As goofy as this is (regarding their purpose), I admit to often wondering something like, “What is she (my dog) thinking?”
My dog tells on herself if she’s misbehaved while we were gone. How does she remember that she stole thawing meat out of the sink and ate it all after the fact. Why does she behave as she has been trained when we are around but is sneaky when we are not? She knows not to get on the furniture and never does while we are there. But she doesn’t realize that the warm spot and a bit of dog hair is evidence. She jumps off as soon as she hears us coming. She doesn’t beg and would never counter cruze while we were home, but knows when no-one is watching (like a 4 or 5 year old).
I’ve seen signs of problem solving and logic too. She moved a table once right in front of us to get her ball that was pinned next to the couch. I told her to move it back but she just looked at me. She is allowed to sleep on our kids beds (only). When the kids are sick, she hangs out pretty close and will stay in bed with them.
So, I would be interested in learning something truly scientific about their 1) memory 2) logic/problem solving ability 3) emotionality and how the three are connected. Just not with an angle to “get pets more rights”. She’s still a dog.
I agree. there's no doubt dogs can think and solve problems like humans. In many ways, they are more observant than humans in that they can tell by our body language that we're going to take them for a walk or go water the flowers. Our dog may not know what we're spelling, but he is hip to the fact that if we're spelling it, we're probably discussing something that interests him. He's still not a human (though as others have said, I prefer his company to many humans).
I agree with you that dogs — and cats — do show signs of problem solving. Dogs, based on my observations, also show many emotions similar to ours, which makes sense, as they are pack animals, and, therefore, must have some sense of social interaction.
But, as you say, they are just dogs and not on the same level as humans.
My cat is a sneaky counter surfer, too, by the way.