How Do Dogs Experience Emotion?
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When your dog looks at you with those big eyes, is he saying "I love you?" Well, scientific research hasn't been able to tell us much about the source of emotions through different applications of the brain, even though we all know that the guy who cuts you off in traffic elicits a different response from you than coming home to your significant other who's wearing that "special something."
Trying to determine what goes through your pup's mind as he looks at you is even more difficult. However, we want to think that our pets truly feel love and affection towards us. Or we want to think that they do feel guilty about that little piddle spot you just found on the carpet, or that they feel fancy (or embarrassed) when you dress them up in their doggy sweaters.
So how do you tell? Is it body language? In their eyes? Do they react differently to different emotional stimuli, like getting a treat vs. being disciplined? Do they feel love, joy, fear, shame, hope? The animal psychologists and behaviorists are still trying to answer that question, but here's what we can look at so far.
Let's look at revenge. Sometime, if we want to get back at a person who we feel has wronged us, we think revenge. It's a conscious decision that a human can make to come up with a type of revenge, and enact it. Or even just thinking it through without actually going through with it can make us feel better in our minds. Dogs don't necessarily work that way. Your dog doesn't have the capacity to choose to chew up your slippers because you swatted him with that rolled-up newspaper for pooing on the floor. He's not going to scratch up the wall in the bedroom, because you locked him in there while you and your family were enjoying a succulent roast beef dinner. That ability requires something called "theory of mind," and dogs just don't have it.
A dog can only see the world from his dog perspective, and not from a human's. That's why they do best when they're controlled and treated based on the thought process of a canine mind, and not the owner's mind. He doesn't understand that you took away a treat he found under the couch, because you were just about to give him breakfast. He's not going to go seek out your favorite shoes and make them his personal chew toy in response. If he does, more than likely it's because there he's excited, or frustrated, about something else entirely. Maybe a break in his normal routine, or strange visitors in the house for the first time.
If that helps you understand your dog's thought process, than you can go about altering his thoughts to create a mood that is in contrast with the mood that causes him to misbehave. It's a concept called the principle of competing motivations: A dog cannot feel two opposing emotions at the same time!
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i think this is awesome it told me my aweser thanks
Can anyone PROVE that dogs don't have the capacity/intelligence/whatever for genuine emotions, conflicting emotions and anything else that they're niot supposed to have? For that matter, has the source of human emotions ever ben explained? Or is all this just a holdover from old thinking like "Humans are the only animals that use tools" (wrong!), "humans are the only animals capable of learning (wrong!)" andmy personal favourite, "humans are the only animals with the capablility for memory" (so very, very wrong!). EVen goldfish have a two-second MEMORY, according to those same scientists who, not that long ago, said no other animals besides humans had it?
my dog rex lays around all the time with his hed on his frount les
My doggies show lots of emotion. Great Hubs you have here on dogs!
My dogs freak if you get angry with them. THey only want to please. COol or what :)
Again, another excellent post. A coolhanded take on dog behavior that can doubtlessly inform dog owners how to best deal with frustrating situations.
You guys are all idiots. The author didn't say that dogs weren't capable of conditioned responses. How else do you explain drooling when the box of treats come out. They know something tasty is in there. But dogs can't experience complex emotions like revenge, hate, grief, or love. If anything, they are mirroring your emotions and states of being. Dogs live in the moment and don't remember what they did 30 seconds ago.
hi read your article. i am curious as well .. . so what does it mean when my dog stares at me with their big round eyes ? My dogs does that and I know for sure , she is saying feed me it is dinner time.
Wonderful Hub! good topic....Thanks!
Very interesting stuff about dogs very informative. I have had dogs all through my childhood and wish I had been educated this way.
But I saw these series on Animal Planet where a psychic sonya fitzpatrick reads the animals minds and says what it is thinking. If that is true then do they have emotions and feeling like we do. it is a mystery!!
Nice article but I can say from first hand experience that one of my dogs plans food opportunities. She knows she's not meant to but she waits for when people are in another room, asleep or out. Then she goes to the kitchen and finds food. For example my mum walked the other dog and I was in another room and my mum came back to find a whole ripped open box of Mr. Kiplings marizpan cakes on the floor... no cakes like lol. So perhaps she's making a moral or emotional decision? Also when she gets told off she looks guilty but who knows.
I hav 2 dogs , 1 is new in my house , when ever the new dog gets close to me the other dog attacks the new dog , there for the new dog burrows its self under a blanket and it looks like its crying
Sounds like a big problem is it a major attack? The first dog you have may see you as a possession. How long have you had the new dog??
my dog is panting and chewing his paws. This appears to be signs of stress. I have been away so that could be the cause. But no matter how many cuddles he has he still appears stressed? Any comments..help?
ANN...My dog was stolen Wed. Dose she hate me, miss me, what is happening with her? Annielita1@yahoo.com help.
You dodged the topic with a similar topic but a seperate topic nonetheless. Do dogs love? I think they do in their own special way.
Josh 3 years ago
I don't agree. Dogs get pissed at you sometimes and take revenge.