We all know that, for some unknown reason, yawns amoung humans can eb contagious. However, is that the case between humans and animals? One of my dogs will literally catch my yawns; he’ll almost always yawn about five to ten seconds after I yawn. My other dog doesn’t catch my yawns, and could care less.
Title changed at the request of the OP. Although I was tempted to leave it be 
It would have made for interesting reading.
-xash
General Questions Moderator
This doesn’t answer the question, but just so we’re all on the same page: Cecil on contagious yawns.
Incidentally, for everyone wondering what the original title of this thread was, it appears as the title of the OP. I agree it would have been funny.
OK, I’ve read the Cecil report, but that won’t inhibit me from coming up half-bakedly with another version that I maybe read somewhere, sometime.
Yawning involves a counteraction to drowsiness.
Yawning pulls in the oxygen and also bumps up the bloodpressure and altogether increases alertness at least for the moment. Associated stretching contributes to the above, plus to physical readiness (maybe you have been unmoving a while and would move stiffly if you were to stand up, but after a stretch you would be more quick and flexible).
It is catching because we are social animals and can’t really allow the others around us to be more ready (for whatever) than we are. So we yawn too, and catch up. Non-contenders like babies and pets don’t stimulate our yawns to nearly the same extent.
There are lots of things we do that keep us sync’d up with our immediate groups. We laugh together, drink together, eat together, spread moods to or get moods contagiously from the people around us–excitement spreads, anger is contagious, gloom and boredom bring us down. Music shares mood.
Social animals probably act more efficiently when the whole group is on the same track.
Suggested experiment: put two non-social-animals together, wait till one yawns, see if the other one does too. Experimenter is not allowed to yawn while waiting for this to occur.