Thinking About Thinking

The internet definition (not the best resource in the world) of thinking / thought is: the process of using one’s mind to consider or reason about something; using thought or rational judgment; intelligent.

 I’ve been thinking about what constitutes thought.  We humans think. (Well, some of us think; I’m not so sure about others.)  We can problem solve.  (Again, some of us … )  Problem solving is thinking.  Do “dumb” animals think?  And, why do we call them “dumb animals?”  I’m writing, today, to see if I can puzzle through what I consider thinking.  Nothing scientific, you understand.  Just my thoughts on what it is that constitutes thinking.

Some folks will say that animals live by instinct.  I expect that includes humans.  What is it that makes us respond to the ringing of a doorbell?  Is it because we’ve heard it before and know that we are being summoned to see who is at the door wanting access to our house?  Is that the same or different from a dog’s response to the doorbell’s sound?

So, let’s talk about the animals that I know best.  My dog (Lady) and the dogs that visit us on an occasional basis (Kate and Paisley).  If you have been reading this BLOG on a regular basis, you will know that Lady is a miniature schnauzer, probably seven years old.  Paisley is a small Australian shepherd, and Kate is a border collie.  When we first put them together, either in groups of two or groups of three, we were interested to see how they relate to each other.  Kate, because of her background in herding, is the alpha of those three.  And, both Lady and Paisley give her that respect, although Kate does not exercise this quality when being with the other two.

In fact, when she is with Lady, and Lady is jumping on her and crawling up her legs, Kate just seems to ignore Lady’s advances.  Paisley is not with Kate very often, but they both get along just fine.  This may have something to do with the situation that I’ve made it clear that I’m the alpha here.  The rule is do what I ask you to do; and, I mean it.

Back to thinking.  I have seen all of these dogs think.  Not just use instinct.  I believe they think.  First and, maybe, foremost, they have learned many words of the English language.  I’m saying they know and understand the words.  It is not that the sound of the word is spoken in a harsh or demanding tone.  Or, that the word is spoken alone.  Such as “down,” “up,” “outside,” etc.  Rather, I speak to these dogs in sentences.  “Do you want to go outside?”  “It’s time for your supper” – or breakfast or treat.  I live alone, and I do not talk with humans in single-word sentences.  Why should I talk with the dogs in single-word sentences?

I remember when I worked in the school district on the Eastern Plains, and my school board president and I were going to Limon for lunch.  My dog, Coda, was with us.  It was her habit to stand on the second seat with her front legs draped over the back of the front seat.  She was Australian shepherd and golden with two of the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.  As we drove, I observed that she seemed to be sleepy – her eyes kept drooping as if she wanted to sleep.  So, I gently said  to her, “Coda.  You look sleepy.  Why don’t you just lie down and go to sleep.”  Which she promptly did.  Did she understand the entire sentence?  I don’t know, but she did lie down on the seat and go to sleep.  My school board president said if she had not seen it with her own eyes, she would not have believed it.

But, to the dogs at hand.  Lady, of course, has more opportunity to hear and learn words from my voice.  She knows a lot of words.  Her safe place is the loveseat in my TV room.  Her bed is on one end of the loveseat.  She sleeps there;; but she also sleeps on the other end of the loveseat.  For protection, this love seat is covered with a sheet.  Lady will sometimes sleep on the end of the loveseat without her bed.  And, of course, she wants to rearrange everything to suit herself.  So, using her front paws, she scratches at the sheet.  I say to her in a very quiet voice (almost a whisper), “No, you may not scratch the loveseat;” or just, “Lady, no.”  Then, she looks at me with this, “But, I’m not doing anything wrong” face.  And, I repeat my direction¸ and she lies down on the cushion.  Is that thinking?

As I said, Lady has access to our bed.  Usually, there is a strip rug that is at the foot of the bed (the east side of the bed), as well as one along the south side of the bed.  Lady is very capable of jumping upon the bed, using the rug to aid her traction.  She cannot get onto the bed from the floor if the rug is not on the hardwood floor for traction.  Neither can she get off of the bed without the rug.  She is afraid she will hurt herself.  So, when the rug is not there at the foot of the bed, she runs around on the bed and not even try to jump off.  Then, on her own, she learned that that rug along the side of the bed would give her the same protection to get off of the bed or get back on the bed as the rug at the foot of the bed.  Is that thinking?

A Russian tortoise (Chere) lives with me.  (By the way, Chere’s vet says that Russian tortoises are the smartest reptiles.)  She is given a bath in her plastic tub about every other day.  When she is finished, I take her out of the bath water, put her into the bathroom sink so I can rinse her off, and dump her bath water.  One day, Kate discovered her.  She checked out this animal in the sink, putting both of her front feet on the vanity so she could look at Chere.  When I told her to get down and leave the room, she did.  Chere went back to her habitat in the Big Room.  The next day was not bath day, but the bathroom door was open.  Kate went into the room, put her front feet on the vanity, and looked for Chere.  She remembered that there was this animal in that sink.  Satisfied that the tortoise was not there, she left the room.  She did this for several days after that.  Is that thinking?

At home, Paisley is allowed to sleep on the bed.  So, when she is at my house, she sleeps on the bed with Lady and me.  However, she never gets onto the bed until she is invited.  I don’t know what the understanding is at her home about sleeping on the bed, but at my house, she seems to know that getting on the bed is by invitation, only.  Is that thinking?

When my visiting dogs are with me and their folks come home, they know during the day that they will be going home, even before they are to be picked up.  I consider that instinct – or some sort of intuition  But, they do know!  I think that is akin to the times when I think that I should call someone, the phone rings, and it is the person about whom I was thinking.  I consider that instinct  Or, some people think, it is being in tune with the universe.  It seems as though it is more like my dogs knowing that Mom and Dad will be coming home.

Take the time to think about how many English words your pet understands.  Think about those pets that learn French or German or any other language foreign to us.  Is that act of learning thinking?

There is so much to think about when we puzzle through our thoughts about thinking.  I suppose, eventually, time will tell.

Be Safe and Be Well.

The Cranky Crone

Thoughtful comments are appreciated.