It hit me this morning that there is another thing that is fascinating about animals in general...this morning I was waiting for my coffee and noticed a little boy at a table with his mom...he was chattering about something and just moving around playing...there was a water bottle next to him...seemed oversized but he could handle it...the thing that I always wonder about is what goes into the decision right in the middle of playing to grab the bottle, twist off the cap and take a drink...at what point unconsciously or slightly consciously did his brain tell him to stop what he was doing and get a drink out of that bottle...I always wonder about this with my dog...she could be in a dead sleep wake up and walk over to a toy, gently pick it up and take it back to where she was laying down, either to chew on it for a bit or just have it next to her...she does the same thing at night when she takes herself to bed...she always picks something to take with her, a ratty slipper, a ball, a sock she pulled out of somewhere...how does she make that decision? Knowing that she doesn't think in our "language" but the behavior is consistant enough...she will play by herself at times, too, just waking up from a nap, walk over to a ball and pounce on it making it fly across the floor so she can chase it...what drives that? what is it that makes that activity happen? I'm sure there are many many answers, but it remains mysterious and amazing to me...