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Limping dog copies his injured owner out of sympathy

Injured dog owner spends £300 on X-Rays and vets for his limping lurcher Bill- only to learn he was only copying him out of sympathy

  • The lurcher hops along the street and imitates his injured owner Russell Jones
  • Footage shows the canine lift its paw above the ground and copy owner’s limp
  • Mr Jones paid £300 in vet fees and X-rays only to discover dog copying him 

By Bhvishya Patel For Mailonline

Published: 09:11 EST, 18 January 2021 | Updated: 12:11 EST, 18 January 2021

This is the heartwarming moment a dog imitates his injured owner’s limp out of sympathy as he walks beside him.

Russell Jones, whose leg had been placed in a plaster cast, took to social media to share footage of his beloved lurcher Bill hop along the street with his paw raised above the ground in an effort to mimic his owner’s movements.

Mr Jones, who is believed to be from London, later explained that he had paid £300 in vet fees and X-rays for his limping canine – only to discover the dog was copying him out of sympathy. 

Bill the lurcher lifts his paw above the ground and imitates his owner Russell Jones, whose leg is in a plaster cast, out of sympathy

Bill the lurcher lifts his paw above the ground and imitates his owner Russell Jones, whose leg is in a plaster cast, out of sympathy

Bill the lurcher lifts his paw above the ground and imitates his owner Russell Jones, whose leg is in a plaster cast, out of sympathy 

Mr Jones found out that the limping lurcher did not have any physical ailments and was simply replicating his behaviour

Mr Jones found out that the limping lurcher did not have any physical ailments and was simply replicating his behaviour

Mr Jones found out that the limping lurcher did not have any physical ailments and was simply replicating his behaviour

The proud dog owner, whose video has since received more than two million views on social media, later took to Facebook to write: ‘Cost me £300 in vet fees and X-rays, nothing wrong just sympathy. Love him.’

During the clip, the lurcher is seen limping next to his owner as he hops along the street with his leg in a cast.

The dog continues to keep a watchful eye over his owner as he limps towards his house and enters his front garden. 

Following the touching scenes, social media users shared their praise for the canine, with one calling it ‘pure love’.

One wrote: ‘He’s come out in sympathy with you! Speedy recovery to both of you.’

The dog follows his owner along the street

The dog follows his owner along the street

The canine copies his owner

The canine copies his owner

The canine copies his injured owner out of sympathy as he walks beside him along the street

The dog continues to keep a watchful eye over his owner as he makes his way to his home

The dog continues to keep a watchful eye over his owner as he makes his way to his home

The dog continues to keep a watchful eye over his owner as he makes his way to his home 

After it was shared online, social media users rushed to Facebook to share their praise for the dog

After it was shared online, social media users rushed to Facebook to share their praise for the dog

After it was shared online, social media users rushed to Facebook to share their praise for the dog

While another commented: ‘He’s copying you. That’s brilliant! Though you have my sympathy for the vets bill.’

Another person added: ‘You mean he’s hopping because you are? That’s fantastic!’

Meanwhile one social media user wrote: ‘So funny! Unbelievable, aren’t they just so in tune with us. Bless him.’

Why do dog’s imitate their owners? 

In 2011, scientists at the University of Vienna and the University of Oxford found that canines will automatically imitate their owners even when it is not in their best interest to do so.

During the study, half of the dogs watched their human ‘pack leader’ slide open a door with their head while the other half watched their leader use their head.

All of the dogs had received preliminary training to open a sliding door using their head or their paw prior to watching their leader.  

Researchers found that the dogs were more inclined to imitate whatever their pack leader displayed – with or without the prospect of a reward.     

Lead author Friederike Range said: ‘This suggests that, like humans, dogs are subject to ”automatic imitation”; they cannot inhibit online, the tendency to imitate head use and/or paw use.’

In their report the scientists went on to explain: ‘In conclusion, the results of this study provide the first evidence of automatic imitation and of automatic counter-imitation in dogs. 

‘Dogs are special animals, both in terms of their evolutionary history of domestication, and the range and intensity of their developmental training by humans. 

‘Both of these factors may enhance the extent to which dogs attend to human activity, but the results of the present experiment suggest it is the latter—training in the course of development—which plays the more powerful and specific role in shaping their imitative behaviour.’

In 2017, a study by Dr Iris Schoberl, at the University of Vienna, also found that both owners and dogs influenced each other’s coping mechanisms.

An experiment involving 132 owners and their pets found that dogs belonging to neurotic owners were less able to cope with stress, while relaxed people had more relaxed and friendly pets.

The research paper also found that dogs were sensitive to their owners’ emotional states, with women in particular having stronger relationships with companion animals. 

Dr Schoberl, lead author of the study published in the journal PLOS One, said: ‘Owners behave differently because they are pessimistic or neurotic, and perhaps dogs read the emotions of their owners and think the world is more dangerous, so are more reactive to it.

‘It looks like people who are pessimistic have dogs which are worse at coping with stress than others.’  

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