Do Dogs Learn Bad Habits From Each Other .. ?

Question

I live with two 5 month old puppies. One is a JRT and the other Dachshund. The JRT is mine, and my bf and I work so hard on training him. He knows all his basic commands and even a few tricks, the other puppy is my roommates- she doesn't take the time to teach her much-she is always begging, peeing/pooping, being aggressive toward her toys and foods. . . and well i can't tell my roommate much, because its not my dog. . im just scared that winston is picking up on some of those habits. . is it possible??

Answer 1

Absolutely they learn from each other, both good things and bad habits.

Your roommate needs a serious talking to! Her puppy is only going to get worse and there is no excuse for a dog to be acting aggressive. She is creating a dangerous situation. She is going to end up with a rather vicious dog!

As for your dog, just keep working with him, teaching him good things and that should out way the worst of the other dog's problems. He might learn to beg and little things like that, but he wont become aggressive if you train him against it.HOWEVER it is extremely hard to house break one dog when the other is peeing everywhere because they can smell it. They want to pee where they smell other dogs have peed, its a natural dog behavior.

You really need to talk to her. For your sake, for your dog's sake, and for her dog's sake! If your roommate doesn't have time to properly train her dog, then she should not have one!

Answer 2

Yes they definitely learn from each other, good or bad. When I got a new puppy, she would whine at night in her crate sometimes, and I would take her out for potty. My older dog saw this and started whining too. We just ignored this, and after a bit my puppy developed a stronger bladder, so the all the night whining stopped.

I would try and talk to your roomate about this and work together with her to train her dog. She may agree once you show him the tricks you have taught your JRT and offer to help train her dog those tricks too. Both dogs should be corrected for bad behavior, or else your JRT may be confused as to why he can't do certain things but the other dog can.

Answer 3

It's possible but as long as you train your dog well, you'll be okay.

I'm in the same boat as you except in my house its the JRT that's the terror (untrained).

My dogs are around her all the time but they have continued to behave just fine despite her poor displays.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Yes.  Hang out with people with bad habits and you may pick up a few yourself.  

Dogs view their families as a pack wether they are human or dog.  Who is in charge here?  The puppy or the human?  They don't care who they belong to or dont belong to and they can run a household if they are allowed to.  Be the leader regardless who the owner is and both dogs will respect you.

Answer 5

yes it's possible. Your job now is to work on GOOD training that will win out any naughty behaviors cause YOU are the alpha

Answer 6

Yeah it is possible and probably is going to happen.  I've heard that the basenji - which is supposed to be a "barkless" dog - can learn to bark from being around other dogs.

Answer 7

They do, actually.

Max NEVER touched a sock, shoe, or pair of pants until we got Roxy. Now our casualty levels are at a high because he's big enough to get into the laundry basket and steal our socks.

The best thing you can do is train the new dog out of the bad habits before your older dog can pick up and learn them. If the older dog sees the new dog being corrected for the bad behavior, he's less likely to pick up on those habits.

Answer 8

yes i think it is possible. i have two greman huskie mixs the first one was well trained. The second one i got about six months after the first and she chews and digs. i had never had a problem with the first one doing those things but after a couple weeks he was chewing and digging too. But i also think they can learn good from each other she was from the pound and didnt know how to play after a while he had taught her how to play so yes they learn bad and good habits from each other

Answer 9

Yes, just like people ;)

My puppy is only picking up good habits from my dog.

So it's possible to pick up bad habits too. :D