Dog behaviour

[canislupus]

Can someone explain why a dog sees it reflection in a mirror will investigate it and then ignore the mirror?

[wildwood]

No threat to its domain. No smell.

Many dogs are used to seeing moving images from the TV. Most ignore it, some go nutty.

[andy-hughes]

Dogs use scent far more to explore their world than vision.

A dog will initially see its reflection as another dog, but, as wildwood advises, because there is no odour from the 'other' dog, it will quickly loose interest in the reflection.

Some dogs do bark at their reflection as an identity / warning reaction, but when they get no meaninful response, they simply revert back to ignoring it.