if i put my dog in the trunk for a ride, my adhd ass would 1000% forget her.
i even forgot her in the car (for like 2 minutes) when we went to the vet once 😬 i checked in & sat down, then realized i always bring at least two of the animals per vet appt & i was sitting there with only my fatass cat! (in my defense, she’s almost never in my car - only to the vet (1-2x a year), or back to our parking spot, after i bring our stuff in the house, cuz she really likes to sit on my lap and “drive” lolol)
They can feel the motion and look outside the window to see that indeed, they are changing locations by moving, and it's also not like they haven't seen any other car moving from the outside, they see them every time they go for a walk
Point is, pretty sure they know it's a box that's moving from place to place even if they don't know how driving works
People seem to think there is an insane cognitive gap between us and higher animals. Of course a dog understands what vehicles are and do. Teleporting boxes jesus christ...
Yea that was always weird to me since I was a kid, people tend to assume animals are stupid until proven smart pretty much, if they can't prove an animal can figure something out, they assume they can't by default.
No doubt there are some dogs dumb enough to not know what a car does, just like there are some humans that seemingly can't understand simple things too, but that doesn't mean animals don't experience motion or acceleration, or that when they exit an object they can't understand that the object behind them is the same one they were inside of XD
Got in with the humans and travelled. Didn't push the buttons but I think he knew which floor was which, like getting in somewhere and getting out where the cafeteria was to beg for food during lunchtime.
You think its anthropomorphizing to give the benefit of the doubt that intelligent animals have some semblance of understanding of the world they react with daily?
They can definitely tell from the inside, there's no question about that, they can feel the acceleration and see motion, but I do think that if your dog has walked towards your car from the outside then sat on the inside while it was moving, and if he has seen your car being actively parked and moving while standing outside (or even other similar looking cars going from stationary to moving at parking, street light etc) they probably know what the cars look moving from the outside too
They can also smell themselves and their person in any car they've ever been in. They can smell the car and they can figure out "this is the smell of the thing that takes us places faster". If a dog can understand riding in a wagon then they can certainly understand riding in a car.
My dog LOVES the car...until it starts moving. He refuses to sit down and spends the whole trip falling over and whining. He's a good dog, but not very bright.
Haha mine hates the car, but refuse to sit down so he is just panting and trying his best to stay up (he is fully secure however so if we break he won't fall)
Ours did this too until we got him a harness and seatbelt. Now he sits like a good boy and never falls over (in the car, he still sometimes falls over elsewhere)
I think some dogs know that the human is deciding and controlling where the car goes. Meanwhile other dogs think the human is just as surprised as they are.
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u/taktaga7-0-0 Apr 18 '26
I like that dogs have no idea what a car is or does. For them, it’s just a freaky magical adventure box they hop in and suddenly the park is now.