Our puppy can watch another dog perform an activity or have us show her how to do something one time and then know exactly how to do it herself. We got her as a rescue a few weeks ago and are pretty sure she never got to run or play like a dog should be able to (the first time she decided to run, she flopped around like a few weeks old puppy but she's 6 months) and she acted like every toy or treat we offered her was us tricking her into doing something wrong and she was going to be punished for it. I take her to the dog park a lot to try to get her used to other dogs, especially bigger ones, and one day she sat between my legs watching a dog play fetch for about 15 minutes... From that point on she's known how to play fetch and brings the ball back to me every time. She hadn't ever been in water before and wasn't sure she liked it, but after seeing that same dog go into the creek and lay down one time, she began to do that exact same thing every single time we go to the creek.... And yesterday, we were walking towards the creek and saw another dog chasing the ball into the water and swimming. My puppy immediately decided she wanted to try it and full on swam for over four hours.
There's other instances of behaviors and skills she's learned too, but every single time it's been because she watched a different dog do it once, literally only once and for a few minutes maximum, and then knew exactly how to do it and has been able to consistently perform.
There's other instances of behaviors and skills she's learned too, but every single time it's been because she watched a different dog do it once, literally only once and for a few minutes maximum, and then knew exactly how to do it and has been able to consistently perform.