I agree, that my dog would love to be outdoor if he was allowed too... We take him to the beach on the weekends and at times if he is lucky he meets his brother on the same day... and though he is tired to shambles .. he still wants to play with him and run around though visibly u can see that he will crash anytime.... So I too think at times that when he sits next to me after a long play at the beach is he content ??? or not ????

Great article but I don't have an answer for you. My border collie always looks depressed unless we are out in a leash free area, he is otherwise a complete sad sack, is he depressed - sometimes I think so mind you he lives with our bully husky girl and that could be enough to depress any creature being left with her all day while we are at work.

I tend to think my dogs do contemplate what else they could be doing when they are chilling on their beds - proof of this is when they come to me with a ball, asking for us to go outside and play, or when they sit by the door looking hopeful around that time of the evening they have their walk. This says to me they think about doing an activity they aren't doing at the moment, but really want to.

I definately think that pets have thoughts and feelings, and if they have a fantastic experience, why wouldnt they want to do it again, or go there again? A dog in my partners family seemed to understand the word "walk", and you could never say it aloud or she would get so excited and start looking for her lead - like she really wanted to get out there and smell the fresh air and chase some birds. Even if you just said "w", she would tilt her head to the side as if waiting for you to say the rest.

So even though they cant tell us what they want, I think they do occasionally want to do certain things, but are often quite happy to wait until we are ready!

I know for a fact that my dog asks me to do specific things. For example, my dog will just sit there staring at me until I say the right key word. For example, my dog knows the words for taking a walk, treats, water, food, opening the door, going for a wee etc (in both Korean and English. Hah! My dog is bilingual!). So if my dog wants me to fill up its food bowl, it would just sit there stare at me, occasionally patting me down with its paw until I ask if it wants food. It would then race off to the food bowl and wait for me there.

"They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent." Yes, they do know jealousy and discontent. If I'm hugging some other dog, my dog would come down and either try to worm its way between me and the other dog or start climbing all over me.

Forward thinking is a mystery with mammals. Here's an interesting story:

My parents live on an acre section and have taught our dog to run to the foot of the driveway to fetch the newspaper. He brings it up to the front door and is rewarding with a bone. He has limited patience and, if my parents are too slow to reward him, will sometimes will wander off with it. Or sometimes the paper hasn't even been delivered and the journey proves fruitless.

One morning our dog brought the paper to my dad and was rewarded as usual. Dad unwrapped the paper and sat down to read it. As soon as he skimmed over the front page he found that something wasn't quite right. It turned out that the paper was over a year old. How our dog had given him a paper as old as this was a mystery.

It wasn't until a month later when Dad was clearing out some bushes out the back of their section, that he noticed a nest of old newspapers stashed in the garden. It turned out that every time my parents hadn't rewarded our dog quickly enough he would stash the newspaper in the garden to use as a supply for when the paper hadn't been delivered.

Forward thinking? Pretty funny nonetheless.

@ Leon - what an awesome story, I cant wait to share that with my partner when I get home.

I too have also been puzzled as to what extent dogs think about things - but sorry, im just as unsure as you are.

My dogs definitely recognise the words dinner, breakfast, treat, walk and park and know exactly what they mean!

I also believe the know exactly what the time is and start giving me "the look" when its time to go to the park in the evening and I'm not putting my shoes on!

@ Leon - that's awesome! Dogs rule. :)

I think dogs are definitely capable of thinking ahead, and they can work out how others (people and dogs) will react.

When I was a kid, we had a Westie, which was officially my sister's dog. We also had cats, and one day one of the cats dragged home a rabbit, and left it outside the back door. I was round the back of the house when the dog came round, and found the dead rabbit on the step. The dog immediately picked up the rabbit and raced round to the front of the house where my sister was. I followed it round, and found my sister saying "OMG, did you catch a rabbit - clever dog!". The dog definitely knew it would get a good reaction.

We have a Lab now, and we go up to Waikanae Beach every couple of weeks. As soon as we get there, the dog starts asking to go for a walk, because she knows I will take her down for a swim. She gets quite uppity if we don't head to the beach straight away. And she wants me to take my boogie board so she can surf!