Ever wonder what dogs do be thinking

I've watched them think through things and try to work stuff out mechanically alright. My one was watching a cat at the bottom of the garden and you could see him work out the angles. As the cat ran he ran but he ran towards where the cat would be not where it was. I hollered at him which threw off his aim and the cat got away. Well the look of utter disgust for me on his face when he walked back was unmistakable. He stared at me with "WtF!" written all over him. He ignored me for a solid hour after that actually turned his muzzle to the wall to avoid me with the odd low level growl. Petulant feck

I'd agree with snuggles285 on the memory front. They're much more an in the moment animal compared to us. One of my dogs years back got a hip injury. It healed up fine, but he would suddenly try to jump up as if he forgot only to yelp and think "oh yea Doh! I remember, Im injured". I would say they're not color blind though. Like kylith said they see reds pretty well. Their eyesight seems to vary with breed. Some are very shortsighted. Wolves apparently have great long distance sight. One dog I had would only recognise people when he got within sniffing range. Didnt seem to have much visual recognition going on. My current dog can recognise people he knows from 50 metres away.

They're very clued into us, even more than the great apes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJu2Qkbxes0&feature=related

kylith wrote: »

I think you're right there. I was talking to someone a while back who took her dog to training classes and as an exercise the trainer would take the dogs out of sight while the owners changed jumpers and stood in unusual positions and some of the poor dogs didn't know who their human was at all because they have no idea what humans look like, they go by posture and smell.

They do vary though. My current dog can recognise faces. He's very territorial and only tends to get on with people he knew as a pup, even if years pass without seeing them. To test this two mates of mine, one he likes and one he's quite aggressive with hunkered down outside the house under the window sill. If the one he liked stuck his head up he'd look and be all friendly through the glass. If the one he disliked did this he would strike an aggressive posture and growl at him through the glass. Trying it with someone he didnt know at all(one of the guys other mates) he got very twitchy. so it seems he can recognise faces pretty well with no other obvious cues going on.