Emotions

Thanks for sharing.  I to think dogs have emotions.  I have a scaredy dog and his sense of incoming storms is amazing and his demeanor changes immediately and within 15 min you can hear the thunder.   Rocky shows lots of emotions with his eyes and smile.  Hot uses his tail and his head.   They get excited with certain daily events at home and I get big smiles.  Hot is more vocal than Rock but Rock has also started being vocal with hubby cause he sees Hot doing it.  Special events like car rides and company Secret Santa and special not every day treats are greeted with big teeth showing smiles and sparkle in their eyes.

Yes, thanks for sharing.  I saw that on a counter somewhere and glanced at it, but it came my turn to check out!

One thing I will never be convinced of is that my dogs don't NOT pee on the floor when they get left upstairs and I go down for a smoke.  They hate when I leave them and it never fails that someone pees while I smoke.  Either they REALLY don't want me smoking, which they don't mind in the least if they get to go, or, someone is ticked off at being left.......

dyan

Dogs have the same brain structures, hormones and chemical changes that produce our emotional states,which includes the hormone oxytocin which is involved with love and affection, so its likely that they do have emotions also.  Went on to say that a dogs mind is roughly equivalent to that of a 2 - 2 1/2 year old child who clearly DOES have emotions but not all possible ones on the path to adulthood.  By 4 to 6 months, they have full range of joy, fear, anger, disgust, excitement, contentment, distress and love.  BUT a dog does NOT have, AND NEVER WILL develop, more complex emotions  like guilt, pride, contempt and shame.  Adding that  the feeling of guilt that many owners sense as when their pet soils the carpet, is really basic fear of punishment.

that is THIS guy's take on it -- I've seen that list longer, shorter and everything in between. 

 But I think it's also worth saying that we humans get pretty darned specific about our emotions -- and we REALLY get all tangled up in some of them .... like "guilt" for example.  What causes ME "guilt* and what might cause someone else "guilt" ARE different and also the weight of that emotion from person to person is different.

My point is -- the whole thing is quite subjective -- so I think saying yes, no nor "absolutely not" may actually be a bit difficult to define here.  Meaning -- emotions like "guilt" are not just black and white -- they are quantitative.  so trying to "measure" or say yes or no becomes a little slippery I think.

 I was reading something the other day (and if I stumble back across it I'll have to link that in) indicating another study with a bit more broad claims. 

the only one I truly have contention with is "pride".  When I saw Foxy the Mostlie Sheltie walk thru the doors of Shands Hospital to do "pet therapy" in the cancer wing?  Absolutely no doubt in my mind that I saw 'pride' in him that day.  He had worked HARD to get there -- he knew it was a goal and he was pretty satisfied with his little Mostlie Sheltie self.  Puffed up chest and all. 

These studies are among those that make me giggle because I truly want to wonder how they "measure" such subjective things.  Now MY mother could definitely prepare you to measure 'fear of punishment' -- but not so much some of the others.  Like ... "HOW guilty" -- buried in guilt to the point of not being able to function or mildly aware that they did something wrong and displeased their owner? 

I suppose too that since they pick up on our emotions they sure must feel their own.  And of course we can only put our words into what they are showing. 

For instance...when I first got Bubblegum and she used to bark at every person we walked by including people standing by their front door. I felt proud that I had a beautiful Great Dane who was about as elegant ( she was a show dog and was taught well how to walk ) as any dog could be. I was horrified that she was barking at people who I had hoped would come to pet her....they were afraid.....and I tensed.    I thought she was barking because she was tense.......yet people told me she was barking because I was tense.  Who is really to say?

lakalakadaka16

I second callie :)

  Me too; in addition to love and affection, I'm certain Jessie feels joy and pride. Every evening she "helps" DH take out the trash, and the way she looks can only be interpreted as pride. Dogs are definitely more emotionally mature than a 2 year old child; a 2 year old would never have the patience required by a service dog like a seeing eye. So, I think they're capable of feeling more emotions that the study indicates.

jessies_mom

a 2 year old would never have the patience required by a service dog like a seeing eye.

Just a thought,,,,,,,,is it patience or is it very good training that they must have?

I thought the most intersting thing in that article was the age thing.... not knowing how they can come up with that.

It's not really fair to dogs to try and compare them to humans as far as intelligence or emotional development are concerned.  Of course dogs feel emotions as do countless, if not all, animals.  We aren't very good at scientifically rating human intelligence either and we all speak the same language. :) 

Theorists don't even agree on what constitutes the primary human emotions but most list these as the primary emotions felt by humans and under each of these categories are secondary and tertiary emotions.  Love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness and fear are considered by most theorists to be the primary emotions of humans.  I think most dogs feel these same emotions and different levels of emotions under each category.

I think what we see as pride in a dog is actually happiness at making the owner happy.  Dogs are so adept as reading our emotions that we often think they are reacting to something indepenently when in fact they are picking up on our feelings and reflecting them in their behavior.

I beleive that training dogs to a high level of performance in any field has nothing to do with the dog's brain being the equivalent of a two year old human and is a pointless comparison.  It's all about the intensive training and the dog's willingness to learn what the humans want in order to get what the dog wants, whether that comes in the form of praise, treats or getting to fetch their favorite object or run zoomies around the house.  Dogs are so good at learning what we want, that we often think they are almost human, which most dogs would probably find quite laughable.

JackieG

Dogs are so good at learning what we want, that we often think they are almost human, which most dogs would probably find quite laughable.

WE humans are always so convinced that we're "top" of everything -- and I really do think most dogs and cats would think it pretty funny (ooooo -- is that an emotion??) to have us think they're "almost" human. 

Wait a second -- who goes to work, slaves all week to make the money to buy the food, prepare it and sit it in front of the dog???  Who is at the "top" of the food chain?  I've never been convinced of the logic of all of that.

JackieG

good at learning what we want

^^^^ Agree 100%. Tootsie knows that I like her to not bark at me while preparing her meal and for the most part she does, but sometimes its just to much. She does try though and forgive her indescretions.

I sure agree Jackie!

I completely missed this.

dyan

jessies_mom

a 2 year old would never have the patience required by a service dog like a seeing eye.

 

Just a thought,,,,,,,,is it patience or is it very good training that they must have?

It's both -- altho "patience" is really more temperament.  Training is certainly the first requirement, but a lot of dogs fail out of service training because they just don't have the right personality to go with the training to make them a safe assistance dog. 

My boss has a gorgeous white lab -- Laddie failed out of CCI training -- he completed the 2 years of training and passed all the health and obedience tests, but they just plain felt he was too "ebullient" (fun-loving, too apt to break training to play) to really be a successful assistance dog.  That can make it VERY difficult as a trainer -- you know a dog has a good heart but they just don't have the right focus or reliability needed to always put the human first.

As a result my boss and his family got this incredibly awesome dog -- I had told them for 3 years NOT to adopt a puppy.  Just not the type of folks to really be able to train a puppy without wrecking havoc in the family so I kept telling them to adopt an adult dog already housetrained, etc.  Laddie got an awesome home and these folks got an incredible dog  and they've done really well to maintain his training. 

calliecritturs

 

It's both -- altho "patience" is really more temperament.  Training is certainly the first requirement, but a lot of dogs fail out of service training because they just don't have the right personality to go with the training to make them a safe assistance dog. 

Probably true with a show dog too I would think.....along with other good things dogs do.  Gibby...........heck, he is way too excitable to be anything but my lover dog. lol!