Very funny topic, I must say. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is, indeed, some mathematical process going on in the dog's brain. But then, we'll never know for sure, will we? If I could venture a guess, I would have to say that it is some sort of successive approximation process.
I can catagorically state that there is NO process going on in my dog's brain. He's like a male, human teenager.... sleep, eat, defecate (he doesn't think about the Other Subject, he's been repaired).
The catz, on the other hand, try to do math. Most times, they're pretty good. Integration, summation, correlation.... but they sometimes fail spectacularly. The other morning, one of them pulled all of the previous night's washed dishes down on her head when she snagged the bar-mop (dish towel) with a claw.
And sometimes, they calculate the amount they roll around asleep incorrectly, and roll off of the ironing board, landing wide awake, and looking around to see who saw...
A dog doesn't know enough to care who saw. He doesn't attempt mathmatics.
8>)
/johnny
Which higher cognitive functions are canines utilizing when they eat their own skat?