Here's a description of a nice experiment that implies dogs do have a "theory of mind": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR200706

Here's a description of a nice experiment that implies dogs do have a "theory of mind": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060300960.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06... In a nutshell, many dogs will vary whether they use their mouth or their paw to perform a task, depending on the circumstances under which they witness another dog perform that same task with either its mouth or paw. A simple explanation of the difference is that the witnessing dog "explains" the other dog's way of doing things in terms of the decisions the other dog made. You might look at books by Patricia McConnell, in particular "The Other End of the Leash" and "For the Love of a Dog". Stanley Coren also has some decent books on dog intelligence. These books focus on trying to understand the sorts of experiences you've described. More generally, Temple Grandin's "Animals in Translation" and "Animals Make Us Human" talk about some of these sorts of issues, not just in dogs, but also in cats, horses, pigs, and so on. I think you'll find there's a lot of research going on these topics-- a lot of it very fascinating.