Understanding How Dogs Think
Do you ever sit back and wish you could know exactly what your dog is thinking? Unfortunately, reading your dog’s mind is still impossible, but we can do our best to understand a bit more about how our dogs think and what motivates them. Check it out!
Dog Thoughts
You may wonder if your dog even has thoughts. The answer is yes! It’s estimated that dogs have the same level of cognition as a human between the ages of three and five. They understand differences in quantity, respond to familiar voices, and can sniff out whether someone is friendly or dangerous. Overall, dogs are pretty smart animals! They’re clearly capable of making associations and reacting to stimuli, but we can never really know what exactly our dogs are thinking.
Dog Brains
In general, mammals have very similar brain structures. Brain hemispheres, lobes, and parts all have the same names and functions. The difference between dog brains and other mammal brains is that dogs have extremely sensitive noses and use a much larger portion of their brains to analyze smells. This makes them great at sniffing out anything and everything! Similar to humans, dogs probably have strong associations between scents and memories.
Do Dogs Understand Us?
Dogs are the oldest domesticated species, which means that dogs and humans have been interacting and evolving together for centuries. Our long history has made our brains very similar. It also makes dogs pretty great at picking up on our body language, scents, and tones of voice. In the past, dogs and humans likely used each other to survive. Being able to understand human signals probably increased dogs’ survival rate. This is another reason that dogs and humans have such an intimate understanding of each other.
Dog Feelings
OK, so dogs definitely have thoughts, but do they have feelings? Research suggests that yes, they do! According to studies on dog emotions, our canine companions can feel optimistic, anxious, happy, scared, and even depressed. They may even get jealous of other dogs. Dog brains also respond similarly to humans when they hear babies crying or experience pain. As you can see, there’s some pretty solid evidence that dogs do actually have feelings. While this may surprise you, it’s important to remember that your actions can impact your dog just as they would impact another human!
Dog Communication
Dogs definitely can’t talk, but they do communicate through body language. While you shouldn’t try to interpret every little thing your dog does, you should pay attention to signs of anxiety or discomfort. For example, if your dog turns their head away from you or licks their lips, they’re probably nervous. Understanding your dog’s body language will come with time, so be patient. Researchers are still developing technology to better understand what your dog cognition. Soon we may have an entirely new level of understanding our our dogs’ thoughts.
Like humans, dogs are extremely complicated creatures. However, with time, you’ll better understand the way your dog thinks. We hope you’ve gained a little insight into how their brains work by reading this article!