Is the theory that dogs cant see themselves in a mirror, but cats will walk behind to see where the other cat is true, because the other night my dog went mad barking at the dog in the mirror and he knew it was a dog because his hackles went up and he kept looking at me to get rid of it. I'm confused to which theory is correct. Please post your experiences.

I'm not sure Glitterbug, but my cat, Smudge knows exactly what a mirror is, and a camera!

She will sit and groom herself in front of the mirror for ages and everytime she goes past she checks how she looks. When I pick her up and look in a mirror she sees me in the mirror and turns round to look at me so she knows exactly what one is!
(As for cameras, well you didn't ask about them, but lets just say she's such a poser!)

Our dog can see himself in the mirror.

He jumps at the mirror. (A sad Reflection really)

My cat used to fight her reflection in the long mirror doors in the bedroom ... and the dog used to bark at herself too .. can be funny to watch ... but pitiful after a while too.

I think the thing with animals and mirrors is that although they can SEE the reflection, they mostly can't reason it out that it's THEM. Rather like babies don't recognise themselves for, I think, it's about a year? Your cat must be exceptional Lotti, maybe she was a supermodel in a previous life :D

IIRC the only other animals that recognise the reflection as themselves are the higher apes, chimpanzees in particular. Mind you, sometimes I don't recognise myself either, particularly first thing in the morning after a good night out:P

I think that the point is that most animals don't have a sense of self. And when FIRST introduced to a mirror they have trouble understanding that the creature they can see is actually themselves.
If you regularly show your animal itself in a mirror then you are modifying it's behaviour somewhat.
Birds are good fun with this, my friend has a mirror in her garden, and a starling comes every day and spends hours staring at it's own reflection.

when i got my kitten first time she saw herself in the mirror she became a toilet brush and vicious! a few more times and no reaction, i think they just get used to it and dont bother no more,, my dogs love other dogs and never fight so anytime they see a mirror they try play and lick it!!!! soon become bored when they dont get a reaction... i am having fun just now with my baby and a mirror, she looks into it and sees me holding her and then looks confused looking back and forward at mirror and at me trying to work out why there are 2 of me!!!

If snooker was on televison my dog would to run round the back of the tv to look for the potted ball :loopy:

Apparently it's a sign of an animals intellegence,a cat or dog should realise that the reflection is not another animal,probably through smell or whatever and ignore it.
That's what i heard anyway.

Wow Smudge must be much more intelligent than I give her credit for - I've always thought she was cute but a bit dumb if you know what I mean!

Our cats used to like watching nature programmes on the telly and would creep round the back of the tv to try to catch whatever was on - they thought wilderbeest looked especially tasty.

My Aunt had a Westie dog and it used to love the TV, but they thought it was a waste of electricity to leave the TV on all day just for the dog. So My cousin used to blue-tac a page of a music magazine to the screen, and the little dog would sit about 12" from the screen, avidly concentrating.
After about an hour if someone was in the house it would come and get you because it had become bored with that channel, and all you had to do was turn the magazine to another page and the little dog would be happy for another hour or more.

ive got my dog infront of the mirror countless times in hope of some mad reaction, but he either doesnt notice or is smarter than i give him credit for....

When we first brought Brude home, he tried to get to all the other beagles in the house - the one inside the telly cabinet, one inside the glasses, inside the glass-fronted fire....

Now he usually only sees as far as the glass if you show him a mirror, although if he's facing the wardrobe, he will look at you in the mirror when you sneak up behind him.

I once heard him barking really strangely - not 'go away, it's my house', or 'let me out', so I went to investigate. It turned out to be a 'just seeing what I look like while I'm barking' bark -stood on the bed, infront of the wardrobe mirror :suspect:

He's not done it since :confused:

LMAO Strix, that's really funny.
One of our cats likes to sit in front of the mirror and watch the whole room or the gerbils in the reflection although it did take her some time to figure mirrors out and had to check behind a few times.
And both cats like a little tv but only select programmes, anything with a cat or dog making noises, occasionally home video animal shots and most sports with a ball, especially snooker, probably because the balls move slower, who knows.

:huh: isn't it only vampires that can't see their reflection in a mirror?