What Do Dogs Think About?

It's impossible to get inside a dog's mind to know what it's thinking at any given moment, though we can often get an idea by watching the gestures it makes with its head, the sounds it makes, or its tail movements.

Can you imagine knowing what questions dogs have about humans? Our behavior surely strikes them as curious as theirs strikes us. Let's look at some likely logical questions a dog might have.

Let's Step Into Our Dog's Mind

Stop thinking like a human and be a dog for a few minutes — think about what you'd do from the moment you wake up to when you're taken for a walk, fed, played with, or take a nap.

A dog's life is actually really interesting — that's why, looking at it from this angle, we can guess at some of the questions every dog probably has about us, their caretakers.

Why Does My Human Pick Up My Poop?

Of course, we humans know it's for hygiene, to avoid leaving feces on the ground that other people might step in, and to prevent bad smells. But what goes through our dog's mind when it sees us picking up its poop with a bag?

First, it must be baffled, since no other living being on the planet picks up its own poop. Second, it must be eaten up with curiosity — what will they do with it? Will they eat it? Why do they keep it in a bag? And lastly, it probably gives up on us entirely: "every single day they pick up my poop, this human is completely nuts."

Why Doesn't My Human Feed Me?

As caretakers, we know we should feed our dogs daily in a reasonable amount, so they don't gain excess weight. It's very healthy for them, especially if we feed them at the same time every day (building routines).

But what does our dog think about this? They see the kitchen full of food, they see us cooking for ourselves and our family, and even throwing leftovers in the trash — so why won't they give me more food if I'm hungry?

Dogs must undoubtedly feel very frustrated when their highly developed sense of smell picks up all our food and they can't eat it. That's why it's important to prevent them from begging for food, to spare them that suffering.

Why Does My Human Put Me on a Leash for Walks?

We know dogs are very friendly, but they could cross a street full of cars or get in the way of a bicycle and cause an accident. Some dogs aren't so friendly and are a bit grumpy, and sometimes they try to bark at or bite other dogs they don't like. That's why we take them out on a leash, only letting them off when there's no danger.

But what will our dog think about this? At home I'm always free, when we go to the mountains I'm also off-leash, and to go for a walk in the park near home... they put a leash on me? This human is worse off than I thought... haha.

Why Does My Human Tell Me About Their Life?

It's rare to find a home where the caretaker doesn't talk to their dog every day, telling it how their day went, asking if it wants to go for a walk, sharing details of their personal life... but actually, dogs don't understand even 95% of what we say to them.

They can learn many words (commands) if we've trained them, but if we string together full sentences, they'll give us that puzzled look with their head tilted, as if saying "huh?"

It'd be funny to be inside a dog's mind, watching a human for hours going "blah blah blah blah" and then just wagging its tail, letting them think we've understood them. And if that's not enough, we'll bark a little or give them a lick.

Why Does My Human Scold Me?

It's quite funny that when we humans see our dog do something bad, like peeing at home, chewing a cable, tearing up a couch, or knocking over the trash all over the kitchen... we call them over and scold them.

Dogs don't know they've done anything wrong — you need to know how to properly correct a dog so it understands we're scolding it for something specific. That's why dogs must be baffled when we scold them just like that, out of nowhere.

Imagine for a moment your dog thinking: This guy is completely nuts, I was taking my nap, he called me over angry, and now he's giving me a hard time... best thing to do is give him those "I won't do it again" puppy eyes so he'll shut up already and let me go play for a bit.

What do you imagine dogs think about?