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Isn't it common knowledge that DOG owners are said to take after their pets- probably with good reason. It appears that  dogs naturally copy human gestures in what is known as automatic imitation.

People subconsciously copy the gestures of others around them. An example, someone yawning will produce the observer yawning, and a person looking up encourages passers-by to do the exact same thing. 

At the university of Vienna, Friederike Range  and peers wanted to see whether dogs' actions, were influenced by humans around them. They trained dogs to open a sliding door with either their mouth or paw.  One group of dogs were rewarded when they copied  the same method as their trainers, another when they used a different method. The team found that the second group took more practice to get this task right.  This suggests  that dogs are  subject to automatic imitation.

These findings support the concept that social animals automatically imitate others.  It's food for thought. Watch out who you hang out with. You may just find yourself immitating them. Hang out with people who inspire and bring out the best in you and you in turn will do the same for them.  Learning how to copy some of the happiest most successful people should be an easy task that even your pet dog can do. 
By Alexandra P. Brown (c) all rights reserved
 
 


Comments

Christine Morgan link
08/03/2010 1:09am

Great, interesting reading - though I think I probably copy my dog more than he copies me (ha ha), I wonder what that means?

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