Do dogs think in trinary code?

[Multigunner]

Fuzzy logic and the trinary computer language describe pretty much how humans think. Trinary is being investigated as a possible means of creating artificial intelligence.

The simpliest numerical system known to primitive peoples is base three, one, two, many. Which I figure is based on simple hand signals used by hunting parties.

We've owned two large intelligent dogs who seemed to count by threes.

If you gave them four treats they were confused, you had to give them three treats then give the other treat separately.
When barking dogs often bark three times then pause, then bark three more times.
The three shots fired to signal for help is based on that being the minimum for a human to recognize and locate where the sound of those shots came from.

Has anyone else noticed their dog seeming to count by threes?

If they use the same trinary fuzzy logic as humans perhaps thats why we got along so well for tens of thousands of years.

[Fergie]

It only takes my mutt farting once to wake up and stare at her rear end like something weird just happened. I think she'd be real confused if it happened thrice. :D

[blackthorn]

Interesting question about dogs and I sure do not have an answer. We do have a cat and we were in the habit of giving her 4 of those little "treats" that look like a miniature pillow. Now, if you only give her three she starts to "mutter", looks all over for the fourth and gives you a really dirty look when she fails to find it.

[cbrick]

Count in three's? Dunno but when it comes to "cookies" if she only gets three she gets down right indignant. Her woof at the back door when it's time to potty is always one woof, pause, one woof. She is predominantly right handed (pawed) though.


Rick

[Harter66]

I never considered the base of a dog's thought plane . We had wiemers that could mark 3 birds down and bring the birds to the correct shooters. My springweiler once marked and returned 4 of 5 birds and "held" the 5th until I could recover it ,it was just not dog recoverable. The current dog knows when we have extra or not enough people present and will sometimes round us up for head count.
I think we teach our dogs more than we really know we do although some dogs are just not as willing to show us how much they know. I had to have real door knobs on her food locker and kid locks on the fridge to keep the springweiler out of things. She would also freely preform complex commands and right ,left 5s ,up down ,under ,over ,other , front,back ,far/way back,close, crowd and seemed to understand basic conversation que's and to a lesser degree answer yes/no and knew at least 25 people by name.I think she may have been exceptiona or at least an exception.

[osteodoc08]

It only takes my mutt farting once to wake up and stare at her rear end like something weird just happened. I think she'd be real confused if it happened thrice. :D
Tea up the nose at lunch just plain burns.

[MrWolf]

It only takes my mutt farting once to wake up and stare at her rear end like something weird just happened. I think she'd be real confused if it happened thrice. :D

Hehe, we just fan it back at him, he looks at us, gets mad and leaves.

[375supermag]

Hi...

I don't know how my black Lab thinks, but I can tell you one thing for certain...

He is smarter than most of the people I work with and has more common sense than most all people.
His litter mate was just as smart, but a devious little b*tch (female dog)...probably something genetic to do with female DNA.

The more people I meet the more I like my dog.

[Bzcraig]

My uncle had a dog capable of marking 5 birds.

[MaryB]

My lab knew over a dozen vocal commands and knew hand signals for left, right, hold, down, sit, come, sweep the field... she was one smart dog. We were pheasant hunting and came back to the trucks to decide what field to go to, she was keying on my left foot and whining and all of us wondered what she wanted. Until I looked down and noticed I was standing on a hens wing. Moved my foot and she exploded into the air. Misty jumped and caught her at 6 feet up, brought her to me alive with a look of "see I don't need you guys" on her face. She was really disappointed when I turned it loose(roosters only where we hunted).

[Lonegun1894]

I have two dogs. The female is smart, but very devious and almost acts more like a cat with her attitude at times, but a good small game hunter. She tracks and retrieves, but has the attention span of a goldfish when there's more than 1 animal for her to focus on. She's just out to have fun, and if you don't like what she has in mind that day, that is your problem. The male on the other hand, I did a lot of protection training with in addition to hunting with him. For example, he knows my 20ga Mossberg 500 fires three shells before reloading, and will sit next to me til those three are fired or until he is given permission to retrieve game. However, he also knows my Mossberg 590 holds 8 shells, and stays out of the line of fire until those 8 are fired or until given permission to move. He also does the same thing when I have my 1911, but gives when I pick up an AR or a Glock, he just sits there til given permission to do something, so those must be beyond his counting abilities. He also goes hog hunting and deer watching with me (can't legally hunt deer with a dog here so we just got watch them and hope a hog shows up instead). Doesn't bark or move when either is in sight, just watches when told to be quiet. Now he understands that we don't hunt deer, but you should see the looks I get from him if I don't take a shot at a hog. It's like I ruined his entire day, so I try not to disappoint him. He also lets me know when we have squirrels messing around in the garden, and lets me know when there is a bluejay around. He hates jays cause they try to swoop down and tear out fur for nest material, so the two dogs enforce their own no-fly zone. I even let them help pick what I'm going to cook us all for dinner. Now they don't do well with cans, but give them an option of what meats/fish to cook, and what fresh vegetables to add to the meal, and they will help you out. I don't have 2 legged kids, but treat my 4 legged ones like it, so spend a lot of time with them and work with them a lot. It's amazing what they can learn, and teach you, if you let them.

[Lloyd Smale]

mine thinks in the language of FOOD. His whole life is predicated on when he can get the next thing in his mouth:-P

[fouronesix]

I have no idea about "trinary" brain function of canines but I do know that adult male red foxes this time of year are wandering around in their territories "fox barking" in three identical syllables.

[xs11jack]

I had a cat once that counted in octal.
Ole Jack

[Idaho Mule]

I had a cat once that counted in octal.
Ole Jack Let me guess.... Ninethal is the one that got him?? JW

[doc1876]

I have a border collie. I don't think he worries about much except how to beat me to wherever I am going. I think he is psychic.
I am going to go to the kitchen, he is there....the bedroom, he is there.......back to the living room, yup, there. Tell him to get out of the way, and all he does is stay one step ahead of me wherever I go!
Btw, he never farts, but he don't like it when I do (of course neither does any other being that uses oxygen!! Cleared out a whole department at Wallyworld one afternoon!!)

[Fergie]

I had a cat once that counted in octal.
Ole Jack

Was the cat a Kzin?

[Char-Gar]

In addition to physical senses way more advanced than humans, dogs also have some very different ways of thinking. Most often we tend to rank them on the scale of human thinking, but they are different. Someday (maybe) we can really know how dogs think and what we will find will be quite a surprise. They are either way smarter than we think they are or way dumber. In the meantime, don't sell one short or abuse one. You just may need your dog to put in a good word for you with God. Their opinion of you may carry far more weight than you know.

"If heaven was based on merit, your dog would go in and you would stay out"...Mark Twain

[xs11jack]

No, he wasn't Kzin, but when I tried to teach him hexidecimal, he bit me!
Ole Jack

[shoot-n-lead]

No, he wasn't Kzin, but when I tried to teach him hexadecimal, he bit me!
Ole Jack

Fixed it for ya.

[JB Weld]

I am pretty sure all my dog thinks about is getting out of the yard and killing chickens!

[gray wolf]

Don't know about 1's 2's or 3's when it comes to thinking,
But as far as smart ? I think most folks have know idea just how much thinking a dog can do.

Watch this dog save another dog after being hit on a bussy highway.
And notice he puts his paws under the other dogs arms pits and drags him out of harms way.

How the heck could he know to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qOQSjKaqvk

[fouronesix]

In addition to physical senses way more advanced than humans, dogs also have some very different ways of thinking. Most often we tend to rank them on the scale of human thinking, but they are different. Someday (maybe) we can really know how dogs think and what we will find will be quite a surprise. They are either way smarter than we think they are or way dumber. In the meantime, don't sell one short or abuse one. You just may need your dog to put in a good word for you with God. Their opinion of you may carry far more weight than you know.

"If heaven was based on merit, your dog would go in and you would stay out"...Mark Twain

Now that's the truth! About the time you think they're dumb, they'll turn around and do something that is beyond comprehension. Matter of fact most higher animals are that way. Very difficult to fully understand how their brains work and we may never do so. So very simple in some ways, yet so very acute and complex in other ways. I think they are wired different.

[MaryB]

Guy I worked with has you beat. At the casino we used a 2000 seat entertainment area to prep slot machines when they came in new. Stage crew was setting up for some band or another when he farted. We all cleared out fast and closed the door. Pretty soon the guys on the stage 100 feet away were complaining and blaming each other... we banned him to not working out there the rest of the day so we could finish up and get our junk out of the way for the band that weekend. He ended up doing it in the elevator just before getting off, a bunch of old ladies got on and the security camera footage was priceless as they got off.


I have a border collie. I don't think he worries about much except how to beat me to wherever I am going. I think he is psychic.
I am going to go to the kitchen, he is there....the bedroom, he is there.......back to the living room, yup, there. Tell him to get out of the way, and all he does is stay one step ahead of me wherever I go!
Btw, he never farts, but he don't like it when I do (of course neither does any other being that uses oxygen!! Cleared out a whole department at Wallyworld one afternoon!!)

[wallenba]

It only takes my mutt farting once to wake up and stare at her rear end like something weird just happened. I think she'd be real confused if it happened thrice. :D

My dog Lola used to have really bad gas sometimes. Once she was trying to wake me, and a doggy fart was let out right near the air filter intake of my C-PAP. That got me up REALLY fast.