Dogs, like other animals work mostly on instinct. This, however is not always true. In the case of affection for instance, they more than likely have a thought process (much like our speaking) all their own. Think of it like this: If a German had a thought would it sound like he were speaking English? Of course not... it would sound like German!

Probably just emotions and pictures, possibly some bits of their own language.

In my experience Divinechaos is on the mark here. Animals think mostly in images of that which is familiar to them. Animals are also reactive to what stimulus is going on internally or externally. Hunger, thirst, (Internal) Fear, anticipation of "good/pleasure," (External). Most animals, with the definite exception of Primates, Dolphins and evidently Whales, are incapable of the types of thought process WE are used to using. They simply lack the mental agility to PONDER out things as we do. They do not misbehave to "punish us" or to piss us off. A puppy misbehaves because it has no clues, as yet, that there ARE rules or acceptable behavior to follow. An older TRAINED dog that breaks training...say suddenly chews something not allowed...is most likely reacting to stress factors. The stress maybe from something internal...say you are late returning from work, and the dog really needs to go outside...at the accustomed time...but can't...frantic to "hold it" the dog reacts to that stress by chewing, or having an accident in the house and then chewing because it may anticipate you being "upset" upon arriving home. Just an example, other changes in the home environment can also cause stress for dogs. As for Cats...who knows...I'm not sure the average cat cares about OUR moods that much <wink>