On Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:33:59 -0400, JohnH
wrote:

Actually I've seen some dogs and cats that seem to have the ability
for basic reasoning. Here's an example: Back in the early 90s we
inherited a cat from my mother. We took the cat to our home which the
cat had never seen before. Almost immediately he got up on the back
of a sofa and started looking out the front window as a dog walked by
the house. The dog turned down our driveway heading for the back yard
and the cat immediately ran into the kitchen on the back of the house
and waited at a window for the dog to show up. Is that reasoning or
not?


Instinct and learning. The cat knew the dog had gone to its right or
left. It took off. The next available window was in the kitchen.

Who knows. The cat had a way of telling us what he was thinking and
it usually involved food or the lack thereof. There were actually
several rooms before the kitchen, but the kitchen had the best view of
the back yard.