Last night we were playing Joker in the dining room with Barb and Henry. They brought Bailey and Willow. Judy brought several toys and stuffed animals and put them next to the table, so the dogs would all be right there with us. This time she brought Henry’s soft puffy bed that normally sits in front of the fireplace, and put it there too.
That worked for a while. Then we heard Henry wrestling with the bed and watched while he dragged it off back into the living room. It wasn’t an easy process and involved a couple wrong turns, but when he got done, the bed was back in front of the fireplace; inside out and upside down, but right where it belongs. Judy turned it right side out and his world was back in order.
When I was young, the prevailing attitude was that animals, non-human animals, were just reactive creatures, responding to their environment. (Actually there was considerable resistance to humans being referred to as animals. Humans were separate and apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.) The appearance of conscious thoughts and emotions, ideas and feelings, in animals were only illusions.
The understanding of animal behavior has evolved since my youth though, and we now realize that other animals are conscious creatures that carry on complex lives. Watching Henry drag that bed, fix a situation that wasn’t right, and put things back where they belong suggests a certain amount of understanding, ingenuity, and determination. He observed, figured out what was wrong, devised a plan, and executed that plan. There is a lot going on in that furry little head.
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