Cashew was separated from her mom when she was 6 or 7 weeks old, so she didn’t really get a chance to learn from her mom how to be a dog. Instead, she started mimicking Sili. If Sili peed, Cashew peed. If Sili ate grass, Cashew ate grass too. If Sili scratched her ear, Cashew had to scratch her ear. If Sili dug a hole, Cashew dug one right beside hers, and if Sili chewed a stick, Cashew went and got a stick to chew on with her. It was the cutest thing. She studied her big sister, watching her from a distance and then emulating all of her behavior to a tee.
One day they had been chewing sticks. Sili paused to look up at Cashew. Cashew looked up at Sili to see when it was time to go back to the stick. Sili didn’t go back to chewing the stick so they sat there in the grass, face to face, looking at each other. Cashew was poised to immitate Sili’s next behavior. She was a good little copy cat. Unfortunately, she learned to emulate all of Sili’s behavior; good and bad.