Of course! Animals are animals, and domestication doesn't change that one iota. When we had an indoor-only cat, we had one of those little kitty-fisher fishing poles with a catnip mouse. That and bugs. The cat and all our dogs have been avid bug-hunters (and a scream to watch).

I was just re-reading some articles on Fixed Action Patterns and the Flehmen Response (not these articles, but these describe them). Fascinating stuff.

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Dogs have a few FAPs (like turning in circles before lying down) and they're very much into learned rituals, which can make it fun to goof on them once in a while (it helps keep those instincts sharp too).

We've had a few strange behaviors.... One dog, whenever she got a new rawhide, would carry it around to every corner of the house and put it down there as if to hide it, wait a few seconds, then pick it up and try another corner. She seemed just a tad distressed about the whole situation, sometimes even whining a little. We thought it might be tantamount to hiding/burying a bone (and nobody really knows why dogs do this) but we never really figured it out (except that it was not to spread its scent around). Eventually she'd stop, settle in, and start chewing, and everything was fine.

Our current therapy dog does the snatch the biscuit from resting on his nose trick - very well. Suddenly a couple days ago he just stopped doing it. He ignored the release word and just sat there with it on his nose. He did this for 2 days, and now he's back to normal again. Dogs are weird.

Doc