A while back I started reading "Psychology for Dummies" by the no doubt excellent (as a psychologist**), Adam Cash PsyD.

I had to give up when he dismissed out of hand that pets as having feelings too. Apparently we merely attribute these.

Look Dr Cash, we'll accept that Jock Dog is senile. That he wouldn't leave W, but lay on or under his bed as he died is a purely random set of events. OK. OK OK
But look at Ned last night. He started sniffing W's walking stick for a good couple of minutes before whimpering, looking at me for a long time, then coming over for a cuddle.

Being a border collie, Ned does not usually react to walking sticks at all. He does know the difference between a random stick for throwing and a human tool. Can we not just agree that his reaction is due to the same root cause as my distress? The absence of the owner of the stick?
Please?

**Constant readers may have noticed a slight distrust of psychologists since my leaving Dr Dybbuk...