DOG Training TOYS

Have you ever seen a device or a program designed to correct a dog behavior problem that explained how smart dogs are and how they think? Most plans or gadgets enable owners,
literally, to declare war on their hapless pets. Little or no concern is afforded to what the dogs happen to think about them. In fact, the implication is that dogs don’t think at all … either they just react to external stimuli like robots , or respond according to genetically controlled “drives.” Dogs are rarely credited with the ability to solve a problem mentally; to analy%e a situation; imagine ways to manipulate or control it, then take a pre-planned course of action toward a goal that was preconceived in the dog’s mind. In short,the dog is considered a real dummy, then treated like a dummy. But this concept is not correct. Dogs are smart. They can, and usually do, think rings around their owners. And they can do it because most owners have never learned how to think like a dog.

Understanding Non-Verbal Thinking

We all wonder now and then what our dog is thinking. If we wonder aloud, perhaps when mealtime is approaching and the dog is looking expectantly at us, we might say something like, “I’ll bet Tippy’s thinking, ‘When is my dinner going to be ready?’ ” In all likelihood, Tippy isn’t originating any thoughts about ‘when dinner will be ready.’ It is more likely Tippy is imagining (or ‘imaging’ in his mind) the words and movements you usually say and perform before getting his dinner; something like, “You want dinner, Tippy?” All that tail wagging and those pleading eyes are aimed at stimulating you to say it.

But, an inability to originate thoughts in a spoken language does not make dogs unintelligent. Even people don’t actively think in…