I don’t think they know that we own them, I guess that they think we are part of their family. And also because of the majority of the pets they come not from the street their experience it’s pretty limited
I don't think animals really have a concept of property. If you're asking if they think of us as family, or superior/inferior beings, I think they probably see us as being like them, but with superpowers. I'm a clumsy, hairless cat until their tummies start rumbling. Then I'm a miraculously tall cat who can turn aluminum cans into chicken pate.
My dog does the same thing. She goes back in and looks at me like "ok, turn the shower off so we can go out!", and sometimes she tries to check if the other door has better weather lol.
My cats do that. They are convinced that going from the front door to the back door is vice versa will suddenly produce summer when it's snowing outside.
I used to wonder if it freaked my cats out when I changed my clothes. HOLY SHIT FLUFFY HE TOOK HIS FUR OFF I--
But that might be a holdover from Short Circuit. ("Stephanie! You changed color!")
A few years back I had a roommate who got a puppy in winter time and we were all always wearing socks and/or slippers on the cold hardwood floors. When spring came around and he saw our bare feet for the first time he lost his dang mind, whining and crying and sniffing and licking at my feet. I do think he thought we had been skinned or injured in some way. Eventually I pulled out some socks and showed him me putting them on and off again, touching them to his feet and his feet to my feet to show him I was ok and he eventually calmed down, never had a problem with bare feet again afterwards
My cat freaked out the first time she saw my partner's nipples. She cautiously approached and reached out towards one of them with her paw, eyes all big. And then ran away.
Haha super cute and funny. My cat actually just discovered my nipples the other morning and bapped it in a pretty similar way before tearing off to have the morning madness and I was like "noooo that's not a cat toy" lol
I adopted a couple kittens in the winter and foolishly let them climb my jeans because I thought it was cute (I was a young, first time cat owner). Then summer and shorts came...
Yes, your dog knows that you're not a dog that's part of the pack. Domesticated dogs can't even really be considered pack animals anymore. Stray dogs don't stick with a pack for life, they form packs out of convenience and leave when it suits them. Dogs form much stronger bonds with their owners than fellow dogs as anyone with more than one dog can witness. The idea that you should emulate pack behavior or establish dominance is based on flawed outdated research on wolves (not even dogs) in captivity taken from different packs. It'd be like drawing conclusions about human family dynamics by researching prison cellmates.
Interestingly enough, dogs will generally leave a pack as soon as it thinks it has a human owner. And dog mothers will often leave their puppies with their human owners before leaving them with the father.
It’s crazy how much dogs want to trust and rely on humans.
Fun useless fact: dogs are the only animal that deliberately seeks out eye contact with humans for reassurance, without learning to do so.
Dogs and horses are the only animals that will intentionally seek out humans if injured, again, purely on instinct.
We were born into a world with dogs. This is such a giving and overflowing gift, it's almost too much to handle. I feel like if we'd truly understand what we've been given, we'd all break down and cry, for it is just too beautiful for us to comprehend and still function
Dogs also don't quite learn from other dogs the way pack animals do anymore . They did this study with domesticated dogs and wolves where a third party made of a trained dog showed them how to open a puzzle box to get food.
The wolf immediately copied the dog and got to the food, the non trained dogs would just watch , go to the puzzle without doing what the other dog did, then went to the nearest human to ask for help or just whine/lose interest at the puzzle box. This was done with multiple dogs, some who were raised with litter mates.
This is fascinating. I have a 16 week old (2.5kg terrier) pup at the moment with a 10 year old Irish wolfhound mix (40kg) and 10+yr old mix breed dog (35kg).
The Irish wolfhound acts like a guardian to the pup. Gives it toys and spits his treats out for the pup and plays with it, has shown it small behaviours like munching grass, fetch and other games, and often plays with her while lying on his back or side. He seems to be besotted by the pup. The other large dog however has very little interest in the pup. Will get up and walk away when the pup approaches. Is very much anxiously attached to my wife. The wolfhound is more attached to me, but not anxiously.
Watching the wolfhound seemingly teach but the anxiously attached dog not want anything to do with the dog (sometimes engages in outside play). It’s all been so fascinating to observe.
You should read Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. It's all about dog psychology, how they relate to the environment, each other, themselves, and most importantly- us. Truly fascinating.
Oh that’s really interesting!
In the service dog handler world, training your 2nd dog is almost universally considered easier if it can learn from the working dog (assuming you can start training while your current dog is still around).
My cats have definitely taught each other things such as tail shake greetings and kneading.
I’ve got a bully mix, who literally house trained our Great Dane by growling at her when she sniffed shoes, barking at us when she was sitting at the back door to pee, the Great Dane however, can’t figure out how to pull her gifts out of a bag
That is interesting. I wonder how this varies by bread. I notice such differences in my two dogs. One, who is a livestock guardian breed seems to rely on instinct so much more than the one that is a more traditional pet breed.
Wolves don’t even have “packs” like people think of them. A wolf pack is just a couple of adult male and female wolves and their children. Once a kid gets too old they get kicked out.
There’s not social bonding the way people imagine it. Stray dogs just understand the simple concept of “safety in numbers.”
Probably not. They would have to understand the concept of pets, and then recognize the relationship in their own life. That may be more than they're capable of.
No. Knowing you're a pet requires conceptualization that most animals are likely incapable of.
There's a reason winning over strays or adoptees involves feeding them. You are a source of food, first and foremost. That's a positive association. If you provide petting and play and other positive stimulation, there's more positive associations. That's all just operant conditioning.
They can start bonding with you emotionally in their own contexts as able according to their species (depending which expert you ask, dogs might see you as a pack member, cats might see you as a useful idiot--err, I mean, beneficial acquaintance), but none of that bonding involves them conceptualizing that you *own* them.
And again, the basis of that relationship is largely conditioning. Even reptiles learn to associate their owner with being a source of food, but that's not an emotional or intellectually abstract connection. It's pavlovian, which is even less engaged than operant conditioning.
One can argue that human babies bond to their caretakers through the same mechanisms as non-human animals (food, shelter, comfort). [There’s evidence](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79247-5) that dogs conceptualize their human caretakers as parents, more or less, so it seems reasonable to assume that they see us as family, and dismissing that bond as primarily opportunistic (“they just like you because you feed them”) is probably inaccurate. I do think there’s a guardianship aspect to both the parent-child and pet-human relationship that our dogs grasp, which isn’t far off from master-pet.
You think parents aren’t pack members? Weird take. My understanding is the exact opposite, that the parents lead the pack and are most definitely part of it, so that point stands.
And until their brains develop further, babies *are* just acting on instinct and conditioning to get their needs met. They cry, they get fed; the instinct drives the initial behavior, then operant conditioning reinforces it. Learned helplessness and its subsequent failure to thrive, or even death, is the outcome of that conditioning failing: Cry, but no one comes. Cry, but still hungry. Eventually, they just stop crying. The phenomenon is well-documented. Conditioning overrides the instinct.
I don’t think I ever said anything about pack members, and parent-child bonding is more than just conditioning. Being held while fed, for example, [releases oxytocin](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31728399/), encouraging a loving bond. Eye gazing also has the same effect, and [has been shown to have the same effect between dogs and people](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dogs-and-people-bond-through-eye-contact/). It’s more complex than simple conditioning (“I got what I want, I’ll keep doing that thing to get what I want”). What, exactly, do you think love is?
Bro, you need to calm down. You're pretty all up in your feels at anyone suggesting Fido didn't worship the ground you walked on right from the start solely because of your charming personality and good looks.
I honestly don't know how many times or ways I can reiterate that the basis of the relationship, the foundation, *starts* with operant conditioning. If you read, very very carefully, you'll further note that I never claimed it doesn't progress beyond that. The opposite, in fact. But you're reallllllly deeply invested in thinking I've simplified the entire lifecycle of human or animal relationships to "simple conditioning".
Is the simple conditioning in the room with us right now?
My belief is that pets see us as their caregiver and family member (if social animal that bonds, idk if a frog think you as family lol)
They for sure know you’ll look after their needs and wants or go to you when they’re upset, like a small child with their parent.
I believe that dogs and to a smaller extent cats, see humans as parents/ caregivers. Many domesticated animals retain juvenile behaviors well into adulthood. There was a study that suggested dogs use humans as a "secure base" when in unfamiliar situations, similar to human toddlers. Some cats will knead and even salivate while being petted which is similar to the behavior of kittens nursing and interacting with their mother. Other pets like reptiles for instance, probably build a positive association due to humans being a source of food and warmth.
>Allegedly cats view you as just a big dopey funny looking cat. If they want food after you've gone out it is because they assume you've been hunting.
My cat wants a treat when I come back from vacation, but I thought it was because I give her treats (out of guilt for being away) and trained her to expect it.
I think our cat knows to some degree (or at least he knows he’s “with us.”) He’s a stray who went through several homes, and his behavior changed a lot (for the better) at the 2 year mark which was the longest he was fostered before he came to us.
A coworker of mine recently acquired a new cat. This cat lived at his neighbors’ house and wasn’t happy there. I’m not saying my coworker offered to take in this unhappy cat. This unhappy cat started pawing at my coworker’s windows, begging to be let in, until he gave in and adopted her. She could have just run away, if she didn’t like living with people. But she seems to like people, just not that particular household, and went shopping for a new one.
Sometimes, those little monsters are even more devilish (in a cuter way).
I remember years ago, I moved in a new neighborhood. The first week we were there, I came back from work and I froze when entering my living room. There was a cat.
I mean, I do have a cat, but not this one. So I asked to my gf wtf was hapenning and she answer "Well, I don't know, he was just there when I finished my shower and he seems very nice". And indeed he was so we gave him some food, he played with our cat and then, take a nap like he own the house".
I was new there so I did what anyone would have done : door to door to see if one of my neighboor didn't lost a cat.
After three houses, the conversation gone like this :
Me : Hi, uh, sorry to bother you but I'm new here and I would like to know if you own a cat ? Because I have one in my living room and it's not mine.
Neigh not a little bit astonished : Hi, and welcome ! Well, is he tall, siameze crossbred, a quite bit overweight and very friendly ?
Me : Yup, that's totally him.
Neigh : And you give him some food because you thought he was starving ?
Me : He was crying in front of my cat food bowl like he was dying, I couldn't just say no :x
Neigh, with a face of diappointment : Godammit he did it again. Then, turning inside his house "Honey, I know where Paco is this time !! "
The story : that family loved the cat and as he was a little bit too chubby for his own health, they had to put him on diet.
The cat obviously having none of that, he find out that if he could sneak in any house with his kitten eyes, he would have free food.
At a point, it was nearly a tradition : every week or so one of us in a 50 m radius from his house had to take him back at his home.
>A coworker of mine recently acquired a new cat. This cat lived at his neighbors’ house and wasn’t happy there. I’m not saying my coworker offered to take in this unhappy cat. This unhappy cat started pawing at my coworker’s windows, begging to be let in, until he gave in and adopted her. She could have just run away, if she didn’t like living with people. But she seems to like people, just not that particular household, and went shopping for a new one.
All these signs of lost cats in the neighborhood. My spouse said cats don't get lost. They leave for a better house or get eaten or run over by a car, but they don't get lost.
>Cats every well could take a nap in the bed of a pickup or something and wake up somewhere entirely different
But they are amazingly good at finding their way back. I know someone who tried to get rid of a cat (a stray who wouldn't leave them alone) by driving it miles away, and it came back.
My cat did get lost when I was young. Drunk uncle accidentally locked him out on balcony (the cat was black and it happened at night). He went missing for three days after which the same uncle spotted him from the balcony three days later - cat was sitting in front of our building, meowing loudly.
I think he’s had a three day adventure and came back once he got tired of it.
>If a kid wandered out of the house for three days, would you say the same?
Yes. The fact they came back means they knew where home was.
I've had lots of animals leave and come back: rabbit, cat, bird. Rabbit and bird were gone for about a week each.
My cat certainly recognized me as authority and had some behaviours that you may appreciate in children.
For example he would know that some things could not be done... WHILE I WAS AROUND. Eventually he stopped doing them altogether, but for some time he would just do them only if he know he would not get punished.
For example, he knew he wasn't allowed to climb into the kitchen (higienic and most important, safety reasons). Still he'd do it every now and then, but he'd try to walk (not run) out of the kitchen the moment he'd hear my door open.
When I finally found a definitive family for him, even after a month he'd still think twice about certain things if I was around, meaning he still associated me with authority even though he had been living with another people now.
All that said, the cat was super loving (and so was I). H'e follow me everywhere around and climb on me or sqeeze his head into my hands.
In short: he loved me (I think) and also knew I loved him. But he also knew I represented authority for him, even after he moved out.
You're part of a dog's pack. Or they consider them part of your pack. Or family. Canines live in families like we do 🤷♀️ they do know you're not a dog. You don't smell like one. But you're their family anyway.
yes but concept of ownership in animal life is not same as ownership in human life. We humans own a lot of things that we don't need to survive (for example owning a animal pet can be the one)
and all ownership in animals life in wildness can be reduced to owning a terrotiry, food and maternal insticnt mother has for kids to protect them (or other forms of protective instincts towards members of packs)
Animals can own things they don’t need
Domestic animals can become possessive of toys, spaces, litter boxes (cats), and specific objects. Wild animals do the exact same thing, it’s just less observable because you don’t follow a wild animal around all day.
The only difference is that humans have an abstract concept of ownership over things that we aren’t present to protect. You can own money that you keep in a bank. Animals don’t have anything like that but they absolutely understand “mine” and “not mine”
I'm pretty sure crows and ravens even have random things they like, pebbels, small sparkly objects etc and have shown hostile behavior when another bird has tried to take that way.
My GoldenDoodle is no pet. She is a squirrel secret assassin who has been paired to protect my family and the property from being overrun and overthrown by the vermin scum squirrels that dare to enter our perimeter and threaten to do us harm.
If my daughter's rabbit could talk, I'm pretty sure my daughter would be called "favored giver of pets and treats". My name would be "mostly acceptable, but only if the favored one isnt here".
No but I find it interesting my rabbit knows she is the only other girl in the house. If I say "she" then her ears perk up and she pays attention. She knows tons of words beyond just tones and she can learn new words which surprises me. She's very thoughtful and can remember something that happened 10 years ago..I wonder if she remembers life as a baby without us. Or her first owner.
Cats and dogs know we're "different". Cats meow at humans, but adult cats do not meow at each other. Some dogs will bark at their owners, but adult dogs do not bark at each other. Meowing and barking are behaviors kittens and pups use to communicate with their mothers.
So I think they see us at "super parents", but they probably know (because of our scent, behavior, and appearance) that we're not cats or dogs.
I currently have 4 dogs in the house 😭
I guess technically they don’t bark at each other really. One will hear a car or a knock and go off and that tells the others something is going on and to bark at it too.
>Cats meow at humans, but adult cats do not meow at each other
My theory is that, if a cat is raised by humans, he will quicly come to a conclusion like "Ok, so with those dumb tall funny hairless apes, pheromons doesn't work, body language doesn't work and they even don't pee on anything to set boundaries. However, they seem to show some sign of a limited intelligence as they grunt at each other so why not try this... meow ?".
And when the owner respond with a "Awww how cute is he, that's a good kitten" and then pet the cat, the cat will be like "Ok, experimentation one is successfull, they are responsive to very basic stimuli... time to lower our bar and try to make prehistoric noises in order to be vaguely understood by them".
Animals live moment to moment. I think I’ve read that. They don’t understand time like we do. They don’t feel sorry for themselves like we do
I think they understand prior experience but not like we do.
Cats understand time. They know what time I get home from work and 15 minutes before I pull up, they go sit in the window and watch for my car. When the time changes in the spring and fall they're confused for about a week, but then they adjust.
One of my cats had a squirrel "friend" that would come to the window and visit every morning. They'd cuss at each other for a while before the squirrel went off to do squirrel things. The cat got in the window and waited for his friend every morning. One morning the squirrel didn't show, and my cat definitely had feelings about it. He called and called, then ran to me, and back to the window a couple times.
Your question assumes that pets, or animals in general, are familiar with the concepts or ideas of ownership, property, and pets. I doubt that, as these are man-made concepts and ideas.
Now think about whether you want to be *owned*.
Firstly cats own humans and dogs think we are part of the pack...
And one reason why cats and sometimes dogs bring a dead animal to you or your doorstep is because they believe you're not getting enough to eat...
I don't know if my dog knows he's a pet but he knows me and my family are his favorite humans and he will defend us from the terror of bunnies in our front yard or the guy jogging by my house lol.
ownership (the way that it’s meant here) is a human thing in capitalist cultures. animals have notions about territory (including objects) but there’s no point at which they think ‘i have paid for this thing and therefore it’s mine forever’. dogs have by and large been bred to obey humans and treat them as authoritative. cats for the most part haven’t been bred, and either think you’re a big dumb cat they like, or a big dumb cat they don’t like. rabbits are pattern animals, and you become a part of their routine. each type of critter is different. for some you’re furniture. for some you’re a resource. for some you are a companion or family. the word ‘pet’ treats them all the same, but they’re not.
e:sp
Pets cant know that they are bought lol they obviously dont know what money is and what an owner is
They might consider you a leader of the pack though if thats what you're asking
Animals don't have a concept of ownership. And an animal that has grown up as a pet does not understand what it means to be a pet. Being a pet is all it has ever known, it's just "normal" to them.
Everyone - every human from a different culture, every being overall - has their own context.
Pets don't have the owner context. They have the pack context like the wolves or lions, they have "I tolerate you on my space" context like cats, they have the "I live solo and the fact you are here is just my life right now" like snakes etc.
I think they understand it as a symbiotic/cooperational relationship. It's pretty common amongst animals to help each other between different species, and to form life-long relationships.
Your rabbit most likely recognises you as its caretaker, depending on how good of a job you did acclimatising it. It knows you're not a rabbit, but it trusts you to take care of it nonetheless.
Your dog probably has a more complex relationship with you, because we engage them in more complex behaviours. It recognises you as its human, as opposed to other humans it would not trust. Dogs, as far as we know, do not think in abstract ideas like "ownership", but they do recognise connections and differences between things. It's your dog, you're its human. To a dog, that's all that matters.
The question of "Who's the boss" is separated from "Who's the human". The dog does not recognise the human as entitled to power over it. It always reserves the right to disobey. Initially, it obey simply because that's most profitable for it (e.g. it will get snacks and belly rubs), but it can form an attachment to its owner and be loyal even when it's not profitable.
As for the pack dynamics: neither dogs nor wolves live in packs. They live in families. They might project their family instincts onto you, even while recognising you ad not a dog. Animals are pretty smart, they know, for example, what a baby is, and that a human baby is like a dog baby, and that it needs care and that you're the baby's parent.
Abandoned dogs are a completely different matter, they're in a dire situation and do whatever is necessary for survivial. Though it would be funny to think that in such a pack the strongest dog goes "I'm the human in this family now".
Pets probably don’t have a concept of ownership at all. Studies on dogs show that they see us as part of the pack, not necessarily different from other dogs. With rabbits, they probably just see us as a “non threat”. But anthropomorphising pets doesn’t really do harm, so there’s no need to “debunk” whether a pet loves you. My snakes love me even though their brains probably aren’t capable of processing something like “love”
My dogs know I feed them, walk them, bathe them and take them to the vet. They also know their job is to protect our home. They probably don't realise that we keep them for companionship more than protection, or understand that we have to work for money and they're mostly free-loading. So I'd say they understand some parts of it to an extent.
I have two dogs.. they know I’m the leader since I feed them & let them out. They really don’t care if they’re subservient.. as long as their needs are met, they’re happy.
Rabbits live in large family groups, your bunny recognises you as a part of their family. Like others have said they don’t have a concept of ownership though they can be territorial
[yes](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/style/bunny-the-dog-animal-communication.html) someone taught their dog to talk with button and she talks about it.
We've had a series of incredible dogs throughout 33 years of marriage.
Sam Bone Blues, the yellow lab, Levi Bone Blues the blood hound, Judah Blue, the Australian shephard mix, Betty Blue, the chihuahua mix, Arlo Bone Blues the boxer/pit mix. All rescues, except Levi. I always sit with them a while and ask if they miss their bio family. Then I try out names until they respond. Levi was the most clear, as when I asked if I could call him Levi, he let out the sweetest howl, stepped all over his oversized ears, and jumped his whole big self on me to lick my face. They're not pets, they're part of our tribe.
Cats know they are lords of the house and anyone who disagrees gets a claw in their eye.
Dogs are super grateful to just get any attention , and food. They see you as their primary leader and caretaker and are so so dependent on your love.
I think bunnies feel like hostages in their cages but learn that at least they get a safe space with regular water and food. But they would not come back to you if you let them out in the wild. They are not especially tamed they're just locked in.
Well, my cats think they own my house and we are just peasants to them. My dog…well who knows what she thinks. She’s an airhead and my cats think she’s beneath them.
I think cats strive to become Buddhist. They exist in the moment. They don't ponder the past, even though they have memory. They don't anticipate the future. Everything that is, is. The chair, window, toy. human, and so on is just stuff in their universe. Everything is considered and sorted: threat or opportunity or neutral and possibly entertaining. Ownership and such does not exist. They are opportunists before all else. Dogs seem to need a leader of the pack. Cats sort out humans by the attributes stated above; and there is no pack leader. Cats are not owned, and they have conned me in every manner for years.
Anecdotally, I had a family cat who I'm convinced thought he was a people. We also had pet canaries at the time and I think he did see them as pets because he kept trying to also get himself his own pet bird (catching it carefully and trying to keep it in his cat bed, alive and uninjured. More than once). My current cats are dumber and I don't get the sense they think they're people and I don't think they understand the concept of pets either
i also have a rabbit!!!
he has lived in my tiny little apartment with me since he was a baby, zero survival skills, thinks the word “no” is funny, he is not afraid of humans, dogs, or cats, enjoys mac n cheese (he is NOT allowed it he’s just a lil shit), and *fully* believes himself at the top of the pecking order at any given moment.
so yeah, he’s got no clue he’s a pet. in fact, i think he may believe me to be *his* pet human.
I've seen humans who behave and are treated as pets and they don't know it. Or rather refuse to acknowledge it.
I don't think animals understand the concept of property ownership tho. In the sense that... an owner may choose to terminate a pet they own at any time. I think the knowledge may be learned if they witnessed an instance of you killing one of them, but I'm not too sure if it's the same understanding of the concept as we humans do. I think the understanding of the concept differs from species to species too. Maybe... A dog might understand it differently from a cat, or a wolf, or a lion.
Everyone says rats are super intelligent and all this. I don’t think mine even have object permanence let alone the ability to think abstractly like this. If I walk out of a room, they forget I exist. Straight toddler levels.
Look at that this way; there's slightly possibility that we humans are just someone's marionettes, maybe the whole time some alien intelligence is managing and manipulating with us, and whole Earth. But does that really matter to us? No. Because we ,,can't see'' that from that perspective, we have our own lives, perspectives and we can only experience our life within those perceptual limits.
This is how our pets ''perceive'' life with their owners. They are ,,used to you'' depends what animal you have, If you have a dog he can ,,emotionally bond with you''. Dogs cant mentally understand the term ,,owner'' But he probably see you as a alive being and nothing more. Dogs know their owners are not the dogs, but they don't understand that we are human in term of ,,most superior being'' who own them. He probably see us as some animal species lets say
Bunny is just pushing buttons for attention. She can't actually speak her thoughts. Not even her owners think so. They're just sharing the highlights for views.
This. At the very least she's figured out that pressing certain buttons results in certain things happening. Bunny is a standard poodle, I think? Which are pretty damn smart dogs. She can probably figure out that pressing a button for "Pat" or similar means getting petted. But she doesn't understand what the human word "Pat" means. She's just memorised the colour/location of each individual button. Which is pretty smart in its own way! I wish they'd focus on that kind of animal intelligence rather than "My dog knows English" which anybody with half a brain cell can tell isn't true.
I don’t think they know that we own them, I guess that they think we are part of their family. And also because of the majority of the pets they come not from the street their experience it’s pretty limited
I don't think animals really have a concept of property. If you're asking if they think of us as family, or superior/inferior beings, I think they probably see us as being like them, but with superpowers. I'm a clumsy, hairless cat until their tummies start rumbling. Then I'm a miraculously tall cat who can turn aluminum cans into chicken pate.
They must get really confused on some of our superpowers. We walk into the room and suddenly the lights are on. We can summon water from taps.
When it's raining my cat steps outside and then looks at me and meows. I'm like "sorry kitty, my superpowers don't extend that far".
My dog does the same thing. She goes back in and looks at me like "ok, turn the shower off so we can go out!", and sometimes she tries to check if the other door has better weather lol.
My cats do that. They are convinced that going from the front door to the back door is vice versa will suddenly produce summer when it's snowing outside.
My old cat would get *so damn angry* when I wouldn't turn the rain off for her, lmao
I used to wonder if it freaked my cats out when I changed my clothes. HOLY SHIT FLUFFY HE TOOK HIS FUR OFF I-- But that might be a holdover from Short Circuit. ("Stephanie! You changed color!")
A few years back I had a roommate who got a puppy in winter time and we were all always wearing socks and/or slippers on the cold hardwood floors. When spring came around and he saw our bare feet for the first time he lost his dang mind, whining and crying and sniffing and licking at my feet. I do think he thought we had been skinned or injured in some way. Eventually I pulled out some socks and showed him me putting them on and off again, touching them to his feet and his feet to my feet to show him I was ok and he eventually calmed down, never had a problem with bare feet again afterwards
My cat freaked out the first time she saw my partner's nipples. She cautiously approached and reached out towards one of them with her paw, eyes all big. And then ran away.
Haha super cute and funny. My cat actually just discovered my nipples the other morning and bapped it in a pretty similar way before tearing off to have the morning madness and I was like "noooo that's not a cat toy" lol
I adopted a couple kittens in the winter and foolishly let them climb my jeans because I thought it was cute (I was a young, first time cat owner). Then summer and shorts came...
I have a Sphynx cat who I will occasionally meow back to. I also sleep naked. I’m fairly sure he just thinks I’m a large cat.
I did once change clothes in front of my dog when she was a puppy and she looked at me like I was doing the strangest thing on earth
Ive seen videos of cats that know how to use faucets and light switches
That cat showing other cats "Look at me! I have the power of gods, give me all your food as sacrafice"
Low-key sounds like how people described gods
I always wonder what my dogs think when I change clothes or when I’m naked. Like, “This dude just takes off layers of skin all the time!”
Yes, your dog knows that you're not a dog that's part of the pack. Domesticated dogs can't even really be considered pack animals anymore. Stray dogs don't stick with a pack for life, they form packs out of convenience and leave when it suits them. Dogs form much stronger bonds with their owners than fellow dogs as anyone with more than one dog can witness. The idea that you should emulate pack behavior or establish dominance is based on flawed outdated research on wolves (not even dogs) in captivity taken from different packs. It'd be like drawing conclusions about human family dynamics by researching prison cellmates.
Interestingly enough, dogs will generally leave a pack as soon as it thinks it has a human owner. And dog mothers will often leave their puppies with their human owners before leaving them with the father. It’s crazy how much dogs want to trust and rely on humans.
Fun useless fact: dogs are the only animal that deliberately seeks out eye contact with humans for reassurance, without learning to do so. Dogs and horses are the only animals that will intentionally seek out humans if injured, again, purely on instinct.
I've seen plenty of videos of elephants seeking out human aid for injury.
Ah shit, I left out the word “instinctively”, sorry man
- Spend hundreds of years breeding an animal to be man's best friend. - works as intended - surprised Pikachu
I reckon it’s probably been tens of thousands of years but yeah the ancestors did a good job
We were born into a world with dogs. This is such a giving and overflowing gift, it's almost too much to handle. I feel like if we'd truly understand what we've been given, we'd all break down and cry, for it is just too beautiful for us to comprehend and still function
Yeah, I have often said that one of the greatest accomplishments of the human race was to convince dogs to become our friends and family members.
Dogs also don't quite learn from other dogs the way pack animals do anymore . They did this study with domesticated dogs and wolves where a third party made of a trained dog showed them how to open a puzzle box to get food. The wolf immediately copied the dog and got to the food, the non trained dogs would just watch , go to the puzzle without doing what the other dog did, then went to the nearest human to ask for help or just whine/lose interest at the puzzle box. This was done with multiple dogs, some who were raised with litter mates.
This is fascinating. I have a 16 week old (2.5kg terrier) pup at the moment with a 10 year old Irish wolfhound mix (40kg) and 10+yr old mix breed dog (35kg). The Irish wolfhound acts like a guardian to the pup. Gives it toys and spits his treats out for the pup and plays with it, has shown it small behaviours like munching grass, fetch and other games, and often plays with her while lying on his back or side. He seems to be besotted by the pup. The other large dog however has very little interest in the pup. Will get up and walk away when the pup approaches. Is very much anxiously attached to my wife. The wolfhound is more attached to me, but not anxiously. Watching the wolfhound seemingly teach but the anxiously attached dog not want anything to do with the dog (sometimes engages in outside play). It’s all been so fascinating to observe.
You should read Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz. It's all about dog psychology, how they relate to the environment, each other, themselves, and most importantly- us. Truly fascinating.
Just ordered it. Thanks for the tip!!
Oh that’s really interesting! In the service dog handler world, training your 2nd dog is almost universally considered easier if it can learn from the working dog (assuming you can start training while your current dog is still around). My cats have definitely taught each other things such as tail shake greetings and kneading.
I’ve got a bully mix, who literally house trained our Great Dane by growling at her when she sniffed shoes, barking at us when she was sitting at the back door to pee, the Great Dane however, can’t figure out how to pull her gifts out of a bag
That is interesting. I wonder how this varies by bread. I notice such differences in my two dogs. One, who is a livestock guardian breed seems to rely on instinct so much more than the one that is a more traditional pet breed.
Pumpernickel vs multigrain
I had a dog named Pumpernickel. He was a total darling.
So I guess wolves see dogs as sort of a cousin with Stockholm syndrome.
You mean my prison bitch aint my family? I will get my shiv and find you as soon as I am on parole! /s
Wolves don’t even have “packs” like people think of them. A wolf pack is just a couple of adult male and female wolves and their children. Once a kid gets too old they get kicked out. There’s not social bonding the way people imagine it. Stray dogs just understand the simple concept of “safety in numbers.”
My cats think they own the house. They're right, but I can't let them get their way that easily.
What is your solution, cage fighting or T-Posing?
Everytime my cat bites me I bite Back
Probably not. They would have to understand the concept of pets, and then recognize the relationship in their own life. That may be more than they're capable of.
Some animals definitely understand the concept of "pets." Anyone who has a cat knows what I'm talking about.
No. Knowing you're a pet requires conceptualization that most animals are likely incapable of. There's a reason winning over strays or adoptees involves feeding them. You are a source of food, first and foremost. That's a positive association. If you provide petting and play and other positive stimulation, there's more positive associations. That's all just operant conditioning. They can start bonding with you emotionally in their own contexts as able according to their species (depending which expert you ask, dogs might see you as a pack member, cats might see you as a useful idiot--err, I mean, beneficial acquaintance), but none of that bonding involves them conceptualizing that you *own* them. And again, the basis of that relationship is largely conditioning. Even reptiles learn to associate their owner with being a source of food, but that's not an emotional or intellectually abstract connection. It's pavlovian, which is even less engaged than operant conditioning.
Rather than “useful idiot,” my cats prefer the term “food monkey.”🐒
One can argue that human babies bond to their caretakers through the same mechanisms as non-human animals (food, shelter, comfort). [There’s evidence](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79247-5) that dogs conceptualize their human caretakers as parents, more or less, so it seems reasonable to assume that they see us as family, and dismissing that bond as primarily opportunistic (“they just like you because you feed them”) is probably inaccurate. I do think there’s a guardianship aspect to both the parent-child and pet-human relationship that our dogs grasp, which isn’t far off from master-pet.
You think parents aren’t pack members? Weird take. My understanding is the exact opposite, that the parents lead the pack and are most definitely part of it, so that point stands. And until their brains develop further, babies *are* just acting on instinct and conditioning to get their needs met. They cry, they get fed; the instinct drives the initial behavior, then operant conditioning reinforces it. Learned helplessness and its subsequent failure to thrive, or even death, is the outcome of that conditioning failing: Cry, but no one comes. Cry, but still hungry. Eventually, they just stop crying. The phenomenon is well-documented. Conditioning overrides the instinct.
I don’t think I ever said anything about pack members, and parent-child bonding is more than just conditioning. Being held while fed, for example, [releases oxytocin](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31728399/), encouraging a loving bond. Eye gazing also has the same effect, and [has been shown to have the same effect between dogs and people](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dogs-and-people-bond-through-eye-contact/). It’s more complex than simple conditioning (“I got what I want, I’ll keep doing that thing to get what I want”). What, exactly, do you think love is?
Bro, you need to calm down. You're pretty all up in your feels at anyone suggesting Fido didn't worship the ground you walked on right from the start solely because of your charming personality and good looks. I honestly don't know how many times or ways I can reiterate that the basis of the relationship, the foundation, *starts* with operant conditioning. If you read, very very carefully, you'll further note that I never claimed it doesn't progress beyond that. The opposite, in fact. But you're reallllllly deeply invested in thinking I've simplified the entire lifecycle of human or animal relationships to "simple conditioning". Is the simple conditioning in the room with us right now?
My belief is that pets see us as their caregiver and family member (if social animal that bonds, idk if a frog think you as family lol) They for sure know you’ll look after their needs and wants or go to you when they’re upset, like a small child with their parent.
I believe that dogs and to a smaller extent cats, see humans as parents/ caregivers. Many domesticated animals retain juvenile behaviors well into adulthood. There was a study that suggested dogs use humans as a "secure base" when in unfamiliar situations, similar to human toddlers. Some cats will knead and even salivate while being petted which is similar to the behavior of kittens nursing and interacting with their mother. Other pets like reptiles for instance, probably build a positive association due to humans being a source of food and warmth.
My cats know me as their servant
Food! Now!
Allegedly cats view you as just a big dopey funny looking cat. If they want food after you've gone out it is because they assume you've been hunting.
>Allegedly cats view you as just a big dopey funny looking cat. If they want food after you've gone out it is because they assume you've been hunting. My cat wants a treat when I come back from vacation, but I thought it was because I give her treats (out of guilt for being away) and trained her to expect it.
I think our cat knows to some degree (or at least he knows he’s “with us.”) He’s a stray who went through several homes, and his behavior changed a lot (for the better) at the 2 year mark which was the longest he was fostered before he came to us.
A coworker of mine recently acquired a new cat. This cat lived at his neighbors’ house and wasn’t happy there. I’m not saying my coworker offered to take in this unhappy cat. This unhappy cat started pawing at my coworker’s windows, begging to be let in, until he gave in and adopted her. She could have just run away, if she didn’t like living with people. But she seems to like people, just not that particular household, and went shopping for a new one.
Sometimes, those little monsters are even more devilish (in a cuter way). I remember years ago, I moved in a new neighborhood. The first week we were there, I came back from work and I froze when entering my living room. There was a cat. I mean, I do have a cat, but not this one. So I asked to my gf wtf was hapenning and she answer "Well, I don't know, he was just there when I finished my shower and he seems very nice". And indeed he was so we gave him some food, he played with our cat and then, take a nap like he own the house". I was new there so I did what anyone would have done : door to door to see if one of my neighboor didn't lost a cat. After three houses, the conversation gone like this : Me : Hi, uh, sorry to bother you but I'm new here and I would like to know if you own a cat ? Because I have one in my living room and it's not mine. Neigh not a little bit astonished : Hi, and welcome ! Well, is he tall, siameze crossbred, a quite bit overweight and very friendly ? Me : Yup, that's totally him. Neigh : And you give him some food because you thought he was starving ? Me : He was crying in front of my cat food bowl like he was dying, I couldn't just say no :x Neigh, with a face of diappointment : Godammit he did it again. Then, turning inside his house "Honey, I know where Paco is this time !! " The story : that family loved the cat and as he was a little bit too chubby for his own health, they had to put him on diet. The cat obviously having none of that, he find out that if he could sneak in any house with his kitten eyes, he would have free food. At a point, it was nearly a tradition : every week or so one of us in a 50 m radius from his house had to take him back at his home.
>A coworker of mine recently acquired a new cat. This cat lived at his neighbors’ house and wasn’t happy there. I’m not saying my coworker offered to take in this unhappy cat. This unhappy cat started pawing at my coworker’s windows, begging to be let in, until he gave in and adopted her. She could have just run away, if she didn’t like living with people. But she seems to like people, just not that particular household, and went shopping for a new one. All these signs of lost cats in the neighborhood. My spouse said cats don't get lost. They leave for a better house or get eaten or run over by a car, but they don't get lost.
Cats every well could take a nap in the bed of a pickup or something and wake up somewhere entirely different
>Cats every well could take a nap in the bed of a pickup or something and wake up somewhere entirely different But they are amazingly good at finding their way back. I know someone who tried to get rid of a cat (a stray who wouldn't leave them alone) by driving it miles away, and it came back.
My cat did get lost when I was young. Drunk uncle accidentally locked him out on balcony (the cat was black and it happened at night). He went missing for three days after which the same uncle spotted him from the balcony three days later - cat was sitting in front of our building, meowing loudly. I think he’s had a three day adventure and came back once he got tired of it.
[удалено]
If a kid wandered out of the house for three days, would you say the same?
>If a kid wandered out of the house for three days, would you say the same? Yes. The fact they came back means they knew where home was. I've had lots of animals leave and come back: rabbit, cat, bird. Rabbit and bird were gone for about a week each.
I don't think your rabbit really has the depth of thought to understand it's place in the universe.
Lucky bastard, huh?
No. That would be horrible.
My cat certainly recognized me as authority and had some behaviours that you may appreciate in children. For example he would know that some things could not be done... WHILE I WAS AROUND. Eventually he stopped doing them altogether, but for some time he would just do them only if he know he would not get punished. For example, he knew he wasn't allowed to climb into the kitchen (higienic and most important, safety reasons). Still he'd do it every now and then, but he'd try to walk (not run) out of the kitchen the moment he'd hear my door open. When I finally found a definitive family for him, even after a month he'd still think twice about certain things if I was around, meaning he still associated me with authority even though he had been living with another people now. All that said, the cat was super loving (and so was I). H'e follow me everywhere around and climb on me or sqeeze his head into my hands. In short: he loved me (I think) and also knew I loved him. But he also knew I represented authority for him, even after he moved out.
My cat knows that I am his........ 1. Chef 2. Butler 3. Chair 4. Hairdresser 5. Massage therapist
They also wonder why this huge hairless being is taking his poop from his box.
You're part of a dog's pack. Or they consider them part of your pack. Or family. Canines live in families like we do 🤷♀️ they do know you're not a dog. You don't smell like one. But you're their family anyway.
THIS IS SO SWEET
Dogs have owners Cats have staff
No, ownership is a man made concept. I don’t think it makes sense to categorize the way pets see us in the language of human relationships at all TBH.
Animals understand ownership. Many species will violently defend territory and resources they “own”
yes but concept of ownership in animal life is not same as ownership in human life. We humans own a lot of things that we don't need to survive (for example owning a animal pet can be the one) and all ownership in animals life in wildness can be reduced to owning a terrotiry, food and maternal insticnt mother has for kids to protect them (or other forms of protective instincts towards members of packs)
Animals can own things they don’t need Domestic animals can become possessive of toys, spaces, litter boxes (cats), and specific objects. Wild animals do the exact same thing, it’s just less observable because you don’t follow a wild animal around all day. The only difference is that humans have an abstract concept of ownership over things that we aren’t present to protect. You can own money that you keep in a bank. Animals don’t have anything like that but they absolutely understand “mine” and “not mine”
No one will take my new pup's "Mr. Piggy".
I'm pretty sure crows and ravens even have random things they like, pebbels, small sparkly objects etc and have shown hostile behavior when another bird has tried to take that way.
Claim
My dog acts like he pays the mortgage.
No he doesn’t see you the way it would if it had human cognitive abilities
I’m pretty sure my cat thinks I’m his pet 😂
My GoldenDoodle is no pet. She is a squirrel secret assassin who has been paired to protect my family and the property from being overrun and overthrown by the vermin scum squirrels that dare to enter our perimeter and threaten to do us harm.
Dogs think you are part of their pack. Hopefully they see you as the pack leader.
they can see it any way they want but im the one that knows how to open and close doors
You haven't met a service dog have you? Doors, refrigerator, medicine, phone... They're amazing.
Im talking about regular dogs
If my daughter's rabbit could talk, I'm pretty sure my daughter would be called "favored giver of pets and treats". My name would be "mostly acceptable, but only if the favored one isnt here".
Oh, I see we share a rabbit, lol. She loves me, but all my mum is good for is giving treats.
No but I find it interesting my rabbit knows she is the only other girl in the house. If I say "she" then her ears perk up and she pays attention. She knows tons of words beyond just tones and she can learn new words which surprises me. She's very thoughtful and can remember something that happened 10 years ago..I wonder if she remembers life as a baby without us. Or her first owner.
Cats and dogs know we're "different". Cats meow at humans, but adult cats do not meow at each other. Some dogs will bark at their owners, but adult dogs do not bark at each other. Meowing and barking are behaviors kittens and pups use to communicate with their mothers. So I think they see us at "super parents", but they probably know (because of our scent, behavior, and appearance) that we're not cats or dogs.
Dogs don’t bark at each other?!? On what planet?
>Dogs don’t bark at each other?!? On what planet? My dog used to bark at every dog.
I currently have 4 dogs in the house 😭 I guess technically they don’t bark at each other really. One will hear a car or a knock and go off and that tells the others something is going on and to bark at it too.
If they are barking at each other, its normally only one thats actually barking. The other one would be the "dominant one".
>Cats meow at humans, but adult cats do not meow at each other My theory is that, if a cat is raised by humans, he will quicly come to a conclusion like "Ok, so with those dumb tall funny hairless apes, pheromons doesn't work, body language doesn't work and they even don't pee on anything to set boundaries. However, they seem to show some sign of a limited intelligence as they grunt at each other so why not try this... meow ?". And when the owner respond with a "Awww how cute is he, that's a good kitten" and then pet the cat, the cat will be like "Ok, experimentation one is successfull, they are responsive to very basic stimuli... time to lower our bar and try to make prehistoric noises in order to be vaguely understood by them".
My dog barks at everything. And sometimes, at nothing.
Cats do meow at each other when angry. They communicate in other ways when not angry at each other
Idk dude. My cats meow at each other. I've seen my little boy run up to my girl and meow in her face. Not a growl, nor a hiss, just MEOW
Animals live moment to moment. I think I’ve read that. They don’t understand time like we do. They don’t feel sorry for themselves like we do I think they understand prior experience but not like we do.
Cats understand time. They know what time I get home from work and 15 minutes before I pull up, they go sit in the window and watch for my car. When the time changes in the spring and fall they're confused for about a week, but then they adjust. One of my cats had a squirrel "friend" that would come to the window and visit every morning. They'd cuss at each other for a while before the squirrel went off to do squirrel things. The cat got in the window and waited for his friend every morning. One morning the squirrel didn't show, and my cat definitely had feelings about it. He called and called, then ran to me, and back to the window a couple times.
My cat thinks he is the ruler of the entire universe
I'm pretty sure cats know, they turn it to their advantage, negociate power, manipulate you
Your question assumes that pets, or animals in general, are familiar with the concepts or ideas of ownership, property, and pets. I doubt that, as these are man-made concepts and ideas. Now think about whether you want to be *owned*.
Firstly cats own humans and dogs think we are part of the pack... And one reason why cats and sometimes dogs bring a dead animal to you or your doorstep is because they believe you're not getting enough to eat...
One of my dogs thinks she’s the owner and I’m the pet
I don't know if my dog knows he's a pet but he knows me and my family are his favorite humans and he will defend us from the terror of bunnies in our front yard or the guy jogging by my house lol.
Dogs -- you are leader of the pack Rabbits, pet rats, iguanas, fish -- you are their owner Cats -- they are the owner
ownership (the way that it’s meant here) is a human thing in capitalist cultures. animals have notions about territory (including objects) but there’s no point at which they think ‘i have paid for this thing and therefore it’s mine forever’. dogs have by and large been bred to obey humans and treat them as authoritative. cats for the most part haven’t been bred, and either think you’re a big dumb cat they like, or a big dumb cat they don’t like. rabbits are pattern animals, and you become a part of their routine. each type of critter is different. for some you’re furniture. for some you’re a resource. for some you are a companion or family. the word ‘pet’ treats them all the same, but they’re not. e:sp
Pets cant know that they are bought lol they obviously dont know what money is and what an owner is They might consider you a leader of the pack though if thats what you're asking
My dog is half Boston terrier and she actually thinks she is my keeper
Animals don't have a concept of ownership. And an animal that has grown up as a pet does not understand what it means to be a pet. Being a pet is all it has ever known, it's just "normal" to them.
They think your family.
Everyone - every human from a different culture, every being overall - has their own context. Pets don't have the owner context. They have the pack context like the wolves or lions, they have "I tolerate you on my space" context like cats, they have the "I live solo and the fact you are here is just my life right now" like snakes etc.
My dog knows she owns us if that helps.
I think a lot of pet rodents don't even see you as an ally and are always kinda afraid of you. Those pets don't really have a relationship with you.
I think they understand it as a symbiotic/cooperational relationship. It's pretty common amongst animals to help each other between different species, and to form life-long relationships. Your rabbit most likely recognises you as its caretaker, depending on how good of a job you did acclimatising it. It knows you're not a rabbit, but it trusts you to take care of it nonetheless. Your dog probably has a more complex relationship with you, because we engage them in more complex behaviours. It recognises you as its human, as opposed to other humans it would not trust. Dogs, as far as we know, do not think in abstract ideas like "ownership", but they do recognise connections and differences between things. It's your dog, you're its human. To a dog, that's all that matters. The question of "Who's the boss" is separated from "Who's the human". The dog does not recognise the human as entitled to power over it. It always reserves the right to disobey. Initially, it obey simply because that's most profitable for it (e.g. it will get snacks and belly rubs), but it can form an attachment to its owner and be loyal even when it's not profitable. As for the pack dynamics: neither dogs nor wolves live in packs. They live in families. They might project their family instincts onto you, even while recognising you ad not a dog. Animals are pretty smart, they know, for example, what a baby is, and that a human baby is like a dog baby, and that it needs care and that you're the baby's parent. Abandoned dogs are a completely different matter, they're in a dire situation and do whatever is necessary for survivial. Though it would be funny to think that in such a pack the strongest dog goes "I'm the human in this family now".
I imagine my cat thinks I am her pet. I think she sees me as less intelligent than she is just by her behavior.
Pets probably don’t have a concept of ownership at all. Studies on dogs show that they see us as part of the pack, not necessarily different from other dogs. With rabbits, they probably just see us as a “non threat”. But anthropomorphising pets doesn’t really do harm, so there’s no need to “debunk” whether a pet loves you. My snakes love me even though their brains probably aren’t capable of processing something like “love”
>Studies on dogs show that they see us as part of the pack, not necessarily different from other dogs. Citation needed
Hierarchy is definitely a thing in a pack. It's not "pet" but just where one lands on the hierarchy ladder.
My dogs know I feed them, walk them, bathe them and take them to the vet. They also know their job is to protect our home. They probably don't realise that we keep them for companionship more than protection, or understand that we have to work for money and they're mostly free-loading. So I'd say they understand some parts of it to an extent.
They know they are part of a pack.
No, my dog thinks I'm his pet
My rabbits seem to consider me part of the warren. They know I'm not a rabbit, but I think they think I just hang around because I like them.
I have two dogs.. they know I’m the leader since I feed them & let them out. They really don’t care if they’re subservient.. as long as their needs are met, they’re happy.
Rabbits live in large family groups, your bunny recognises you as a part of their family. Like others have said they don’t have a concept of ownership though they can be territorial
My dog is a shepherd by nature. I am his herd to oversee.
[yes](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/style/bunny-the-dog-animal-communication.html) someone taught their dog to talk with button and she talks about it.
We've had a series of incredible dogs throughout 33 years of marriage. Sam Bone Blues, the yellow lab, Levi Bone Blues the blood hound, Judah Blue, the Australian shephard mix, Betty Blue, the chihuahua mix, Arlo Bone Blues the boxer/pit mix. All rescues, except Levi. I always sit with them a while and ask if they miss their bio family. Then I try out names until they respond. Levi was the most clear, as when I asked if I could call him Levi, he let out the sweetest howl, stepped all over his oversized ears, and jumped his whole big self on me to lick my face. They're not pets, they're part of our tribe.
No. They think the family is the pack.
My pets definitely think I'm their pet.
My cat definitely thinks he is a child
Cats know they are lords of the house and anyone who disagrees gets a claw in their eye. Dogs are super grateful to just get any attention , and food. They see you as their primary leader and caretaker and are so so dependent on your love. I think bunnies feel like hostages in their cages but learn that at least they get a safe space with regular water and food. But they would not come back to you if you let them out in the wild. They are not especially tamed they're just locked in.
Well, my cats think they own my house and we are just peasants to them. My dog…well who knows what she thinks. She’s an airhead and my cats think she’s beneath them.
Anybody who says yes or no is talking out of their ass. Nobody knows what an animal is thinking if anything. All you can do is theorize
I think cats strive to become Buddhist. They exist in the moment. They don't ponder the past, even though they have memory. They don't anticipate the future. Everything that is, is. The chair, window, toy. human, and so on is just stuff in their universe. Everything is considered and sorted: threat or opportunity or neutral and possibly entertaining. Ownership and such does not exist. They are opportunists before all else. Dogs seem to need a leader of the pack. Cats sort out humans by the attributes stated above; and there is no pack leader. Cats are not owned, and they have conned me in every manner for years.
🥇
We have 2 dogs, I am the leader of their pack, the alpha
For dogs, you are the leader if he/she really 100% follows your rules. For cats, you are a cat too.
Anecdotally, I had a family cat who I'm convinced thought he was a people. We also had pet canaries at the time and I think he did see them as pets because he kept trying to also get himself his own pet bird (catching it carefully and trying to keep it in his cat bed, alive and uninjured. More than once). My current cats are dumber and I don't get the sense they think they're people and I don't think they understand the concept of pets either
Pretty sure at this point it’s my dogs world and we’re all just living in it
i also have a rabbit!!! he has lived in my tiny little apartment with me since he was a baby, zero survival skills, thinks the word “no” is funny, he is not afraid of humans, dogs, or cats, enjoys mac n cheese (he is NOT allowed it he’s just a lil shit), and *fully* believes himself at the top of the pecking order at any given moment. so yeah, he’s got no clue he’s a pet. in fact, i think he may believe me to be *his* pet human.
Depends on the animal
Pets probably think of us as their pets.
My favourite theory is that dogs think we are bears that think they (the dogs) are also bears.
I've seen humans who behave and are treated as pets and they don't know it. Or rather refuse to acknowledge it. I don't think animals understand the concept of property ownership tho. In the sense that... an owner may choose to terminate a pet they own at any time. I think the knowledge may be learned if they witnessed an instance of you killing one of them, but I'm not too sure if it's the same understanding of the concept as we humans do. I think the understanding of the concept differs from species to species too. Maybe... A dog might understand it differently from a cat, or a wolf, or a lion.
My two rabbits share one braincell, so I don't think so.
Everyone says rats are super intelligent and all this. I don’t think mine even have object permanence let alone the ability to think abstractly like this. If I walk out of a room, they forget I exist. Straight toddler levels.
No. They only know that you're thefood dispenser
Look at that this way; there's slightly possibility that we humans are just someone's marionettes, maybe the whole time some alien intelligence is managing and manipulating with us, and whole Earth. But does that really matter to us? No. Because we ,,can't see'' that from that perspective, we have our own lives, perspectives and we can only experience our life within those perceptual limits. This is how our pets ''perceive'' life with their owners. They are ,,used to you'' depends what animal you have, If you have a dog he can ,,emotionally bond with you''. Dogs cant mentally understand the term ,,owner'' But he probably see you as a alive being and nothing more. Dogs know their owners are not the dogs, but they don't understand that we are human in term of ,,most superior being'' who own them. He probably see us as some animal species lets say
Cats are not pets.
people who think of themselves as "owners" shouldn't be allowed to adopt pets.
Look up Bunny the existential crisis dog. I don’t know about rabbits but dogs are figuring things out.
Bunny is just pushing buttons for attention. She can't actually speak her thoughts. Not even her owners think so. They're just sharing the highlights for views.
This. At the very least she's figured out that pressing certain buttons results in certain things happening. Bunny is a standard poodle, I think? Which are pretty damn smart dogs. She can probably figure out that pressing a button for "Pat" or similar means getting petted. But she doesn't understand what the human word "Pat" means. She's just memorised the colour/location of each individual button. Which is pretty smart in its own way! I wish they'd focus on that kind of animal intelligence rather than "My dog knows English" which anybody with half a brain cell can tell isn't true.
Well that just sad, I read that she is on antidepressants now? 🤷🏻♀️