He spent $ 400 to find out why his dog was limping, and the response surprised everyone

The dog who empathizes with his owner (Photo: Adobe Stock)

Bill is the lead dog in a video that has gone viral on social media in recent days. The reason? He was not supporting one of his front legs, he was limping, just like his owner, a man who was walking down the street on crutches because he had a leg in a cast.

“I invested £ 300 in vets and x-rays and nothing bad happens to him. It’s just empathy. I want it”English Russell Jones wrote in the post which continues to add likes and comments.

It turns out that Bill, a London Lurcher, was imitating his owner’s lameness, un behavior that can occur in animals such as dogs.

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According to the website Cesar Millan, the famous dog whisperer, there are a number of creatures that mimic others within their own species. People imitate others. Birds imitate other birds. Non-human primates like apes and apes mimic other members of their group. But dogs not only imitate other dogs, they also copy what we do. What is even more surprising is that they do this even when the imitation does not benefit them.

The reason is due to the nature of dogs as beasts of burden. As a member of a group, a dog wants to fit in and behave like the others around him and dogs do it by observing and imitating.

Russell Jones lives in Hoddesdon, England, and broke his ankle while working as a window cleaner. They put his leg in a cast and informed him that he would have to use crutches for at least seven weeks.

After the exams, the vets’ conclusion was damning: “his dog lame to imitate him. He does it out of empathy with you, ”they told him.

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That was not all. Russell’s wife Michelle recounted in an interview that I suspected that nothing was right with the dog because when he was with her he could run at full speed Using all four legs! But when her husband appeared, the dog was limping again.

To confirm the suspicions, the man took Bill for a walk using an electric skateboard. “On the promenade, Bill was walking normally. We realized he was limping out of compassion. He was copying me because I was in a casting, ”Russell told the Daily mail.

Jones also said that many people were concerned about their pets after the “imitation lameness” went viral, so they decided to share more videos of the dog. “I had to do another post from him swim and jump near the river so people can see it’s okay», He commented in an interview with the English program This morning.