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Are dogs self-aware?


Claire.

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Are Dogs Self-Aware?

The standard test of self-awareness is being able to recognize ourselves in a mirror. Although chimpanzees pass this test with flying colors, gorillas have inconsistent results. Dogs flunk by treating the reflection as another animal.

Read more: Psychology Today

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13 minutes ago, Claire. said:

Are Dogs Self-Aware?

The standard test of self-awareness is being able to recognize ourselves in a mirror. Although chimpanzees pass this test with flying colors, gorillas have inconsistent results. Dogs flunk by treating the reflection as another animal.

Read more: Psychology Today

To answer...i dunno :lol:

My rott is very smart and just looks at himself in a mirror from time to time,my little mutt goes crazy when seeing his reflection hahaha

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The test may have been flawed from the get go. A mirror is a man made object, which dogs have no concept of. If I didn't know what mirrors are or what they're supposed to do, I would also think I was looking at someone else, and not my own reflection. My dog barked when he looked in a mirror, but if he saw his reflection in water he just admired himself. So I have to say they are self aware, but just don't understand mirrors very well.

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Dogs can feel shame like the look they give when you come home and they ate the sofa.

Shame: " a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior."

So yeah, I think they are self aware.

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I have 4 dogs. Two pay no attention to their reflection and the other 2 bark at their reflection. 

My lab River is a super smart dog but reflections confuse her. Sometimes she gets scared when she sees her reflection in the storm door and other times she freaks out and barks like crazy. She doesn't even seem to recognize my reflection. Weird.

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I read not long ago the average dog has the same mental talents as a human 5-8 year old . Put a mirror near a kid and the reactions vary with the personality , not a sense of awareness . 

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12 hours ago, Claire. said:

Are Dogs Self-Aware?

The standard test of self-awareness is being able to recognize ourselves in a mirror. Although chimpanzees pass this test with flying colors, gorillas have inconsistent results. Dogs flunk by treating the reflection as another animal.

Read more: Psychology Today

I think some dogs recognize themselves in mirror while others think it's another dog and bark at it.

With the two dogs I have now, the big relatively dumb lovable one just barks if he sees his reflection but shows he's smart in other ways like in the article. 

The little spoiled brat  one was curious when I was combing my  hair in a large mirror. He was fascinated and looked at my reflection and his, when I picked him up and said that's what we look like. He made all kinds of paw gestures at the mirror and looked back and forth at us. When I showed him, my hands moving in coordination with the reflection too, he got all happy like he was going to go on a car ride or discovered a new toy.

Now he likes to look in any mirrors to see his own reflection, he's very vain, conniving  and smart compared to the other dog. He wants to see himself in a hand mirror after he gets brushed now. He points to it with his paw and stares seriously at it until I give in to him. Then he looks and gets extremely happy excited when he looks at his reflection LOL. 

I had some poodles that seemed to know it was themselves in the mirror too, so I tend to think it really has to do with their breed or personality as far as mirror tests go. 

I had three dogs that liked to watch the Westminster dog shows intensely. Most of my other dogs would only bark if they heard a barking dog on some TV show,  they never sat to focus and really watch a TV screen at all or want to look in a mirror without barking. The smarter ones looked at the screen when I pointed it out and started to watch TV after they saw the new discovery. The ones that saw the screen obviously had better eyesight to focus.

In my dog ownerships there's a big difference in the toy breeds. They seem to interact more like humans and can focus more with their eyes. 

 

 

Edited by White Unicorn
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17 hours ago, Likely Guy said:

Dogs can feel shame like the look they give when you come home and they ate the sofa.

Shame: " a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior."

So yeah, I think they are self aware.

My last dog would actually put himself in timeout if he believed he did something wrong. Smartest dog I ever had.

Edited by WoIverine
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My dog is quite aware that his reflection is himself. He will even go and get a toy, go up to the full length mirror and then admire his reflection with his toy. From what I've seen in my lifetime certain dogs are smarter than others and some of the smarter ones are most certainly self aware.

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1 hour ago, Lilly said:

My dog is quite aware that his reflection is himself. He will even go and get a toy, go up to the full length mirror and then admire his reflection with his toy. From what I've seen in my lifetime certain dogs are smarter than others and some of the smarter ones are most certainly self aware.

I don't for a second believe in a reflective test for intelligence that would prove, or disprove if a dog (or any other mammal,.for that matter) has a sense of 'self'.

They all do. I'd bestow that honour onto the 'lesser beings' as well.

That's just my opinion

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Isn't the ability to 'learn', part of 'self awareness'?

If not, why bother?

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