What is a common reason dogs engage in imitation of human behavior?
Hester Frami
2025-07-20 16:31:07
Count answers
: 9
Dogs’ history of living with and helping people may explain why they copy human actions. Humans sometimes copy others when there’s no clear reason to, which seems linked to group identity, Fugazza says. We tend to mimic others’ movements when we are in a relationship with them or when we want to be. Those relationships might have provided the motivation for imitation. Dogs evolved from wolves, wolves work together, hunting in packs, and once dogs started hanging around humans, they worked with people, dogs became humans’ helpers, for instance, in herding and hunting. The young of all species have to learn the most, there’s a lot to learn from observing others.