around, or whatever. We even used those words to describe what they'd do....mirroring each other. They're weren't litter mates & weren't related. But their 'mirroring' was as if they were identical twins.

We don't notice tibbies doing it at all. But it was very pronounced with the shelties.

[wuffles]

Funny you should ask! We used to notice, a great deal, that our 2 shelties would mirror each other. They'd be snoozing, yet both would be lying in exactly the same position. Like flat out on side with legs stretched out, or curled around, or whatever. We even used those words to describe what they'd do....mirroring each other. They're weren't litter mates & weren't related. But their 'mirroring' was as if they were identical twins.

We don't notice tibbies doing it at all. But it was very pronounced with the shelties.

My dogs definitely do this as well :D

[Diva]

The only mirroring I see here is in the position at rest of dogs within the 'family' group.

Often if one dog is lying down on it's left side, or in the sphinx position, or curled up, or whatever, the others will lie down near them in exactly the same position and orientation. If one changes position either the others do too or they get up and move to a different spot.

The 'first' dog is variable, so if it's a pack order thing it's a highly situational and dynamic order they have going. I have viewed it as a sort of bonding behaviour for lack of another explanation, but it's intriguing. :D

[Bjelkier]

The only thing I have ever noticed was with Alchemy and her best doggie friend Grunt the Bullmastiff.

The girls are the same age (only a few days between birthdays) and have grown up together.

Whenever they meet they copy what the other is doing, both almost grind themselves into the dirt trying to get lower and lower (it ends up much like that photo) but when both girls meet other dogs they act differently.

[Bubitty]

Yes!!!!!

I often find my two sitting around in the EXACT same positions and with the same expressions.

It’s really quite intriguing as even the slight curve in their paw or the way their ears lie are identical.

I think its so cute! When Bitty was a pup they looked like “Big Me” and “Mini Me”

[mita]

Our big question was, why the mirroring behaviour was so strong in the shelties. But not there at all in the tibbies.

My speculation was, did it have to do with the fact the shelties are a herding breed???? And dogs, when herding, kind of work together with each other's body language???

Tibbies have great bonding in a group of their own breed. They're very tribal. My tibbies can pick out a car parked hundreds of metres away that has a tibbie in it. But I've never seen that specific mirroring behaviour among them. Shelties? All the time. :D

[Diva]

Our big question was, why the mirroring behaviour was so strong in the shelties. But not there at all in the tibbies.

My speculation was, did it have to do with the fact the shelties are a herding breed???? And dogs, when herding, kind of work together with each other's body language???

Well Borzoi aren't a herding breed, and they do it at my place. But they do work together when they hunt.

[W Sibs]

Yep. Emmy does a lot.

Charlie doesn't. He is his own person dog.

[CBL]

We often get Patch and Lilly doing 'syncronized doggies' when they sleep next to each other.

[corvus]

Ah, synchrony. Sometimes Kivi and Erik do that.

I wonder if the Sheltie propensity for it is one of those funny selevtive breeding side effects or if it goes hand in hand with some Sheltie trait? My boys are both quite social and very close.

Or maybe it's like mirror neurons in people. Although no one really knows what they do exactly or whether dogs have them. But there's an interesting article about them here that uses a dog example: http://www.talkingbrains.org/2009/09/what-...ally-doing.html

[Boronia]

Daisy mirrors the other two but mostly when there is food to be offered, when we first got her 11 months ago (when she was 7) she wouldn't eat the pieces of banana/cucumber/pawpaw/carrot we offered, she soon changed her tune when she realised she may be missing out on stuff.

I don't think she had ever been in the water either, but will now follow Mac into the sea up until their feet leave the bottom, she is pretty proud of herself

[newfsie]

Our newfie pup mirrors the older a lot

This is two dogs