XPost: rec.pets.dogs.behavior   
   From: bizby40@adelphia.net   
      
    wrote in message news:0utoh1hvc5h1oagm7seah2tgg0g86vebu4@4ax.com...   
   >    Question: Has anyone ever managed to get a dog   
   > to understand that it can see its reflection in a mirror,   
   > and if so, did it appear to experience a great revelation   
   > about its own existence at the instant it learned to do so?   
      
   My puppy discovered the mirror today, and showed   
   great interest in the other puppy in there.  My experience   
   has been that my dogs lose interest in mirrors pretty   
   quickly.  Whether they do so because they realize   
   it's their own reflection, because the other dog never   
   comes out of the mirror, or because the other dog   
   has no smell is anybody's guess.  I've never seen   
   one have an "Aha!" moment about it though.   
      
   As for dog's having a sense of self, I would agree with   
   that.  They recognize other dogs and people as   
   individuals, and I don't think they'd do that unless they   
   were themselves individuals.   
      
   Bizby   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)