Random

[alexisjane]

My dog can see me in a mirror.

She definitely can. In our last place, she'd sit and watch my reflection in the hall mirror when I was brushing my teeth every night, even though she could have easily come around the corner to sit with me. She makes eye contact and tilts her head when I/the reflection talks.

But then she never ever reacts to her own reflection. She must be able to see it but she never acknowledges it. That's weird, right? What does she think it is? I'm pretty sure only elephants and dolphins recognise themselves in a mirror, monkeys can learn to do it, I think maybe crows too (coz they are as smart as monkeys) but she surely can't know that the dog in the mirror is her, right? But she knows my reflection is me...but she's not freaked out about there being another dog...

This is the kinda thing I worry about.

And I'm not even high.

I think it's probably time for bed x

Comments

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

One of my dogs will look at her own reflection. She also watches other dogs on TV. The other one doesn't.

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Lily usually pays no mind to the tv...ever but she did actually actively watch a documentary about wolves the other day. She particularly liked the red fox bit : ) probably as she's seen them in the park but she was very excited by cubs too which was sweet. I'm going to be watching so many wolf documentaries now! : ) It is fascinating to see what gets their attention x

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

My childhood dog Buffy saw herself in the hall closet mirror every time she walked past it. She never once paid her own reflection any mind, yet dogs on the TV got her all growly. Dunno if I'd go as far as saying "self-aware," but dogs are a LOT smarter than we give them credit for. :)

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Some definitely are. She doesn't really get fussed about the tv (except for what I said to carafindel above) so I did think maybe it was a 'can't see in 2d' thing but clearly not. They are a mystery : ) x

[gorkonelka.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... you voiced really interesting question. I used to think that my dog naturally knows that the reflection in the mirror belongs to her. And she just didn´t want to put up a show for us. She was like "yeah, ok, so what?" :D But I have another dog (Lucky is her name) and she barks and snarls whenever she sees herself. We call the reflection a "mirror demon" and we interpret her barking as exorcism or plain swearing :D

We all do crazy things. And yeah, you are right, bed time is a really good idea right now. I´m just gonna take a howl at that moon with my dog.... wake up some neighbors and we are good :D

In conclusion...
A) your dog is fully aware of herself and knows that the reflection belongs to her, she just don´t care about the looks (you know beauty is in the eye of beholder... blah blah) or
B) she fights against demons with the most powerful weapon=ignorance :D :D :D

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

See, I would have thought, esp with Lily as she can be really territorial and dog aggressive, that she would think her reflection is a demon...but no...which is kinda what freaks me out about it because dogs should not be self aware but then what is she thinking! O_o
She is a weird one. I'm gonna go with A : )

Enjoy your howl x

[mangacat201.livejournal.com]

Thoughts about the inner workings of dog brains are never random. I constantly feel like my baby is utterly frustrated by my lack of understanding her very clear mental projections. I do know the 'dog chow, yum?'-face down to pat though.

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Lily's quite good at communicating. Sometimes she'll want something and will just stare at me really hard while I reel off words until we get to the thing she wants and then she gets up and stretches.
And that's when I realise i'm a fucking slave to my dog : (
I always imagine baby crying would be mostly expletives if they had words. Poor loves, it must be so frustrating not to be able to understand what they want, let alone ask for it x

[casey28.livejournal.com]

My childhood dogs would bark at other dogs on TV. I don't remember if they reacted to their reflection in the mirror. It's cute that your dog tilts her head when she sees your reflection talk. :)

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Oh she's has so many different expressions, it's hilarious. It weirds people out a bit coz even though she only has the one eye, the no-eye still moves like it's there, so her eyebrow goes up and she frowns and everything! She's generally unmoved by things 2D...which is why this bothers me so }: ( x

[toratio.livejournal.com]

That is totally adorable!

I've tried the whole mirror thing with my cats, but they either know their reflection or just ignore it. They rarely react to things on TV, except when I play Sonic, then Bandit tries to chase Sonic across the screen.

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

Haha, I saw some penguins playing a cat game on an ipad and it did cross my mind whether she would like some games like that...and than I remembered her giant, hard claws and thought better of it. I think she would decimate your living room if she took a liking to Sonic! I bet the kitties love you for it : ) x

[sleepypercy.livejournal.com]

Aww, sounds like you have a very self-aware dog. Cutie <3

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

If only she had opposable thumbs, then I could teach her to make tea. She's cute enough to make up for it though : ) x

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

Our cat will watch himself in the mirror, and he's so cute when he pads the glass before padding himself to see if the cat moves the same ;) hope you slept well bb! ♥

[alexisjane.livejournal.com]

That's so cool. It's interesting how everyones pets react so differently. I slept. Still sleepy though. Glad i don't have to drive anywhere! : )

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

No operating heavy machinery either! ;) Loopy's mental, he likes to climb across our washing airer too, when it's *full* little git, he uses it as a exercise routine I think. It's so funny, tippy toes and claws all clinging to about a millimetre of metal O_O x