On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:42:55 -0700 (PDT)
blacklight <contact@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wasted precious bandwith with:
> I never wanted a dog. I am too independent, like to travel. Dogs
> tie you down. Then a close friend died and I ended up with 2 dogs.
> One was Bella, beautiful border collie; gorgeous Igor was black
> and almost a kelpie. They changed my life. Soon I would say sorry
> to them, and please and thank you.
> Both were very disciplined and always did as they were told. But
> in addition, Bella had a mind of her own. She was a thinker and
> read Shakespeare. Igor a street kid with comics. I talked to
> Bella. She would listen, crinkle her forehead and digest what I
> had said. She remembered everything.
> We lived in the mountains and had long walks. One ended at a
> little escarpment, maybe 4 meters up and steep. There were natural
> steps in the rock and we managed the climb with some puffing. Then
> sit on top and watch the sun disappear in the valley. Go home
> again. Soon Bella knew the routine. Climbing up only meant to
> climb down again. No sense in it. So she didn't. I could talk to
> her kindly or scream, she wouldn't budge. She just would gaze at
> the horizon and keep sitting at the bottom of the rock wall.
> Later, when Igor and I climbed down again Bella would follow us
> back with a happy grin. Here I have to insert what I just read in
> New Scientist (30 June 2007): '...Experience projection has yet to
> be demonstrated in any of the great apes other than humans...'
You'd have to give a detailed example of what they mean by that.
Its a little vague.
> Dogs' intelligence level is regarded by science as lesser than
> that of apes. But Bella was streets ahead.
> One day the three of us visited a friend. One of the dams on his
> property had a tall earthen wall around it, maybe 4 meters high
> and steep to keep cattle out of this one. There were fish in it,
> the owner's hobby. We climbed up to watch the brood - but not
> Bella. Obviously, she saw the parallel to the nonsense back home.
> She wouldn't have it.We dangled a bone from top of the wall to
> entice her. But Bella said No.
> Clearly, Bella used a past experience, projected it onto a present
> situation, then made a logical decision.
> Dogs amaze me. When I got these two, I didn't know anything about
> dogs. Had a vague idea that they were different to gold fish. But
> I didn't know that they were people who happened to bark - and
> think.
What about animals that migrate? THey follow the same route every
year. The idea that theres some big advance in mammal brains
regarding what is usually termed "persistence of memory" is
patently rediculous.
Lots of animals "reason" when they hunt.
--
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/13/bush-im-just-a-simple-president/
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