Do dogs feel love?

[MSizer]

I...Many theistic people (especially those involved in the Abrahamic faiths) felt that conceding emotions and morals to animals was wrong, because only humans had these 'god-given' qualities and we were 'debasing' humans to a brute level....

Ah, ignorance and conceit. What a beautifully anthropomorphic combination. Yup, three cheers for mythology. :no:

 

[Just_me_Mike]

I recently took part in a discussion on another religious forum and the topics of animal emotions and morality came up.

I asked a question:

By conceding that animals such as dogs, primates etc can have emotional and, to a degree, moral lives, does that in some way 'devalue' you as a human?

Many theistic people (especially those involved in the Abrahamic faiths) felt that conceding emotions and morals to animals was wrong, because only humans had these 'god-given' qualities and we were 'debasing' humans to a brute level. Personally, I think this view is unfounded.

Does acknowledging that your dog feels love change your perception of your own species in any way?

It doesn't make me feel debased

 

[Noaidi]

Ah, ignorance and conceit. What a beautifully anthropomorphic combination. Yup, three cheers for mythology.

I agree. To some people, the emotional lives of non-human animals are more to do with automatic responses rather than based on cognition.

 

[Peacewise]

Love is a social state.
Dogs are social creatures.

Therefore it is likely that they experience a wide variety of social state, and dogs display all the characteristics of love including, sacrifice, loyalty, caring, comforting, joy, protection, gratitude, obedience, listening, communicating, friendliness and so on.

They certainly don't feel human love, they feel Doggy love, but it remains love nonetheless.

And of course the subjective or anecdotal view point of love...

If you don't feel love then they don't love you.

Therefore, If you feel the love, then they do love you.

Love is a two way street, and if the human loves the dog the dog loves the human.

I notice that there is a poster who wants to objectify all the various attributes of love down to food. You seem unaware that there are many other NEEDS of a dog, and specifically these including being part of a social structure known as a pack.

Love is a subjective state, one feels it. Either one feels it or not, it is highly unlikely that we will ever absolutely know that dogs experience love, but it is plainly obvious that they display a wide variety of indications they experience love and these indications are consistent across the species.

It's quite obvious to me on a variety of levels that dogs love.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

My dog seems to show love. She gets excited when I come home, she crawls into bed with me, she often tries to push my fiance out of the way so she can have all the attention, and she always comes up to me when I am feeling down. If that does not qualify as showing love, then I don't know what is.

 

[Kathryn]

I read one way to stop a dog from jumping on you is to lean over and let them kiss you. They might be jumping to lick your mouth, and this is thought to be a greeting gesture.

I started doing this with my dog ~ giving him some official greeting time when I first walk in the door ~ and he stopped jumping. Plus it's fun to get puppy kisses. :hearts:

You make a good point - and since I frankly don't much mind if my dog licks me in the face (though I will keep my mouth CLOSED!), I may give this a try!

Honestly, my husband and I are completely dog and cat crazy. We love our animals and we receive love from them in return.


One of my favorite things to do - so I do it every evening - is to get down on the floor and growl and bark and roll around with my dogs. OMG, they love it! After we're done (and I let them win the battle), they flop down in my lap and my husband's lap. We each have our particular baby, though we both love both dogs. We all doze off together either in the bed or in the living room...and it's great, it's absolutely great.

Sometimes my husband will call me in the middle of the day and say, "You know what - I can't wait to get home to you and our dogs." And I feel the same way. When we board them when we go on vacation, we miss them as if they were real people.

We're just as crazy about our cat - even though he is a demanding little *******. He is constantly on the lookout - if a lap becomes vacant in the evenings, he'll jump right into it. But usually he just stretches out on the sofa behind my head and kneads my hair or swats at a dog once in awhile.

I don't care if people want to call it love or instinct or whatever - I know my dogs run to me when I pick them up from being boarded, even though they've been fed and well taken care of by other people. They know me and they love me and I don't care whether anyone else believes that or not.

 

[whereismynotecard]

I think this is pretty self-explanatory:

 

[Kathryn]

Many theistic people (especially those involved in the Abrahamic faiths) felt that conceding emotions and morals to animals was wrong, because only humans had these 'god-given' qualities and we were 'debasing' humans to a brute level. Personally, I think this view is unfounded.

Wow, this is really weird. I've lived around theistic people my entire life and I've never, not one time, heard the idea or opinion that conceding emotions and morals to animals is wrong.

I HAVE been taught - by my theistic faith, and then through self study - that it is our moral obligation to treat animals kindly. My faith also teaches me that if we abuse or mistreat animals, we may be subject to the wrath of God - something that I take very seriously.

My theistic faith teaches me that God gave us the earth and the animal kingdom to safeguard and to manage well. If one reads the bible, one gets a feeling that God delights in all his creations, and especially animals (read Job for examples of this - but there are many many other passages about animals).

 

[Willowmina]

Zeus was my black saddle back Shepard. I watched him grow into a fine young dog. We went through porcupine quills (through his throat and chin) and skunk smells. I watched him bring a herd of cows to safety from an on coming train, although he had no training to do this.
One day he came to our door barking and making a big fuss and we couldn't figure out what he wanted, but he kept circling and barking so we followed. And he wanted to show us that there was a bear behind the house. He then kept on circling the bear and drove him in the direction off the property.
I also became a witness of his fatherhood. We had 7 pups altogether, one died at birth because our lady didn't know what to do so I went and helped with the birthing of the rest. Zeus was the proudest dad ever. He would check on them and would stand there and it almost looked like he was counting them, making sure they were all there.
One morning he was outside playing with the pups and we were still inside. We weren't aware of the train that was coming (we lived about 200 feet from the tracks). Shortly after, we heard a little yelp at the door and went out to see and it was one of the pups (my Solomon). He looked a bit tethered and was yelping. That's when we went in search of the others. Two of the girls showed up alright. And then I found Zeus on the tracks about a hundred feet away from the other 3 puppies. By the looks of the whole scene, Zeus had charged the train to try and save the puppies. I was absolutely devastated for months and still blame myself for it. This all transpired within minutes of them going outside.
I miss him so much sometimes. Smartest dog I've ever come across, my Zeus. And forever loved.
Do dogs feel love? You better believe it!!!
His sense of love, caring and responsibility for others is a perfect example also for us two leggeds.

 

[MissAlice]

I think this is pretty self-explanatory:

Awww what a cute collage.

*gives Miss Alice an idea*

 

[whereismynotecard]

Ooooooh. What idea does it give you?

 

[MissAlice]

Ooooooh. What idea does it give you?

A scrap book or collage of all the animals I owned.

They were like the only family and friends I had well aside from the big fur-less ones.

 

[Noaidi]

Wow, this is really weird. I've lived around theistic people my entire life and I've never, not one time, heard the idea or opinion that conceding emotions and morals to animals is wrong.

Yes, I thought it a rather strange position to take as well. To many people, there is a sharp divide between humans and all other animals. This is especially the case for those that don't accept evolution.

To me, it is obvious that morality and love exists in some other animals - it is the degree to which we have developed these traits that perhaps 'separates' us from other animals.

For anyone interested in this, have a look at this article:
Animals can tell right from wrong - Telegraph

Edit: apologies for straying into morality - I know this thread is about dog love but, being new here, I didn't know if an animal morality thread exists already.

 

[Madhuri]

I think that when it comes to animals it's harder to know.

However, when I see the way a mother of most animal species behaves in relation to its children I find it hard to think that isn't love.
Many animals including dogs display sorrow/grief, attachment, (sometimes) empathy and devotion. It's very possible that love is a part of it.

 

[Ozzie]

Or some sort of similar emotional attachment?

Dog love is unconditional. You have to exercise infinite love to decide what is best for Him.

 

[Vietta]

I think dogs feel some kind of love for us. All social animals have some sense of love, even if its not exactly the same sense as humans have. Love is a broad and fairly vague term, and I'm pretty sure dogs love their food and thus, they love the people who bring them food.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I think most dogs feel love more acutely than a lot of people do.

 

[whereismynotecard]

A scrap book or collage of all the animals I owned.

They were like the only family and friends I had well aside from the big fur-less ones.

That sounds fun.

 

[Vietta]

I think most dogs feel love more acutely than a lot of people do.

That's because with most dogs you don't have to do anything to earn love, you just get it. If you pay even the slightest amount of attention to a dog it loves you and you're its best friend. Dogs are great. I wish I still had one....