They strategize, they're mischievous, they test you, and ultimately they're quite cunning. These kind of behaviors are predicated on having an imagination to a certain degree.
We end up caring about dogs and cats, while paying for the other animals to be killed and torn apart. If the same happened to dogs, people would become violent.
It would be nice if people held consistent moral beliefs.
To be fair to them, I've occasionally anthropomorphized fish and my Roomba this way.
* Pudding rat plans escapes to the top of the habitat, whenever the door is open,
* Rats are super trainable, and will speculative do tricks for treats (ours get gerber baby puffs, or rice krispies for spinning, going through a hoop, shaking hands etc.)
* Pie rat likes loose clothing and will run into sleeves, pants, and general enjoy herself,
* Rats also love certain styles of place, depending on the rat, and will happily just chill on your shoulder, or against your tummy, or under an arm and nibble a treat,
* Crumble rat is the baby, and more timid, less curious, and prefers to hide, but will run around and climb on the humans if her sisters are doing it.
I've not ever noticed them dreaming as ours prefer to snuggle in a hammock, with some rags pulled down, but they clearly have goals, and imagination, not just 'behavior'.
Rat's aren't dogs, but a few rats can make a wonderful replacement if you're somewhere where larger pets aren't permitted.
Rats are probably my favorite animal that I've kept. They really are as intelligent, personable, and expressive as dogs. But they're very clean animals, one of their man activities is social grooming. Males tend to be lazy and want to cuddle while females are more driven to explore their environment. They're also not strictly nocturnal or diurnal, but will adjust their sleep.schedule to match your activity. They sleep while you're at work, but want to play first thing in the morning and when you come home.
The only downside is that their maximum lifespan is about three years, and they need a specialty vet. Otherwise, excellent pets.
Of course it might happen occasionally outside of those areas too, but if that starts happening frequently it can be a sign that something is wrong with them health wise.
Eeek!
me: "(apologetic) A small amount of urine escaped. The rat was not to blame."
wife: "(sternly) The rat was *totally* to blame!"
They are such little characters, full of so much love and joy.
Just the short lifespan is the biggest downside. :(
I'd say any creature that dreams has an imagination, and dreaming is clearly visible when they're twitching in their sleep.
Also just watch Mark Rober's squirrel obstacle course to see how rodents can imagine.