My dog obedience instructor demonstrated that dogs are very ‘situational’. We were a “competition class” so the training was pretty thorough and intense. We had been doing a “Sits & Downs” exercise with our dogs for weeks, extending the duration and moving toward “out-of-sight” sits & downs. We all felt pretty good about out dogs and they seemed parade ground “rock solid.” Until-that is- the instructor had us set up our dogs on the other side of the room from the side we regularly used for the exercise. Most of the dogs couldn’t perform the exercise just because they had a different sight-picture.
Yes. And I think they can be intimidated when they’re off their own turf, even when Master is there.
I’ve had cats who would stand for treatment from the vet that they’d never take from us at home.
(But with cats, many times they’re already demoralized by the car ride to the vet in the first place.)