My sister, for example, has had an older Shih-Tzu (spayed) female for a number of years. Well, last year they got a male puppy (emperor dog size), and lately the female has been emulating the male by lifting her leg when she urinates.
So, have any of your pets learned tricks and things from each other without your input or even foreknowledge?
We took care of a neighbor’s Jack Russel Terrier for a week while the neighbor was out of town. The dog learned how to look cute and beg food at the table in 3 hours flat.
I have 2 Gordon Setters; Kharma, the female, is 18 months older than nick, the male. Nick is show quality, and when he was a puppy, I didn’t want to train him tricks that he might whip out in the show ring, embarrassing all concerned. Kharma, on the other hand, is just a much loved pet, and she enjoys learning silly tricks.
When Nick was about 4 months old, I was working with Kharma one evening, teaching her to wave for a treat. Nick was watching intently, and all of a sudden, he waved at me when I gave Lharma the command!
Well, the not training Nick silly tricks has gone right out the window; he has learned every trick Kharma knows, simply by watching her getting treats for doing them.
He still knows what works best for him tho- when he wants a treat, he goes to the kitchen, looks right at the treat jar, and places himself in PERFECT show position! Such a silly boy!
I have three cats. River, the interesting one, began drinking from their water bowl by soaking her front paw in it, taking it out, and licking the drips that come off it.
After a few months, we noticed Inara, our calm and sane cat, doing the same thing.
We figure she learned it from River.
Maybe it’s just instinctive, but my dogs have shared a maneuver that is very entertaining to watch.
I have two young mastiffs, Beau is 17 months, Mojo almost 5 months.
A couple months ago, we had a lab mix over for a playdate with my older dog. They were out in the dog run running back and forth, playing chase. We sat there watching.
A number of times, the lab hid behind the corner of the house and “ambushed” Beau. He would lead Beau down the dog run stretch, then hide behind the wall, leaping out at him when Beau came around the corner.
Beau was delighted with this game, and when Mojo became old enough to play with the big guys, Beau ambushed Mojo.
Sunday morning, Mojo had his own first playdate with a puppy his age.
Sure enough, after they got to know each other a bit and began running around, Mojo did the ambush trick.
We had a pack of German Shepard mixes when I was growing up. They were mainly outdoor dogs and we had a lot of land for them to run on. They somehow learned to bound in a line like deer while running when they got really excited and they taught their puppies to do it to. For a few years, we had a motley crew of nancy boy ballet guard dogs. I have never seen any other dogs do it.
I’ve got a story about a failure to learn, for a change.
Friends of mine had a kitchen door made up smallish glass panels. One of the upper panes got broken and, for whatever reason, didn’t get replaced. Their eldest cat learned that if she found herself shut in the kitchen, she could leap from the bench through this empty panel. The younger cats tried to do the same, but they never got the hang of which panel was empty. Every now and again, we’d be sitting in the lounge and hear the muffled thump of a cat trying to pounce through a pane of glass.
Barbara cat can open doors. He opens them and goes through. Hedwig cat learned how to open doors. He opens them and stares with his mouth open. If they swing shut, he does it again.
My girl learned to sit for a treat from her brother. We did not teach her that.
We had one cat for a year when we got another one. Dewey couldn’t hunt worth shit until Edison taught him.
Then we got Stokie, who was feral and didn’t know how to play with toys, but the other two taught him that, too.
Sorry, duplicate.
We have had a lot of dogs, but my peke, Smudge, would balance exactly on his butt until you gave him a treat. It was something he learned before coming to live with us. Our little terrier mix watched him get treats for that and so she taught herself to sit up and beg too.
As I own parrots, and parrots, well, they parrot each other, I could probably come up with dozens of examples. However, one came to mind strongly this morning.
My cockatiel Sunny spontaneously started dunking Cheerios in his water bowl. I guess he liked them softened up a bit. Now all three of the birds dunk their Cheerios.
Yep, we had the same gender swap - about 2 weeks after we got our female, she started lifting her leg and the male started squatting.
But I also think there’s something in our water that makes every dog who crosses our threshold just plain neurotic.
My puppy, when she was a puppy, learned the command ‘release’ from visiting my son’s dogs. That was a handy one.
Sometimes I’ll do this thing where I’ll lift Frizzle’s front legs up, and he streeeeeeeeeeetches. Like, I can feel his little leg muscles working as he does it. I guess it must feel pretty good.
When we got Beetle, our younger cat, I’d do the same thing to her and she’d just be sitting there like “what the hell, human?” Then about three months later, she started streeeeeeeeeeetching too.
My sister says that she’s tried teaching her own cats to do this, but they aren’t having it. So we figure Beetle learned it from Frizzle.
My parents also have this theory that the cats have learned each other’s names. When my dad called them up to dinner one time, Frizzle got there first, and there was no sign of Beetle. So my dad asked Frizzle “where’s Beetle?” not, of course, expecting any sort of response. But Frizzle turned his head to look, as though searching for her. I dunno that I buy their theory, exactly, but it’s fun to think about.
Mine is a cross species story. Sparky and Buffy, my dogs, would growl at any stranger walking in front of the house. I got Missy as a 6 week old kitten, so she was mostly raised by the dogs. She always growls like a dog when someone she doesn’t know comes in the yard.
This isn’t something they learned from each other, but they do together in conspiracy: My cats perilidically will decide together that as of this very moment, they will both no longer touch the canned food variety that up until now they have both loved, and I must switch to a different variety, until the next time they both decide together that they can no longer touch it.
Years ago, when you needed a can opener to open cat food cans, my cat always came running whenever he heard the (electric) can opener. Most pets did that. Then they came out with cans with pull-tab lids, but the cat still came running whenever I used the can opener. Most pets did that.
Then I got a kitten. This kitten never associated an electric can opener sound with food, but he noticed that the older cat ran into the kitchen every time he heard the can opener . . . so he did the same, even though the sound was never followed by cat food. So the sound never really meant “food” to the kitten; it only meant “run into the kitchen.”
Jim’s cat didn’t used to come when called, but my cat Feather did, because I’d call her over when I was having tuna and she’d get a bit of it. Max learned that if you came when called, you’d get TUNA! Now I get both of them regardless of who I call.
Another thing Max learned from Feather was stretching her arms out in front of her when she’s lying on a lap - Max never did that until Feather moved in with her.