11/11/2025
COPYCAT DOGS
It really does matter who we hang out with or spend time with because our social circle or who we live with, influences our behaviour, emotional state and habits. This can have either a positive or negative influence.
The same can be said for all social animals, our dogs included.
When behaviour is contagious and copied by social animals, the scientific word for this is “Allelomimetic” and although it’s a bit of a tongue-twister to pronounce it simply means copying what others are doing.
In the wild, animals depend on allelomimetic behaviour for survival. An example is if a member of a group spots a threat and starts running, the group will immediately follow, without too much conscious thought – it’s an automatic response, making it harder to be attacked.
This innate behaviour in dogs can present in both positive and negative ways.
Bringing a new dog into a home where the resident dog has unwanted behaviours, is never a good idea. There’s a risk of ending up with 2 dogs with issues instead of 1.
It’s always best to address unwanted behaviour before adding another dog, but calmness, contentment, regulation, self-confidence and other wanted behaviours are also contagious.
It’s far easier said than done and every situation is different, but if our dogs are going to copy behaviours, we need to be mindful in exposing them to what we want them to copy.
