Do dogs have feelings? Most people can read emotions in their dog quite easily. For example, you come home and your dog dances around wagging her tail, and you think to yourself, “Lady is happy to see me,” or “Lady really loves me.” Or perhaps you’re out on a walk and, at the approach of another canine, your dog freezes in place, his hackles raised, and gives a low throaty growl. We interpret this as “Rex does not like that dog. Seeing him makes Rex angry.” In such situations the emotional state of our dogs seems quite obvious. For this reason it is difficult for many people to understand that the existence of emotions in dogs was—and in some places still is—a point of scientific controversy.

The History of Dog Emotions: Soul or Machine?

In the dim, distant past it was presumed that dogs had very rich mental lives, with feelings much like those of humans and even the ability to understand human language almost as well as people. However, with the rise of science things began to change. Mankind was now beginning to understand enough about the principles of physics and mechanics that we could build complex machines. In addition, we were learning that living things were also governed by systems that followed mechanical rules and chemical processes. 

In the face of such discoveries, religions stepped in to suggest that there must be more to human beings than simply mechanical and chemical events. Church scholars insisted that people have souls, and the evidence they gave for this was the fact that humans have consciousness and feelings; animals might have the same mechanical systems, they argued, but they did not have a divine spark and, therefore, did not have the ability to experience “true” feelings.

Studies of Dog Feelings in the Past

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock for Nintendo Wii w/Guitar,

The most prominent person to adopt this line was the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes. In a highly influential set of analyses, Descartes suggested that animals like dogs were simply some kind of machine. He would thus describe my Beagle, Darby, as simply being a dog-shaped chassis, filled with the biological equivalent of gears and pulleys.

This machine doesn’t think, but it can be programmed to do certain things. Nicholas de Malebranche, who extended Descartes’ ideas, summed up the idea when he claimed that animals “eat without pleasure, cry without pain, act without knowing it: they desire nothing, fear nothing, know nothing.”

Michaek Kors Purse,

Funko Pop Cheshire Cat Blacklight,

Vintage Steve Vai Autographed Drumhead Ultra Zone October '99 Bass Shred Remo,

With the same neurology and chemistry that people have, it seems reasonable to suggest that dogs also have emotions that are similar to ours. However, it is important to not go overboard and immediately assume that the emotional ranges of dogs and humans are the same.

ninja turtles art series Funko pop three pack bundle,

To understand what dogs feel, we must turn to research done to explore the emotions of humans. It is the case that not all people have the full range of all possible emotions, and, in fact, at some points in your life you did not have the full complement of emotions that you feel and express today. There is much research to demonstrate that infants and very young children have a more limited range of emotions. It is over time that the infant’s emotions begin to differentiate and develop and, by the time they’ve reached adulthood, their range of emotional experiences is quite broad.

Sam Edelman Frayed Hem Skinny Jeans 24 Medium Wash,

UFC Irene Aldana Autographed 8x10 Photo A Signed MMA Bantamweight JSA COA,

Rare Authentic Nintendo Gameboy Super Mario Land Box & Inserts Only Mint,

Pokemon Trading Card Japanese Gameboy Game + Case,

This developmental sequence is the golden key to understanding the emotions of dogs. Dogs go through their developmental stages much more quickly than humans do and have all of the emotional range that they will ever achieve by the time they are four to six months of age (depending on the rate of maturation in their breed).

Calvin klein ladies active short XS-XXL Size available,

Dooney & Bourke "Kristen" Large Tote,

We The Free Raw Hem Skinny Jeans,

CUYANA NAVY ZIP TOTE,Wii Dance Dance Revolution Bundle 2 DDR Pads Mats 3 Games Party Just Dance StarsMadden NFL 22 MVP Edition for Xbox Series X (New Still Wrapped) MSRP ,

Funko Pop! Die-Cast Boba Fett Star Wars Funko Exclusive,

Mario Party 7 (Nintendo GameCube, 2005) Black Label Complete No Scratching,