Found a coyote, I think

[Sigarms]

Our 2 year old cat that just passed away from a heart defect would walk over to a basket under our end table, pick out the laser pointer with his teeth, bring it over to me, drop it in my lap, get down on the floor, sit down and face me until I picked it up, turned it on, and played with him. If I didn't pick it up and turn it on, he'd get back in my lap, pick it up again, and drop it in my lap. If I'd pick up the laser pointer and toss it over onto the other couch, he'd go get it, pick it up with his teeth, bring it back, and drop it on my lap again.

To me, that shows a pretty good thought process.

I mean, a dog will bring you a ball when it wants to play.

But the cat knew the laser pointer made a clicking noise with the button. If you clicked your fingernail, he'd look at you real fast, then look around the room for the red dot. Little dude was as smart as any dog we've ever had. He was very easy to train, as I think he understood cause and effect. I miss the little guy.

Been there done that with past pets (and missing them).

The key words to drssg quote which you posted is "as we understand it".

We consider ourselves the smartest beings in the universe, when in reality we have the same understanding of the universe as dogs trying to understand flight from one continent to another.

 

[dragoneggs]

We consider ourselves the smartest beings in the universe, when in reality we have the same understanding of the universe as dogs trying to understand flight from one continent to another.

I used to have this philosophical argument (man's superiority) with my dad at the dinner table. It really boiled down to the definition of what 'intelligent' means. If man is doing such great things but not living in harmony with the rest of the animals... then are we so 'superior'? That said, still glad I was born human... and in the USA!

 

[/pine]

 

[MossRoad]

 

[cqaigy2]

View attachment 568948

Ha, going out for a drink, so to speak.

 

[/pine]

Man's best friend...and a dog

 

[drssg]

Our 2 year old cat that just passed away from a heart defect would walk over to a basket under our end table, pick out the laser pointer with his teeth, bring it over to me, drop it in my lap, get down on the floor, sit down and face me until I picked it up, turned it on, and played with him. If I didn't pick it up and turn it on, he'd get back in my lap, pick it up again, and drop it in my lap. If I'd pick up the laser pointer and toss it over onto the other couch, he'd go get it, pick it up with his teeth, bring it back, and drop it on my lap again.

To me, that shows a pretty good thought process.

I mean, a dog will bring you a ball when it wants to play.

But the cat knew the laser pointer made a clicking noise with the button. If you clicked your fingernail, he'd look at you real fast, then look around the room for the red dot. Little dude was as smart as any dog we've ever had. He was very easy to train, as I think he understood cause and effect. I miss the little guy.

First, I'm sorry for the loss of your little guy. Two years is too young.

I agree that the behavior you describe sounds pretty involved. I can't *know* what is going through the animal's mind, but I'm trying to explain what I see as apparent contradictions in demonstrated intelligence. My hypothesis is that simple conditioned response learning can appear the same to an outsider as understanding cause and effect. If the condition gets tweaked in some unexpected way, it becomes apparent that there is little or no underlying understanding of cause and effect.

You mention a dog bringing you a ball for play. Our horses will also occasionally bring a toy to another horse to entice him to play tug-of-war. If the other horse is being lazy and unresponsive, the instigator will bop the lazy horse in the head with the toy to aggravate him into biting the toy. That also seems like an involved process to me, so why can't the horse figure out not to take a crap in his only water supply?

I think the answer is that the horse doesn't understand the cause and effect of why he has no drinkable water. Conditioned response training cannot incorporate a delay. If the horse received an electric shock as he attempted to take a crap near his water bucket, he would learn quickly to go somewhere else. Incorporate a delay before the negative reinforcement, and the horse will never learn.

This is my little guy, that couldn't figure out why the weed was tickling him. I cried like a little baby when we had to put him down, due to prostate cancer.

 

[goeduck]

View attachment 568948

I know this has been posted a bazillion times but it still brings me to tears laughing.

chihuahua pees on curb youtube - Bing video

 

[MossRoad]

Man's best friend...and a dog

View attachment 568982

Hahahaha!!! NICE! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

First, I'm sorry for the loss of your little guy. Two years is too young.

I agree that the behavior you describe sounds pretty involved. I can't *know* what is going through the animal's mind, but I'm trying to explain what I see as apparent contradictions in demonstrated intelligence. My hypothesis is that simple conditioned response learning can appear the same to an outsider as understanding cause and effect. If the condition gets tweaked in some unexpected way, it becomes apparent that there is little or no underlying understanding of cause and effect.

You mention a dog bringing you a ball for play. Our horses will also occasionally bring a toy to another horse to entice him to play tug-of-war. If the other horse is being lazy and unresponsive, the instigator will bop the lazy horse in the head with the toy to aggravate him into biting the toy. That also seems like an involved process to me, so why can't the horse figure out not to take a crap in his only water supply?

I think the answer is that the horse doesn't understand the cause and effect of why he has no drinkable water. Conditioned response training cannot incorporate a delay. If the horse received an electric shock as he attempted to take a crap near his water bucket, he would learn quickly to go somewhere else. Incorporate a delay before the negative reinforcement, and the horse will never learn.

This is my little guy, that couldn't figure out why the weed was tickling him. I cried like a little baby when we had to put him down, due to prostate cancer.
View attachment 569004

Thanks. Sorry about your dog, too. Nice looking pup! :thumbsup:

This cat was pretty darn smart. He figured out that "laser button click noise meant red dot somewhere" in about an hour. I taught him to sit, shake hands, sit up, and high-five in about a week, working just one or two times in the morning and again in the evening, so at the most, about 5 minutes a day for 7 days and he had it. I was working on lie down and roll over when the heart condition surfaced.

I have a very loud 93 Suburban. My wife and daughter said he'd pop his head up and run to the back door and sit on the carpet facing the door about 10 seconds before they could hear me coming down the street. So he was always there waiting for me at the back door. While I'd like to think it was because he liked me, I'm pretty sure he knew it was because "here comes that guy that give me snacks if I do stuff". :laughing: