So, what's your opinion - DO dogs think? I've always believed so, but there are naysayers. There are those who say most of what a dog does is instinct, or conditioning. Certainly we've all heard of Pavlov's dogs that were trained to salivate at the sound of a bell. So what? People are like that, too. Many of us are influenced by the power of suggestion alone, let alone the sound of a bell ringing.

One of the ways the folks who believe dogs don't think report their findings, is to show that a dog responds to an owner's tone of voice when it's bad, not necessarily to the action of being bad. For instance, when we're away from home and our dog chews our slippers. As soon as we see the torn, chewed up slippers, we lose it and begin chastizing the dog. It's THAT chastizing that the dog is reacting to, they say. It's not the chewing of the slippers.

Ok, that makes sense. But, what about when a pet parent returns home after a long day and the dog is lying peacefully on his bed...or on the rug by the door, and as soon as the pet parent opens the door - the dog slinks away, instead of bounding up with glee? Why is the dog slinking away? It's because she knows she's done something wrong. Maybe it's a learned response, but it's thinking - because she is associating the displeasure of the pet parent with her action, something that likely occurred hours before. Sometimes pet parents have to search the house to find out exactly why the dog is acting so guilty. Yes, guilty. A thoughtful emotion.

Time magazine had an article recently that proved, to me, my belief that dogs think. "The Secrets Inside Your Dog's Mind" by Carl Zimmer proved that dogs, not other animals, DOGS, can figure out the purpose of a pointed finger. In other words, pointing to something means exactly what you want it to mean, to a dog. It means, "Look there...get that...see this..." whatever. The article says other animals, including Chimps, do not get the pointed finger command. Only dogs.

Hmm... I could have told them that. Wabby, resident kitty here, thinks a pointed finger is to sniff at. Carmie, when she was here, looked at the pointed finger and followed its trajectory - to see what it was pointing at. She KNEW it meant something! She used her brain and thought about the fact that I wanted her to go or do or see something that I was pointing at!

So, do dogs think? You betcha! Check out the Duke Canine Cognition Center for more info.