Many owners have had the question - what does my dog think about every day?
Is there anything else that bothers him every day besides lying around sleeping, waiting to be fed, and waiting to go outside? When your dog sleeps next to you and stares at you with big eyes, isn't it also saying love you inside.
Studies by animal neuroscientists have shown that the way dogs think is far different from the way we think, and there are many ways in which we can express and explain our thoughts, but dogs do not. For example, dogs do not have a language system, they do not have the nerve centers (Wernicke's area) in their brains that control language so they cannot learn and understand language.
But dogs can associate words with memory. Their brains are not capable of understanding complex language, nor are they able to use language as humans do, let alone have complex thoughts and reflections as such, so for example, when we think that a dog is being deliberately vindictive and knowingly acting out of character, it is all a figment of our imagination.
Dogs behave through conditioning, using memories to guide their future behavior. They don't come up with their own ideas or suggestions for a situation, so when your dog has nothing to do, they aren't thinking about anything in particular, so the quality of your dog's sleep will be quite high. But if we give the dog some stimulation at this point (toys, food, sounds), the dog will associate the current scene with one of the previously remembered scenes, and thus the correct behavior from memory will occur.
Dogs often watch their owners to find out what you are doing, dogs are very interested in what their favorite humans are doing, dogs learn things by watching us, such as getting a leash to go outside, getting a food bowl to eat, or performing some command to get food.
Dogs also express affection by staring into our eyes, just as humans will gaze into the eyes of their favorite person. In fact, when a dog gazes into their owner's eyes, their brain produces oxytocin and dopamine, and your dog isn't actively thinking about how they feel about you, but they will enjoy the feeling of being in the company of their favorite human, not thinking about it in any way, but in a way that is both satisfying and relaxing. If your dog is constantly averting their eyes from you, it is a sign that the scenario at hand is connecting the dog to something bad, such as punishment.
Although dogs don't have complex minds, they can get bored all the same; any animal needs a certain level of stimulation to stay on track, and if they don't have fresh stimulation for a long period of time, they will get bored. Dogs have instincts to run, explore and hunt, and sleeping all day and not being able to carry out the fulfillment of these basic needs makes them susceptible to stereotypical behaviors (pointless spinning, excessive licking, repetitive pacing back and forth)
We can address these issues simply by plumping and going out for walks, and we can also make our dogs look forward to each day with simple rattle games!
