One of my dogs has a bizarre hang up. If I open my notebook computer, she runs into the other room. This has gone on for > a year. Now her brother has adopted the same behavior. He was never bothered by my going on the computer until a week ago when he started following the female out of the room. Tonight I opened the notebook and he was first to leave. If it was some undetectable-to-human thing emanating from the computer like an infrasonic sound, why did it only start bothering the second dog recently? I can't see anything but a psych problem causing this behavior and now with the second dog adopting the behavior I think that confirms it. Weird.
Has the brother been around for the year and never reacted similarly? My first guess: Brother's fitting in with his environment. I got no clue, though.
Are the dogs distressed, or is their behaviour causing a problem for you? I'm not quite sure from your post whether you're just curious or actually worried. I agree that it's bizarre at any rate! Dogs can certainly transmit behaviours culturally just like we do If there doesn't seem to be an actual problem, it's probably easiest on all of you to just let them fly their freak flag and consider it a personality quirk of theirs. If it is affecting your or their quality of life it's worth investigating, but behavioural problems can be notoriously time-consuming to figure out, and often even more difficult to resolve. Are they otherwise pretty happy and normal dogs? If you would like to try and figure it out I can try to help, although it might be difficult via the internet, and it would be with a grain of salt as I'm not able to see everything for myself. If you're genuinely concerned, I'd recommend seeing someone about it - ideally a vet with a specialisation in behavioural medicine (or at least an interest), or perhaps an animal trainer if it's a less major concern. Sorry if I'm coming off as officious, if you were only posting to muse about your dogs being weirdos! All the best
My dog leaves the room whenever I get the ironing board out. It's only started recently, he's been fine for years. I can only assume he's suddenly decided he doesn't like the sound of the iron itself.
I think it's just a behavior quirk. The first dog decided she didn't like the notebook computer so she bolts. Her brother sees this and decides to follow suit. As Sifunkle said, if it's not affecting their quality of life, let them run off. Sometime pets just do crazy things that don't make sense to us. How do I know this? Because I've had dogs who picked up bizarre quirks over the years.
My cat goes into an absolute panic when I get out the fold-up step ladder I use to get to my books on the high bookshelf. If he finds himself cornered when I get it out, he'll fall on his side, stiff, doing the "Oh long Johnson" that I am sure we are all familiar with by now, front paws spread wide as mittens and claws out. No idea why this should be. My dog (and I've been trying to get this on video) has a thing where she carefully places herself between the bedskirt and the box spring and slowly, gingerly walks back and forth within that little tunnel of fabric. Sometimes her walking becomes more of a slow march in place, not moving forward or backward, just lifting her legs slowly in a pantomime of walking. I thought maybe she enjoyed the feel of the fabric passing over her face or she liked the way the room looked through the filter of the fabric, but the marching in place seems to say there's something else going on....
I read once that dogs have a very strong proclivity to link cause & effect. So, if anything happened when you opened up the laptop (something fell, a noise, etc) they could very easily link it to the computer opening. If the other dog notices the first dog reacting to the computer opening, he could be on the lookout for something disturbing happening when the computer opens. I agree it's probably just one of those things that's just a quirk of living in the house. Dogs can be very funny.
My dog stands at a small gate in the living room if he wants something. The game is to figure out what. He also learned that "can you call the dog" means for him to go away. There doesn't have to be anyone around now. You just say, "can you call the dog" and he will disappear. You probably get all serious when you pop the laptop lid and he knows it isn't fun time. Might as well get a nap in.
Dogs are as individual as people. My smallest dog sits like a meercat, puts her front paws together and dances whenever she wants something. I didn't teach her this intentionally but I suspect she continues to do it because of positive reinforcement. It's bloody hilarious, although sometimes I have no idea what she's dancing for. I wish it would rub off on my bigger dog. I'm sure I'd make a fortune if they both did it, but bigger dog is quite stout so I doubt she could do it even if she wanted to. Bigger dog didn't eat my Ugg boots though so points there...
My bigger dog chewed the tail off my ebola. Not as expensive as Ugg boots, but I was having great fun giving people the ebola to hug it they were afraid of the shot I was giving them. I've looked at my dog's quirk thoroughly and determined it is some learned behavior and not a sound or vibe that is actually coming from the computer. What is fascinating is that one dog taught the other. Whatever caused the first one to start the behavior didn't happen to the second one. And for a very long time he did not react to her behavior at all. Dogs are interesting creatures to observe.
