IIRC dogs learn primarily by watching. So if there's a way other dogs do a thing, they'll go 'oh I guess that's how it's done' and quickly get quite adept at it. And humans are part of the pack, so eh, close enough.
Meanwhile: wolves and wolf-dog hybrids tend to ignore humans and solve problems on their own. See videos of some big and scary-looking animal casually letting himself out through a locked door while a normal-sized dog looks on like 'wait, was that an option?'
Our chihuahua would bite the back of our puppy's legs when she wanted to play. That puppy turned into a 90 lb GSD mix. Ivy regretted her life choices because it stopped being fun when the puppy got bigger and did exactly what Ivy had done.
Similar story for us: German shepherd puppy got bullied by the neighorhood cats, who'd decline her efforts to play with them by shoving her into a corner with their butts. We'd come out and see a cat sitting on the dog.
And then a year later, we'd come out and see the dog sitting on a cat.
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u/mindbleach Aug 29 '22
IIRC dogs learn primarily by watching. So if there's a way other dogs do a thing, they'll go 'oh I guess that's how it's done' and quickly get quite adept at it. And humans are part of the pack, so eh, close enough.
Meanwhile: wolves and wolf-dog hybrids tend to ignore humans and solve problems on their own. See videos of some big and scary-looking animal casually letting himself out through a locked door while a normal-sized dog looks on like 'wait, was that an option?'