Dogs watch us and the things we do, they understand more than what you think.They watch us turn a door knob to open a door, they understand and can learn on their own how to do that also.Never underestimate what an animal can learn to do on their own.
Cats, too. We have lever handles on the doors in our house. One of our cats quickly learned how to jump up and press the lever to open the door. We can’t keep him out of any room in the house! The other cat never figured it out, eve watching her little buddy do it.
The noise of him jumping up and working a door lever somewhere can scare the bejeebers out of you in a quiet house.
I think cats watch us also...we have lever handles on doors...and have to lock our bedroom door to keep cat out.
“They watch us turn a door knob to open a door,”
Funny you should say that. My dog watches me every time I open a door. I have caught her several times studying the door knob. She is seriously trying to figure it out.