Puppy Forum and Dog Forums banner

Can younger dogs learn from older dogs?

1K views 14 replies 11 participants last post by  qingcong 
#1 ·
So there is this little 4yr. old Schnauzer/Scottie guy named Oliver that I walk on a regular basis — I look at him as the 'ideal' dog; he sits and waits until you tell him to eat, he goes in his crate with no fuss, walks off leash like a champ, he's a fetch champion, good self-esteem, perfect @ potty etc...

Oli is a well trained dog.

Oli's owner called me and asked me to take him for the weekend. I mentioned to her that we have a new addition to our family (Roxy, 2yr old terrier/golden) and if it would be OK with her to let Oli stay. She said yes.

Roxy is a shelter dog who has been with us for a week. She's good at the off-leash area of the park and is learning boundaries in re: to socializing with other dogs. She likes to play and backs off when others don't. We haven't done a lot of training with her so far because we're trying to break her of her submissive peeing and have been apprehensive about going beyond the basics.

I plan to introduce the two on Tuesday during Oliver's dog walk. Was going to have the wife take Roxy to a nearby park and I would take Oli over to meet them. I read some of the threads on here as far as introducing goes and I plan on doing this.

What I want to know is how can I use Oliver as the perfect example to help Roxy's training along? Is it possible to get younger dogs to take cues from experienced dogs? Does anybody have any general/specific comments or advice on this subject?

******

Notes:
1. Oliver is the perfect dog
2. Oliver will be staying over for the weekend
3. I'm introducing him to our new dog Roxy
4. Roxy still has to some things to learn
5. Any advice on how to get Roxy to learn from Oliver?
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Yes, dogs can learn from other dogs- both good habits and bad habits.
They won't "train" each other so it isn't like Oliver is going to teach Roxy to sit and stay, but good dog manners can rub off. Of course, Oliver's own manners might slip a bit when hanging out with a more "rough around the edges" dog :)

Trained older dogs can help younger ones be more confident, walk more calmly, play nicely, and serve as a kind of role model.

Like, if your dog doesn't "get" fetch, if she watches him play fetch she might see how it works. As in, "oh hey, they want to be run after the ball AND run back to them...."

try training at the same time- ask them both to sit and treat at the same time (one dog per hand or ask someone to help), some dogs will watch the other dog for a cue of what to do.
 
#3 ·
Esther "taught" Molly the joys of pottying outside instead of inside. She taught her by demonstration - something I was unwilling to do myself. She also taught her, not how to swim, but that she COULD swim. That was a mixed blessing as I had to retrieve them both from the opposite side of each of the two rivers we live between.

She taught her that fetch can be more rewarding than keep-away. In fact, the student has surpassed the teacher because she is younger and faster and has finally learned to return it and drop it at my feet. (Don't feel sorry for Esther, though. She can still jump and snatch the ball from the air before Molly even realizes where it is and she is just generally more assertive and determined, so she gets the ball about 70% of the time.)

We believe that my son's dog, Duke, taught Molly to whine, which is really unfortunate, and Esther taught Duke to surf counters.

Some dogs are more impressionable than others. My sister had a female Schnauzer who tried to lift her leg to pee after watching our male beagle do that. She was not discouraged when she peed all over herself. Toppling off the back of the sofa after watching the cat handle that trick with ease also failed to dampen her enthusiasm for outrageous behavior.
 
#4 ·
Esther "taught" Molly the joys of pottying outside instead of inside. She taught her by demonstration - something I was unwilling to do myself.
Yes, I suppose somewhere online there's a demonstration youtube of somebody using that method. So glad to hear it was not you. I also never attempted that particular method.
 
#7 ·
Yes, I've told this tale of fraud before, Old school trainer had a setup with 10 kennel runs on concrete slab. 5 on each side with a 10 ft or so walkway between the runs. He had people convinced that when he worked his dog in between runs doing the standard sit, down, stay, and heel routines the watching dogs were all being trained.

These customers usually only were one or two time visitors to his program (I wonder why)
 
#8 ·
Yes, I've told this tale of fraud before, Old school trainer had a setup with 10 kennel runs on concrete slab. 5 on each side with a 10 ft or so walkway between the runs. He had people convinced that when he worked his dog in between runs doing the standard sit, down, stay, and heel routines the watching dogs were all being trained.
Dunno about that trainer. I work with real smelly food and let other dogs run lose for distraction. Two times I had another dog offer the heel after I was done and it happened that one collie was pretty good at it. Other dogs are usually following, jumping on me, sniffing around, not offering anything special except maybe annoying barking. That same collie also randomly offered sits and downs. I bet some people with two dogs have had the same experience.
 
#10 ·
Casper has learned a lot of things from watching Crystal -- what "out of my kitchen" means (run to the dividing line between kitchen and dining room and stay there), what "go to my room" means, how to "touch" with his paw, how to speak... and how to jump into my arms so I'll lift him up to look out the window. This all happened over time, though; I don't think one weekend is enough time for your dog to learn anything from Oliver.
 
#11 ·
I agree with Crantastic. Dogs deffinetly can teach other dogs thing, or dogs will notice "Oh look, that dog is doing (insert task here) and getting treats! Maybe if I do it I'll get treats too!" :p Both my dogs have taught each other things, they're only a year apart in age. Bailey helped teach Bella that going potty outside is best, and Bella helped me teach Bailey to play fetch again :) It was all over time though.

~IJMB
 
#12 ·
I had a Black Lab (now deceased) ..and also a Mixed breed dog (Lab/Chow mix now 16 years old).
They grew up together.
The Black Lab was Excellent at Retrieving!
The Lab/Chow never Retrieved anything , no matter how many times she watched ..she just wont retrieve.

Recently I got a Rottie Pup who is now 1 year old..and she is a "Retriever".
and ..She runs like a lunatic to get her leash to go for walks.

My older dog.. At 16 years old, The dog that would never "Retrieve" anything is suddenly running to fetch her leash...and chasing balls around the yard.
 
#13 ·
Younger dogs learn from older dogs and older dogs learn from younger dogs. Everybody's learning. Thing is, they're learning dog stuff, not human stuff. In my observation, dogs show a decent ability to imitate, so they'll learn basic dog skills from each other like sniffing, peeing, humping, barking, digging, etc. To a certain extent, they may influence each other's energy level, but that stuff's a complex system and impossible to figure out.

But, an older dog isn't going to correct a younger dog for countersurfing or peeing inside the house. They're not going to practice commands with each other.
 
#14 ·
I actually had an older dog who attempted to correct a younger dog when he pee'd in the house. She barked at him and tried to push him towards the door. She would also attempt to get him off the furniture when he got on it. Never seen it before her or since, but she tried.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top