Bored Panda spoke with Tamsin, the mom of the dog named Rhubarb in the image above, about the hilarious moment she spotted her sitting like a human.
“It was in the morning, my partner and I have been working from home and we put on the TV in the background whilst we work, and we looked up,” recounted Tamsin, “and noticed her sitting upright on the sofa watching the program with us.” Tamsin thought it was absolutely hilarious, especially as her Cavapoo dog was only 4 months old at the time. “It was such funny behavior for a puppy.”
And it’s not the only human-like thing Rhubarb does. “She loves watching TV, she often groans if you do something she doesn't agree with, which is quite funny, and she loves to stand on two feet.” Yep, not only does she sit like a hooman, she walks like one too.
Tamsin isn’t sure where this behavior is coming from, but she guesses “with all of us being at home during lockdown, our dogs are picking up on people behaviors.”
When it comes to dogs, the reason for most of their behavioral quirks remains unknown. But Wag Walking blog on pets suggests that some dogs “have grown to develop an anatomical preference for sitting in different positions, especially those with long hind legs and top-heavy bodies.”
And even if this human-like posture doesn’t look particularly comfy for the dog, it may offer “some relief to hip or back stress, typically by supporting the lumbar region and centering the weight of a dog’s chest over the rest of the body.”
Another possible explanation is that by sitting upright, dogs stand at a higher vantage point and show signs of dominance.
