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I know domesticated dogs recognize people (either by site or by scent), and they are attuned to facial expressions (and body movements). Our dogs always have their eyes on us to see what's going on. If I put on a bathing suit....... they know we are going to the beach and act accordingly.
I think animals in the wild view people as "Can I eat it?" or "Can it eat me?"
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We feed a group of seven or so strays. Some may have homes nearby, we don't know and the cats ain't talking. Most make instant and repeated eye contact when we come out with the chuck wagon.
As to what they think of us, I asked some of them. To a cat they said, "Get thee to the Librarius Felis. Look it up! You'll never learn anything if I just tell ye the answers!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by High_Plains_Retired
I'm fairly certain they wonder less about you than you do about them.
I check the little bubbles over their heads to see what they're thinking!
I've been feeding a chipmunk for a few weeks now and he gets up on the back of a chair outside and stares through the window at me until I go out to feed him, again.
The little piggy gets fed 2x in the morning because I just can't stand looking at his/her sweet little face looking in at me.
... a dog or cat or bird etc... do they ever think much about humans or do they just do their own thing? ....
"Cogito, ergo sum."....Yogi Berra (or maybe it was Descartes?)
We don't know what "consciousness" is. There's the basic nerve "reflex arc"-- a stimulus is applied to an receptor nerve which sends the signal to an effector nerve which makes a muscle contract. If you put a couple more brain neurons in between the receptor and the effector, you get into "memory" and "thought"-- but it's still basically a reflex arc with a longer pathway.
I know domesticated dogs recognize people (either by site or by scent), and they are attuned to facial expressions (and body movements). Our dogs always have their eyes on us to see what's going on. If I put on a bathing suit....... they know we are going to the beach and act accordingly.
I think animals in the wild view people as "Can I eat it?" or "Can it eat me?"
When I was young we had a Bassett/Dachshund that loved to hunt. I could not look at our gun cabinet because she would get excited. She loved to go outside and hunt.
Your dog loved to go to the beach and mine loved to hunt. They looked at us for clues that we were going where they wanted to go. It is like picking up a leash when they have to go to the bathroom. They anticipate our moves to take them where they want to go or to feed them.
What is hard for us is that we translate their body language into the thoughts we know. We really cannot place ourselves inside their heads; other than attempting to understand their thoughts in our thought language. Their ideas and ours could be miles apart? However it does seem we understand each other when we pet them in the right place and we think we see a smile!
Cats and dogs definitely know their owners from strangers. It's my opinion that they think of their owners as being the same as them, part of their pack, their family. When my cats would see a stranger, they'd run and hide from them.
Some animals think of us as a possible food source, some think of us as dangerous, but they do notice us and respond one way or another, either by hiding/running, or by taking a bite.
I agree that our domesticated pets feel as if they are a member of the family unless they are unfortunate to live with neglectful or abusive owners. Cats, dogs, and birds are very emotional creatures and need a lot of personal attention. Elephants and dolphins and whales grieve the loss of offspring. Elephants have funerals.
Dogs are the only animals that have been bred to understand human facial expressions..
My dog can be sitting on the couch and I am on the loveseat and if we look at each other and I smile at her she wags her tail and comes over to me. When I come home from work she looks out the window when she hears the car door close and I wave to her. That makes her get all happy.
Back when I was still working, my dog would start sitting at the front door looking out and watching for me to drive up the driveway just about 20 minutes before I usually showed up. I know she did this because she was habituated to the schedule of our days, not because she knew I was on my way home from my job. But she knew there was a pretty specific schedule, which indicates something.
I tried to teach her to put the kettle on in anticipation of my arrival... ;-)
Lol, on the kettle.
My dog was always in the front picture window waiting to see my car come home from work. Neighbors told me they could tell time from seeing the doggie in the window. I would turn the corner he would look me in the eyes and dash off to the back door. My cats, well, they were cats.
My Senegal parrot got lose on my husband once and on the 3rd day of walking the streets and calling him, I heard "Mommy! Mommy!" He was in a tree further down the street.
So yes, you can not tell me our animals do not know us and think of us as "one of them".
This is what im curious about. Whether its a dog or cat or bird etc... do they ever think much about humans or do they just do their own thing? For example, whether its a dog or cat or bird and they seen humans walking around, do they ever pay attention to them? Do they even recognize faces? Because obviously if you look at say cats or dogs, you could tell the difference mostly with dogs. Cats are tougher because if same color, look the same. But say a bird... well you obviously can't tell.
But do animals even think about humans like what they do etc? Because we look at them and they just do their own thing like walk and run around and eat etc. Such as do they know that humans have jobs or whatnot or they think humans just walk around etc.
Dogs are an easy case. They've evolved to the extent that we replace the alpha wolf in their "pack." As pack animals that's what dogs do. And what's been bred out of (most of) them is the urge to challenge the alpha male as they age. The dogs, as they were undergoing domestication, that did challenge up were either killed or driven from the campground. So they ones that were allowed to stay were more deferential, and eventually learned how to get petted, and to play with people.
With cats, I have no clue. Does anyone?
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