Why does my dog mimic my behavior?

Young dogs, especially puppies, learn from older companions in their environment. They watch closely and choose to mimic behaviours that bring noticeable benefits. Puppies, for example, often mimic their mother and father's traits, which means a quirky mum can pass on similar mannerisms simply because her pups copy her. For instance, a second dog may begin barking at the gate when visitors arrive simply because the first dog does. If one dog observes another successfully stealing food from a kitchen work surface, even a well-behaved dog might try it, tempted by the positive outcome. Dogs do not mimic undesirable behaviours that bring no apparent benefit—like excessive self-licking due to skin irritation—as these offer no rewards from their perspective. Beyond copying behaviours, dogs often engage in rapid mimicry of body language such as tail wagging, play bows, and head tilting. This instantaneous copying fosters social bonds, helping dogs bond more effectively and enjoy more positive play interactions.

Dogs are not only capable of mimicking their owners, they do so automatically. In fact, their drive to copy our head and hand (paw) movements is so strong that they tend to do so even when it is not in their best interests. All of the dogs tended to copy their owners, even when it meant they were not rewarded. Copying people is a learned behavior, not an instinctual one. This is undoubtedly due to the special relationship that dogs have evolved with humans. Knowing that dogs imitate us could facilitate certain types of training. For example, when they want their dogs to sit, the trainers will crouch down themselves.

Dogs may spontaneously imitate other dogs or animals and even Charles Darwin mentions some examples in 1871 in his classic book The Descent of Man. Imitating Sounds Actually, it turns out that there have been many reports of dogs spontaneously imitating other dogs or animals. Without any specific training, Brandy learned to give an imitative two-syllable "arl-row," which for all the world sounds like a doggish attempt to say the word "Hello!" in the same tone which his family usually greets him. Dogs may also spontaneously imitate other animals as I learned from Marvin Goldman, of Brooklyn, New York. Willy responded by quickly learning to imitate some aspects of cat culture, including the familiar cat habit of washing his paws with his tongue and then using them to clean his face and ears. Why dogs choose to spontaneously imitate certain behaviors of humans or other animals is not clear. However, Charles Darwin suggested that the fact that dogs do imitate others was a sign of their intelligence and their attempt to adapt to their environment — even though what they are choosing to imitate may not seem to be sensible or useful when viewed from a human perspective. It seems that Billy was only imitating Russell's limping gate while he was hobbling around on crutches.

Dogs are great at mimicking behaviors, picking up emotional cues, and being conditioned to behave. Dogs not only mimic their fellow canine’s behavior when being trained, but they are also shown to mimic human behavior. Research has shown that if a human demonstrated a task for a dog, the dog could still complete the task by mimicking a human. Dogs watch their humans often and have observed what works and doesn’t work. They are in tune with people’s emotions and facial expressions; the closer bond a dog and human have, the more likely the dog is to mimic. Research has shown that if you have a personality trait like laid back or neurotic, your dog will mimic that trait, too. You might also be training your dog and you don’t even realize it. Your dog uses his emotional intelligence and mimicking to learn what you like and don’t like and he uses it to his advantage.