Dogs & Emotions

Almost every dog owner has found out that when they are really sad, their dog acts differently toward them. A dog may approach its disturbed owner with a concerned look and, quite out of character, hunker down next to them as if to provide some emotional support. It is as if they are saying, I know there is something wrong, I do not know what it is but I am here for you, anyway.


Are there other explanations? Of course, there are, but none make as much sense. You could argue that the dog observes your posture and appearance as submissive and, almost reflexively, approaches to investigate or respond to the new situation. Perhaps, seeing you in a submissive posture, the dog feels it has to grovel to remain below you in rank.

All dog owners like to think that their pet can sense their mood and emotions. Although researchers now accept that dogs, and other non-human animals, can experience primary emotions such as anxiety, fear, and anger, they still do not accept that "animals" have a sense of self and are capable of sophisticated secondary emotions. Instead, the scientists believe that non-human animals are incapable of understanding the feelings of others around them. Without a sense of self, they say, secondary emotions are impossible.

This is a complicated argument, and not everyone agrees with the scientists. I think animals should be given the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that higher animals, like dogs, are sensitive creatures with feelings and emotions that can and do project beyond the blatantly obvious.

How about the time you came home to find your dog destroyed something? Did you find the guilty party hiding, or perhaps with a hangdog look? Many believe their dog is feeling guilty about what he has done. If you accept the guilt explanation, you must also accept that the dog is able to project about your feelings of disappointment or anger. Hard line behaviorists disagree with this interpretation, preferring to believe that the dog simply associates his owner, the damage, and his own presence with past punishment and acts submissively. But, what about the first time this happens? Maybe the dog "read" their owner's disappointment from their expression, because they sure were not responding to punishment.

Examples of dogs seemingly picking up on our emotions are endless but still the scientific proof is not there. I suppose it would be very difficult for some folks to accept that dogs, or any animals, might have minds that work in ways similar to our own. I suppose the believers still have a long way to go to convince the skeptics.

From an evolutionary point of view, it would be very strange if dogs did not have the ability to sense mood. It does not make sense to have a pack animal like a dog unequipped to realize when he was getting into trouble with another dog or when his behavior was having the desired effect. If dogs feel what we feel, they should be happy when we are happy, sad when we are sad, and hiding or hangdog when we are angry. All of the above does occur, on an almost daily basis, in our homes.

Dogs Have Emotions

There's no doubt in my mind that dogs have emotions. They feel joy after a job well done. They feel sad when a pack member passes away. And they feel love for their family members – their pack.

However, it's important to remember that those emotions are different from our own. The feelings that dogs experience aren't connected to complex thoughts. They don't have ulterior motives or doubt. Their emotions are pure and honest. Your dog isn't lying to you when he communicates that he loves you.

The more you fulfill your dog's needs, the more this connection will develop between you. There's nothing better than coming home from a bad day and having your dog there to support you. No judgment. No questions. Just love!

But remember, how we feel affects our dogs. If you are upset after a long day of work, your dog won't understand why, but he will pick up on your energy and body language. He will interpret this as unbalanced energy, and if you don't have your leadership down pat, it can lead to behavior issues. Make sure you are fulfilling your dog's needs first.

Our dogs give us so much and ask so little. If we provide them with exercise, discipline, then affection, we can really appreciate man (or woman's) best friend and the love they have to offer.

Animals Have Feelings

Marc Bekoff, biologist at the University of Colorado, has compiled a new book, The Smile of the Dolphin, (Discovery Books/Random House, $35) in which dozens of animal researchers explain why they believe animals have emotions.

The Grieving Chimp

In one chapter, primate expert Jane Goodall recounts the grief experienced by a chimpanzee child named Flint after his mother, Flo, died in Africa's Gombe National Park. "Over the next three weeks, Flint became increasingly lethargic. He stopped eating, and he avoided other chimps, huddling in the vegetation close to where he'd last seen Flo," she writes.

The sad-eyed mourner made his way to the spot where his mother had lain, next to a stream, staring into the water until he died.

"Chimpanzees, differing from us genetically by only just over one percent, can't be said to weep, for they don't shed tears. Yet...they show behavior that's associated with sadness, depression, and grief in humans: soft whimpering, crying sounds, listlessness, lack of appetite, avoidance of others," Goodall writes.

But are such animals truly "sad," in the sense that they realize something is lost that will never be regained? How can they be said to be happy, sad, or angry if they don't perceive themselves as a separate being?, the skeptics ask. Others say it's credible to count apes as capable of feeling, but a broad stretch to attribute emotions to lions or sheep.

"Does Flint reflect and say, 'I'm sad'? I don't know if he does, but he's behaving as if he's sad, and there's no reason to believe that he's not sad," Bekoff says, adding that anyone who lives with a dog knows when she's happy, sad, or fearful.

Human-Animal Bond

Clinton Sanders, a professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut, writes that he studied a guide-dog training program to find out more about the social bond between dogs and people.

"For people who depend on dogs for special assistance, knowing their animal companions' thought processes and feelings is central to building an effective alliance," Sanders says. "The visually-impaired people with whom I talked often spoke of the special pleasure their dogs derived from doing the work they were trained for – and, in contrast, the embarrassment they obviously felt when they made mistakes."

Mother-Infant Bond

Jaak Panksepp, an expert in neuroscience at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, says he witnessed the power of the mother-infant bond when his two female cats, a mother and her daughter, each gave birth after building nests in closets on opposite ends of his long, ranch-style home.

The mother cat gave birth first, and the daughter, while awaiting her babies' arrival, took charge of the mother's brood, carrying them to her nest. "Then we had a few days of chaos, as mother and daughter repeatedly ferried the kittens between their domains," Panksepp recounts. "We know many of the neurochemistries that activate these strong (maternal) feelings. At the basic emotional level, all mammals are remarkably similar."

So, what does it mean to believe that animals have feelings? "It means they are not just objects with which we can do what we please," Bekoff says. But the broader implications of viewing animals with more sensitivity could mean dramatic societal changes, like stopping the factory production of meat for humans, or granting animals more rights.

"I think it will have a subtle, slow impact," says Bekoff, who's a vegetarian. "I think the world is going to be different."