Dogs copying each other

[Ford23]

Over the years, I have noticed that older dogs seem to have an influence on their younger counterparts, because the puppies are generally wired to copy the behavior of other members. This actually got me thinking that it becomes quite difficult to train a puppy without it being distracted by another dog in the household. Is it a good idea to have one of them at a time?

 

[SpanielsRule]

I only have one dog, so I can't speak to this from personal experience. However, I have friends who have more than one dog. Some do separate training sessions with their dogs while others train their dogs together.

 

[Vinny]

We always like to teach new cues to dogs alone. Much easier to instill new behaviors one on one. When the dogs are proofed with a cue or cues we can train/practice together “everyone sits”.

Here’s an article on social learning that might help. Can dogs learn by watching others?

 

[Poppy]

The social learning theory is a good concept especially because it has been proven to work for both humans and animals (especially dogs). I do think that you can have more than a dog at a time, provided that the old ones have been well trained. It is easier to train the puppies when the older ones have been conditioned to behave well.

 

[Ryan]

Poppy is right. The old dogs that were properly trained can help a lot in teaching the younger puppies. I think it is wired in all living things that we copy the actions we see from older members of the family, instead of what has been instructed us to do.