Getting the Christmas fever now that the most wonderful day of the year has ended? Sadly, we still have to wait for another 300-plus days before Christmas again, but here’s a Christmas story that will delight dog lovers out there.
Christmas decorations have long been a part of the entire holiday celebration, so we all hung at least a little something in our homes to signify that it’s the holidays. One owner displayed an unusual Christmas decor of their German Shorthaired Pointer sketch in what seemed like a kitchen towel, and their family was in for laughs.
Captured in a video that was later posted on social media by @the_hughes_gsps, their dog seemed intrigued at a sketch of himself on a towel hung in their oven. Based on his reaction, he recognizes that the sketch appears to be of a dog like him.
The German Shorthaired Pointer studied the sketch as he tilted his head. He kept on resisting getting closer to the sketch. His legs looked hesitant, but he was ready to further inspect it.
The post has garnered views and comments from dog lovers, with one commenter saying that the dog is trying to be brave. Another one complimented the dog’s excellent assessment skills of the object. Some comments shared similar stories about their dogs, while another jokingly said that the video depicts the after on the part where some dog owners planned to get a dog for protection. 🤣 At least the dog helped bring fun to Christmas in his own little funny way. But did the dog really recognize himself?
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Do Dogs Recognize Themselves in Objects?
One thing that you may have witnessed is your dog barking at the mirror. While it’s somehow different from the funny situation of the German Shorthaired Pointer, it’s important to note how our dogs communicate through different means, no matter how silly it looks.
But the answer to the mirror question is no; dogs don’t recognize themselves as their own reflection in the mirror. They may have perceived a strong reaction, which may be due to the excitement of seeing a potential playmate, fear, or a sign of aggression due to possible competition. This may also be the case with the German Shorthaired Pointer earlier. He did not see the sketch as himself but as a dog that could have been a playmate, enemy, or competition, making him react funnily.
So this leaves us with the question, how intelligent are our dogs? A test to determine them is if they use tools to make their tasks easier, just like how humans do. Naturally, dogs don’t use tools; they just use humans for assistance, such as if they need food or water or simply ask for something. That alone can translate as dogs knowing how to get things done.
While one dog may be intelligent among the others, all dogs can learn routines and commands; they can even use tools such as communicating buttons they can press to properly express to their owners what they need. Although behaviorists say that they have the same intelligence level as a 2-2.5-year-old, there’s nothing a little training on the side can’t do.
Why Do Dogs React to TV?
Perhaps another explanation for a dog’s reaction to seeing other dogs comes from the way that they react when they see other animals on TV. Domestic dogs tend to see these images on TV similarly to how they do, and yes, they’re intelligent enough to know that these are also animals.
A 2013 study that was published in Animal Cognition will prove that dogs could identify images of other humans and other animals through their visual senses. A dog’s eye register is also quicker than a human’s. Also, according to veterinary behaviorist Nicholas Dodman from Tufts University, if you showed a dog an old television set that bears fewer frames per second, it would appear as if the movie is flickering like a 1920s movie.
A dog reacting to other animals or dogs that they see on TV may simply reflect on their personality or breed. Some breeds may be easily stimulated with moving objects, while others may choose to ignore what they see.
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From The Club
I remembered our Japanese Spitz, Wolfy, who crossed the rainbow bridge last May 2024 to be very reactive whenever he sees and hears animals and dogs on TV. There’s this YouTube video that we watched on a documentary about bull running tradition in Mexico that shows a bull running around town and chasing residents. When he saw the bull, he would try to follow the direction that he was in, and when the bull was out of frame, he would look at it at the back of the TV. I also remember watching a movie in which a dog was barking on the scene, and Wolfy was barking like crazy. This is the reason why I used to tease him and play barking dogs and knocking sounds on YouTube when it’s playtime. Remembering all of it, Wolfy never failed to give me laughs.