The effects of the presence of an unfamiliar, gentle, or aversive handler during milking on behaviour and milk yield of dairy cattle were assessed along with whether the cows could learn to approach or avoid a handler by observing their neighboring cow’s response. The handling treatments were varied every week for the handled cows. Findings indicated that cows kept a longer distance from the aversive handler than the gentle handler during the first minute after being handled. Milk yield and residual milk yield was not affected by the type of handler standing in front of them at milking, although cows moved their legs and tail less when the aversive handler was present. The presence of an unfamiliar handler at milking did not differently affect the behaviour of the handled cows compared to that of the control cows. Observation of the aversive or gentle treatment of neighboring cows by the handler did not affect the observing cow’s distance kept from either type of handler. In the second experiment, however, cows who had observed their neighbors receiving gentle treatment by a handler kept a shorter distance to that handler after treatment of their neighbors. The distance they kept was correlated to the distance kept by the handled cow. The findings of this study indicate that the response of observer cows to a handler may be affected by how their neighbor was handled. The cows quickly learned to avoid an aversive handler, but presence of the aversive handler at their milking did not affect their milk yield.