New way of thinking about dogs thinking

Does your dog sit around and think about the state of things? Does Fido try to find new ways to do things? Is he trying to build a better dog house?

Research from the University of Vienna is finding that dogs may be smarter than we think and can decide how to imitate a behavior based on the circumstances.

The study centered on whether dogs would break from normal behavior (using their mouths to perform a task) when shown an alternate way of doing something.

"Whether they imitate or not depends on the context," said Zsofia Viranyi of Eotvos University in Budapest, who helped with the experiment. "It's not automatic, insightless copying. It's more sophisticated. There's a kind of inferential process going on."

There are two versions of the same article from the Washington Post: one on MSNBC's Web site and the other on the Post's Web site. The Post requires you to register, but it is worth it. There are explanatory graphics and videos there, as well as the transcript of an online chat session with the article's authors.

Not everyone is convinced. The article says that this behavior might just be another example of dogs' ability to interpret subtle clues given a long, close relationship with humans.

Nevertheless, I am hiding the keys when I get home tonight.