# Anthropmorphism or Reality



## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

When I was a child, I'd watch my Disney princess movies a million times. My mom would play the scene out of Cinderella when the mice are doing chores to motivate me. I used to do chores with my mom while having that play in the background. I was not allowed to have pets as a child due to mom's strict sanitation house rules. I told my mom when I grow up, I am going to have my talking animals. I was five and didn't have a clue. 

Fast forward to now. I have my pet menagerie now 2 cats, 4 dogs, and an African Grey. Life isn't quite like my Disney princess movie but something happened last week, that made me wonder if we anthropomorphize animals or perhaps I am going crazy. 

Kit still takes her poop in the kitchen :afraid:. However, I noticed the poo is covered under a towel. DH asked if I did it but I didn't. This happened two weeks ago. It had to be the dog but we thought that doesn't sound real! Then a day ago, it happened again! I saw Kit poo in the kitchen and yanked a towel to cover it. I caught her in the act! :adore: The real question is why is the towel there? Is she hiding her shame? She gets yelled at everytime I catch her. Sometimes I've seen her eating the poo immediately. I suspect she is hiding the evidence. How can this be happening? I told this story to my mom and she thinks I am making it up. I feel like most dog/pet owners had something like this happen to them. 

Do dogs really understand abstract thinking? Are my dogs becoming human? lol I think we don't give animals enough credit sometimes. Perhaps their motivations aren't what we think. Perhaps Kit wasn't doing it out of shame but perhaps predators bury their poops in the wild to hide it from prey? However, I have not seen her bury her poops outside. So perhaps it is shame. 

I have another story: DH always smashes his toe in the corner of our living room wall. Last week, he did it again and before he could express the pain, Socrates, our parrots yelled, "Ouch! Goddamnit!" lol. The timing was so perfect, we nearly died laughing. Is she repeating what she has seen or does she understand what just happened?

So are there times, you had to do a double take? Is my pet becoming a person? Or am I going crazy? Hope my story made you smile and think of times when this happened to you.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

snow0160 said:


> The real question is why is the towel there? Are my dogs becoming human? lol I think we don't give animals enough credit sometimes. Perhaps their motivations aren't what we think. Perhaps Kit wasn't doing it out of shame *but perhaps predators bury their poops in the wild to hide it from prey? *However, I have not seen her bury her poops outside. So perhaps it is shame.
> 
> *I think you're on to something there, in that it is some instinct they have. Zooey will bury her kibble with a paper towel or if it's on the bed, with the blanket, if she doesn't want to eat it immediately. *
> 
> ...


Your story definitely made me smile and laugh out loud! Thank you


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Zooey puts a paper towel on her food. Wow, I've never seen any dog do this but it got me thinking. Kit does eat her poop!! Maybe she is just trying to bury it for later consumption like leftovers. lol


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I think we may have solved the case


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

You have no idea how you have brightened my day and made me laugh really hard! Thanks for that!

I have had a beagle, Daisy, who would hide treats under a throw rug and save them for later. My Rosie would save her pig ear treats by hiding them behind my rocking chair......only to retrieve them and eat them later, when she thought no one was looking!

Never had a dog hide poop in the house, but baby Nippy, our other beagle, would poop and then scruff up turf with his back feet until said pile 'o poo was burried/hidden, this was all done outside, of course.

You will know about Socrates the next time Paul stubs his toe on the wall...if Socrates makes the same Exclamation I would guess he is connecting it with Paul stubbing the toe....again. Poor Paul.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

When it come to African Greys ..........yes they are cognizant to an incredible degree! My Grey used to call the cat "Here kitty kitty" in my voice and when the cat came she would start laughing.....or if the Macaws started yelling she would yell "Shut up ass%$#&"(they were caged in another room!) or when my Cairns started yapping she'd tell them "Stop it Bad Dogs, stop it!" Or if the Cairns were sniffing around her perch she would drop them a treat(her pellets) and say "Good girl wanna treat?" And every night when I turned the lights off, she always said "Good Night".........miss my grey!
Molly also buries things for later........indoors and outdoors too! I really believe that if she had the vocal ability she would talk, by the way she communicates clearly what she wants, with the way she barks and 'shows' me by leading me to the desired activity or 'want'....she can really be a pita! My family swears she is a human in disguise!


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

MollyMuiMa said:


> When it come to African Greys ..........yes they are cognizant to an incredible degree! My Grey used to call the cat "Here kitty kitty" in my voice and when the cat came she would start laughing.....or if the Macaws started yelling she would yell "Shut up ass%$#&"(they were caged in another room!) or when my Cairns started yapping she'd tell them "Stop it Bad Dogs, stop it!" Or if the Cairns were sniffing around her perch she would drop them a treat(her pellets) and say "Good girl wanna treat?" And every night when I turned the lights off, she always said "Good Night".........miss my grey!
> Molly also buries things for later........indoors and outdoors too! I really believe that if she had the vocal ability she would talk, by the way she communicates clearly what she wants, with the way she barks and 'shows' me by leading me to the desired activity or 'want'....she can really be a pita! My family swears she is a human in disguise!


Poodles are just little human rocket scientists, in little curly suits!:angel:


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## BellaSpoo (May 20, 2018)

Bella (my Spoo) leads me to what she wants! If the water bowl is empty she’ll come get me and take me to the bowl and then take me to the sink and just look back and forth between the sink and the bowl
Also, when we first got our bull terrier he would poop in the house but try to hide it or make it look like Bella did it. 
I swear our dogs are some of the most human like dogs I’ve ever seen Bella will even shake her head no, and she’s only done it in situations where it would make sense 
Jax (the bully) will grunt at us like he’s trying to talk


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

If you're not already familiar with Brian Hare's work, look him up online. He's an Associate Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University. I ran across the show on Nat Geo Wild, "Is Your Dog a Genius" a few months back and found his take on dog intelligence very interesting. 

Fair warning, he's also sprouted a way to make money from, as well as add to, his research data with "citizen scientists", by selling the various tests for not a large fee. There seem to be a few YouTube videos as well, to get an idea.


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