On Mon, 05 Sep 2005 19:15:17 GMT, "Spot" wrote:

Barneys first experience with his reflection came when I went to an ATM
machine. He saw his reflection and totally flipped out at the other dog.

So we know he has the ability to recognise reflected images.

Over time he came to understand that this other dog in the glass wasn't mean
and he didn't have to go into attack mode........LOL Brandy never paid much
attention to mirrors or reflections.

Celeste

I remember fooling with my dog and mirrors as a kid. From what I remember
the dog showed interest at first, and then my impression was that he figured
it out and didn't care about it any more. To him it just didn't mean anything
after he figured out that it wasn't real animals. I saw a cat I had do that with
the TV. When it first saw birds on the screen it was very interested, but after
it learned they weren't real it didn't care any more. Birds outside, that it could
see through the window, were a different matter...and it knew about the pet
door too. Not understanding or caring about a mirror certainly doesn't mean
animals have no awareness of themselves imo. The very idea seems absurd.