Can They Reason???

Have you ever wondered whether dogs can reason? For example, assess a situation, develop a plan of action to obtain a desired result and carry out the plan. I always did, but until witnessing the following scenario, I never really had proof that they could. See what you think.

Our living room has one couch. Occupancy can be from three to four people, two Mastiffs or one person and one Mastiff. When watching television, I am the one person and the Mastiff is first come, first served (my husband refuses to throw his recliner into the lottery).

This particular evening, Amanda (the younger girl) made it to the couch first. Cassie (the older girl) stood across the room contemplating the situation for a while, then made a purposeful jump on one of the tug ropes in the middle of the room. She made a great show of swinging it in the air and acting as if she were having the time of her life. Amanda, ever the fun-loving puppy, jumped off the couch and grabbed the other end of the rope starting their usual tug-of-war game.

Cassie proceeded to play for a few minutes, gradually positioning herself closer and closer to the couch. Suddenly, she dropped the rope, turned and hopped on the couch, settling down with a large sigh. The look on her face plainly said, "I was here first, I have seniority, it's my couch!"

While Jerry and I are laughing hysterically, Amanda is standing in the middle of the room with the rope dangling from her mouth, wondering what happened to the game. Maybe with age, she too will learn to reason.