Some Stil Doubt Dogs Have Emotions?? - Page 1

Heartbreaking video...I believe the language is Portuguese. This young man was gunned down in the street in the town of Curitiba, Brazil. The dog looks to be a German shepherd mix:

My dogs have a full set of emotions, morals, etc.  .. just like humans but better!!  The religious concept of "dominion" is just an excuse and a cover story for murdering animals and wrecking the planet.  Humans aren't the only animal that kills for "fun" but we are the absolute monarchs of murder.  The dog was lucky the cops weren't US or they would have shot him for attacking them, being rabid, or interfering in a police investigation.

Right. This ought to do it, for sure.

Who will feed me now?

Grief is not a singular human emotion nor is love.  Animals grieve and love each other .. as humans we want to believe they are unfeeling and uncaring but from pigs to horses to cows to sheep to dogs and to many species of wild animals I have seen them show love, affection, loyalty, bravery and self sacrifice for each other.  It is humans that are the most brutal, murderous, and disloyal species to each other and to animals.  The dog in the video is grieving for his human companion and I am willing to wager not thinking about food.  Plenty of documented stories about dogs giving up food and comfort to grieve for their human companions dead or ill.  When the veterinarian says your dog has a hang nail .. better put him down as we don't want him to suffer .. something to remember is that dogs are more than willing to suffer for us and usually they will willingly suffer for us a lot more than we will suffer for them.  

Bubba, there are times when you are right and others that make me shake my head. Animals show SOME of the behaviors you spoke of, in the name of survival and do it out of instinct. Dont tell me that a bitch falls in love with a male or a lion falls in love with a lioness. Animals being what they are, simple minded, acting out of instinct, cannot think in the ways that we, humans, can. Yes, we can be real assholes, manipulative, egoistic, shallow, but, we can also be everything else that is nice and kind and great, plus, dont ever forget, you are one of us, a human and its not cool to put down your own species.

True story: friends of mine had 3 huskies, mom and a male and female from her first (and only litter). The male had had some sort of serious illness as a pup, and had never been all that healthy. He collapsed one day, and was taken to the vet. The vet diagnosed total kidney failure, and he was euthaized.

NO ONE within earshot of the kennel got any sleep that night. His sister howled and howled as only a husky can. The next day, SHE collapsed and was taken to the vet, who diagnosed her with a heart attack. She, too, was put to sleep.

Konrad Lorenz studied the greylag goose extensively. Geese mate for life, and when their mate dies, they show classic symptoms of grief: loss of appetite, lethargy and such total disinterest in what's going on around them that they become easy prey for predators.

I am very much against humanizing animals, and believe that the tendency of some humans to treat dogs, especially small dogs, as kids with fur coats is responsible for a lot of the behaviour problems trainers have to try to correct.  But, OTOH, to say they are totally without emotions is just as wrong.

For weeks now I have watched the two cardinals, one male and one female kiss each other, bring each other food and paired up with each other defending their status in my back yard..there are two pairs of cardinals...IT is without a doubt they have emotions..BUT to the extent we cannot ask them, they do not talk.

at least the ones here do not as far as I know..It is not english...that I do know.

I have a black female gsd who will not let any of my males breed her but one..I tried all of them and probably if left to her, she would have made me less one male at a time..she would only let Czuiker mate her...I have seen dogs pick their favorite so what do we call that??

God did not make animals on the same level as humans..Dogs do not reason...yes, by learned behaviour they find out cars hurt them when hit or falling out of 3rd story windows or off a cliff the wrong way hurt them...BUT they do not reason ..their intelligence thought patterns are entirely based on their environmental tips and survival paths that they are equiped for. Dogs learn things and have abilities on a degree, from little to extensive ability just like we do, but as to how to use them, they rely on humans to develop them.

THEY are taught or learn by instinctual prompts..

YR

Forgot to add, when my husband died and I was not on scene , our gsd, trained guard dog for our business, and only our family was his caretaker , grieved himself to death...MY kids were taken to the office every morning and evening by a friend and they lead him out back to potty and being young,did not notice he was not eating nor drinking...about two weeks later , the man in charge of our automotive shop called and told me to get to the shop, as Ray , was lying on floor , eyes open and breathing, but not getting up to bounce off the walls and grated windows at customers , outside the locked door of my office..HE was a trained guard dog, poison proofed for business...SO got there, got him in truck and to vet...He died 15mins after I got him there...Grieved by no eating and drinking...MY kids had not a clue and did not mention he was not eating...too young to notice just that he had food and water...and that is all they told me..

I know Ray knew one of his masters was sick and probably knew my hubby had cancer  ,from the accounts I hear about dogs knowing when a disease like cancer is rapid in our bodies..I just know Ray thought we both had gone, and if a dog can read us , like we read them, he knew my husband was dead by emotionally connecting events.

YR

Actually Hired Dog, animals do have emotions similar to very bright children.  Animals are able to critically think/reason and have many of the more complex emotions similar to adult humans.  Sorry to burst your bubble.  It depends on breeding, nutrition, and early cognitive stimulation.  Like humans, some dogs are more intelligent and have a greater range of emotions than others.  If an animal is punished for thinking, then that animal will shut down and do only what will keep it from being punished more.  Yes animals have instincts and act on those to survive, but they are also able to critically think or they would not have survived as they have.  Elephants suffer PTSD symptoms just like humans as do dogs, horses, dolphins, and so on.  Animals do have best friends and at other times do not like certian other animals.  The old "animals are dumb and go only on instinct" is so outdated and proven wrong time and again.  In light of today's empirical research and just plain observation, anyone who continues to think animals are dumb and only go on instinct will lose out on the richness of experiences interacting with animals has to offer.