<p>We were laughing this weekend as we would watch our doxie jump up on the couch and then he’d kind of 'pop up" so that he would be more upright against the armrest…including resting one front leg on the armrest. This way he’d be sitting up on the couch more like a person, as if he’s watching TV or participating in the family conversation. </p>
<p>He also rests his head on a pillow to go to sleep.</p>
<p>“What human characteristics has your dog or cat picked up from watching you?”</p>
<p>Neither one of us urinate in the living room. But that’s about it.</p>
<p>From my husband:</p>
<p>The dog is constantly pawing me.</p>
<p>Just kidding. Wish it were true.</p>
<p>Our 10yo rabbit watches football. Only thing on the TV that he stretches out on the rug facing the TV when games are on. (male rabbit…think he’s bonding w other males in the house). </p>
<p>He also hops out to the kitchen when he hears the fridge open. He stays there until you give him a mini-carrot. He has the run of the house, as he’s litter-box trained and now too old & arthritic to jump on the couch.</p>
<p>My dog watches tv. She will sit there and watch entire games. When we yell at the TV, she barks along angrily. I’m not sure if she’s barking at us for being loud or what, but I’m pretending that she’s yelling at the TV too. </p>
<p>She sleeps under blankets and uses pillows. She will wake us up in the middle of the night to get under the blanket, crawl under, turn around and put her head next to ours on the pillow.</p>
<p>My pug expects you to talk back to her. She’ll look at you and then bark/cry/whine or otherwise vocalize. Then she’ll stop and wait. And wait. And wait. But if you say something to her, as soon as you stop speaking, she starts vocalizing again. She’s very “chatty” and it’s very cute (at least to me it is.)</p>
<p>We personify animals but they’re animals. It’s amazing to watch them adapt to us: who yells to be let out at what time, who wakes up expecting a person to come home. One cool thing about small web cameras is the amount of research we now have about the hidden lives of dogs and cats. </p>
<p>I do think the absolute best lesson I’ve learned from my animals - and I know I’ve gone off topic - is “be true to your nature”. That’s easy for an animal because that is what an animal does. It isn’t easy for a person with all those complicated layers of personality and culture imposed and building up from within. You have to identify your nature so you can be true to it.</p>
<p>Our little dog reacts to my wife exactly like our two sons. It is really amazing. When she tells them what to do, they all ignore her.</p>
<p>*“What human characteristics has your dog or cat picked up from watching you?”</p>
<p>Neither one of us urinate in the living room. But that’s about it.*</p>
<p>lol…</p>
<p>My recently departed “chorkie” (half chihuahua/half yorkie) would sometime pee on the bathroom tile. I think she thought, well, everyone else “goes” in this room. (I miss her.)</p>
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<p>Our Saint Bernard was the same way. She would vocalize (kind of a hum with different pitches). Then my H would answer her the same way. When he changed the order of the pitches, she would respond the same way.</p>
<p>We also have a cat who talks a lot. And if you talk to him first in cat talk, he will respond.</p>
<p>My chocolate lab can unroll the windows in the back seat of the car by pushing the window button down with her front paw. I have to use the child window lock feature or she puts the windows totally down on both sides! Then when the window lock is on, she just sits there and paws at the button and doesn’t understand why the window isn’t going down. :)</p>
<p>When we worked on each others backs lying on the carpet, our bichon would run up and lie on the carpet on her back ( in a straight line with us) and patiently wait her turn for us to rub her stomach.</p>
<p>My H smokes cigars. My miniature schnauzer loves bully sticks (chews) – they look very similiar. One night last year I noticed the dog staring at my H insistently as he sat relaxing with his cigar in front of the TV. I said jokingly – Oskar thinks you’ve got your bully stick, he wants his. H goes into the kitchen, gives the dog his chew. Heaven, bliss. This has since become an evening ritual that the two of them share… :)</p>
<p>Funny one rockymtnhigh</p>
<p>Our cats don’t seem to copy us but they do seem to learn from each other, which is very interesting since their personalities are so different. </p>
<p>My older cat has learned to lay on the carpet and stretch out and roll over from the younger one. The younger one never used to meow to get things and now does like the older one.</p>
<p>The older one has learned to balance a bit on her two back legs from the younger one.</p>
<p>And each cat watches very closely when I am giving attention to the other one shooting darts with their eyes in jealously :)</p>
<p>How to eat marshmallows. Our dog had NEVER had “people food” in her life until I gave her a marshmallow when she was about 6 years old. She nudged it around on the floor and looked at me. I popped one in my mouth while she watched, and then she tried hers. Spit it out once, but got it down on the second try. Haven’t given her any more people food since, and she seems okay with that.</p>
<p>Our doxie has learned to clean/groom himself from watching our cats do it. 
He also tries to cover his “business” because he’s seen the cats do that in the litter box.</p>
<p>Our dear dog used to gesture with his head when he wanted us to go in a certain direction on a walk. He also used to flip his dog dish over when we were late feeding him, but I don’t suppose he learned that from us.</p>
<p>Not really a habit, per se, but one of our cats has quite a sense of when the alarm is supposed to go off. Many mornings he is in the bedroom pestering my fiance before the alarm goes off for the first time.</p>
<p>He has also generalized that all mushy, meaty substances in a can must be cat food. When we decide to cook up a can of corned beef hash, he starts to “cry” and doesn’t understand why we’re not giving him any. He’s VERY vocal in expressing his confusion.</p>
<p>Crazy dog tries to get into the shower w me to get washed too. If anyone is using the hairdryer, the dog will come running to get blow dried too.</p>
<p>Our old dog used to smile at us. It looked to others like he was baring his teeth, but he never growled. I could make him “smile” by talking directly to him.</p>