I have watched wonderful videos on social media where a dog, or cat are seemly taking on the mannerisms/habits of their furry roommate, and people are quite impressed by this transformation along with the owners. I’ve read responses to the (video) individual that says, “oh! They’re acting like___how cute!” And someone will come back and say, “NO! They’re truly changing species!”
There’s an answer for this - actually a couple of
explanations if not more:
Learned behavior: At times when owners see this
interesting behavior, they will immediately (capturing) encourage their pet by offering treats, praising the animal
or just let them act it out without stopping the action. So, in
a nutshell - encouragement.
Training: This does take a little more effort, but I’ve seen
this done a lot. Again, encouragement.
Cats are cats and dogs are dogs. Their DNA is not able to
re-design itself from one species to another. The animal
knows what they are. However, studies have shown that
feeding healthier foods (diet) to your pet can actually effect
their genome and correct inherited health issues (heart
disease, cancers etc.) that might stem from generations
past, but even this takes a few (3+) generations to finally
show evidence of genome changes in a cat/dog.
So, next time you see a fun, silly pet video in your social
media feed, just enjoy or share, and scroll on to the next
one.
Happy Tails 🐾