Is Gus a Copycat?

Happy Friday!  Man, it feels good to type those words.

We wanted to share an interesting article that recently arrived in our inbox from DogAge, Dog Behavior: Does Your Pooch Act Like You?.  It discusses research that dogs not only take cues from their parents (duh), but they also mimic specific behavior…like yawning.  We’ve never noticed Gus yawning after we do, but we’ll definitely pay more attention in the future.  The article states the dog and human were placed face to face when they conducted their study.  We don’t know about you, but rarely do we have the time to spend hours yawning whilst staring at Gus face to face.  Although, maybe we should.  He sure does have an adorable mug.

What we do know is that Gus yawns when he’s nervous or anxious.  Going on car rides, having his nails buzzed and abrupt changes in our behavior and/or schedule all trigger a serious case of the yawns.  It makes me wonder if the dogs in the study yawned because they were mimicking behavior or because they were weirded out that a stranger was sitting inches from their face…staring at them.  That would definitely be enough to make us uncomfortable.

What are your thoughts?  Does your furry family member display copycat behavior?

You know we can’t hit publish without a Gus photo.  And boy, did we dig up a doozy.  Look at those cute paw pads and that all-black mask!  *squeals*

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Poor M is home sick with the flu today.  Gus will LOVE all the extra daddy-bonding time he’ll get today.  I may or may not be avoiding M like the plague.  I don’t want to catch his bug!