Dog: Always mine, whatever dog I have at the time.
Cookie: Chocolate chip
Car: Whatever car I have at the time.

If it is just one word with no context ,I picture a real neat dog we had when we were kids.
For the word car I just picture pretty much all cars.
As for cookie of course a home made chocolate chip cookie.

Footlong hot dogs from the fair and sporting events. Cookie is a Computer thingy and also the Cookie Monster. Car is my grandpa’s reliable ford automotive.

Interestingly, I see a cartoonish drawing for all three. For “dog”, it’s a black Lab, of which I have owned three.

Dog – the dog as concept.
Cookie – chocolate chip
Car – Ford GT

A big ugly pit bull. I saw one this morning…last dog I have seen.

Dog….lab
Cookie…..chocolate chip
Car….a Ford truck.

Good Q.

Dog- Golden Retriever
Cookie- chocolate chip
Car- this ageless gem.

Dog: A white haired mutt with pointy ears looking up at me from ground level. Its legs are hidden by its body

Cookie: A single flat and circular biscuit with chocolate chips embedded in it.

Car: A large shiny object made of chrome and lacquer. No details such as wheels are visible nor is it obviously something you can get inside let alone drive.

These are the images that came to mind when I read the question. At another time the image might be quite different. The car image surprised me, but I am a cyclist and I don’t own a car.

A golden retriever. Classic American propaganda lol.
He’s also in a yard in the suburbs with a white fence.

Dog: A very smart carnivore. Far too smart for me to deal with. No particular type.

Cookie: A flat round disc made with lots of sugar and fat mixed with other miscellaneous goodies.

Car: Generally a privately own 4 wheeled passenger vehicle mostly propelled by an internal combustion engine.

A boxer.

The joke about the dyslexic agnostic.

Dog: I picture a Labrador Retriever or a dog very similar, full body from the side. Chocolate/brown.

Cookie: Chocolate chip

Car: Sedan, not a particular make or model. Silver.

Generic medium size like @JLeslie.
Choc chip cookie.
Car like 4 door acura or sedan.

Dog = joy

Cookie…is life.

Car: freedom, time alone

Dog: A wet nose and eyes gazing back into mine
Cookie: Cookie cutter sugar cookie in simple shapes like stars
Car: “like 4 door acura or sedan” is exactly my first thought

The second image I had, when I reentered this thread and saw the word dog in an above post is her.

My grandfather.

also: Snake.

Dog – a brown mut about the size of a dalmatian
Cookie – a single chocolate chip cookie
Car – vague image of a blue metallic object

Fun fact: DOG is GOD spelled backwards.
When reading I don’t tend to think in images, I think in words. I don’t see them either, I hear them in my mind. If I’m trying to put something together or solve a technical problem I’m only thinking in images and not thinking with language at all. I only see images when I do that. Like a silent video playing in my head of what needs to be done. Dog, rock and car just sound like three letter words in my head when I read them though. I’m curious how other people are.

It varies, but at the moment I read this question, I thought of a kind of retriever head, but medium brown, and with a bit larger/floppier-rounder-bottomed ears than a typical retriever.

If I hear the word “dog”, I don’t immediately picture a dog. I think of the concept of a dog. Or my brain loops the word “dog”. Like rolling a pebble in your hand.

If you tell me to think of a dog, I default to a golden retriever or a black lab.

But if I hear “cookie”, I visualize a chocolate chip cookie.

And if I hear “car”, I visualize whichever car I drive at the time.

It’s interesting to me that my brain will immediately visualize something for “cookie” and “car”, but not for “dog”.

<<— Just a smidge offended that nobody thinks of me when they hear “cookie”. ::sniff::

@cookieman

I think that’s because we don’t see you as a cookie, but as a cookie consumer.

Also, there’s the mystery of the colored toppings in your avatar.
Are those M&Ms?

@Blackwater Park The dyslexic agnostic spent his life pondering the existence of Dog.

Like man’s best friend, or is it fiend?

Woofity Yip Yap!
That’s it, that’s the image.

@Blackwater_Park wheny daughter was young her bio mom and her family tried to indoctrinate her into the Jehovas’ Witnesses. I had to clean up the mess.
She came home from a visit very upset. They told her if you rearrange the letters in SANTA you get SATAN.
I said “Jen…. DOG spelled backward is GOD. Does that mean God is a dog?”
Man they really tried to mess her up.

@Dutchess_III Jehovas’ Witness is a pretty brutal cult. Truly scary if you look below the surface. I’m sure you already know that though.

@Brian1946: Very true. Yes, they are M&M’s.

I feel better now. ;^)

I know @Blackwater_Park. I feel so sorry for the kids. :(