Está en la página 1de 10

Giovanni Castro

Writing 39C
Lynda Haas
HCP
The Emotional Dog
Dogs represent the specific domesticated group of animals,
namely pets. The attribution to their group implies that, often times,
they are confused to be submissive creatures living unconsciously.
Some take a leap further and assume they are merely possessions
which would then suggest that dogs are emotionless; they are some
sort of friendly robot that eats and sleeps whenever its owner allows
to. Animal awareness is a growing study, which originated from
Darwins understanding of evolution in the 19th century from his
work The Origin of Species, 1859 (The Cognitive Animal, 2), but
canine appreciation was only given a large focus dating back to
approximately the 1950s when behavioral psychologists John Paul
Scott and John Fuller made groundbreaking research on dog
behavior (Dogs, 34). Perhaps people are merely lack sufficient
information that dogs present evidence that they are in fact beings
that live beyond the scope of instinct, and offer intriguing cognitive
patterns that can be associated with human-behavior. By
mentioning this, I will address the idea of dogs, in response for
being conscious animals like humans, provide a strong correlation

with their emotional side hence proving they are socially active and
to some extent intellects of their species.

Castro 2

To begin this review, I would like to point out the obvious issue
with studying canine cognition: dogs speak words. As Marian Stamp
Dawkins would say: Actions speak louder than words (Why
Animals Matter, 150); this proverb is what scientists and behavioral
psychologists would solely base their studies when attempting to
acknowledge patterns in body-language, barks and other physical
gestures. To further back this claim Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods
in their book mention how dogs frequently use visual signals to
communicate(The Genius Of Dogs, 135). I would then progress to
establish a positive and essentially plausible link between dogs
basic knowledge, from a humans perspective, and their emotion. As
I have mentioned previously, the fundamental understanding of
animals, where these studies were given birth are all derived from
Darwins first observations and theories, yet the central and
controlling thesis also shows that 100 years later the species Canis
Familiaris, latin for dogs, started to slowly develop studies as of

1950s.

Castro 3
Firstly, I would like to introduce a small perspective of
humans understanding of the dog. As illustrated in this infographic
animation, it becomes clear that dogs have different levels or stages
of contemplation. All animals, including humans have the first item
within the animals nature; the body naturally works in synchrony,
meaning: if an animal feels an urge to eat it means that
unconsciously, their body sends a message to the brain, which
would then allow the animal to search for food. The second item has
more conscious thinking required by the animal. The reproduction
aspect is more complex than eating because in essence, the male
dog is must engage in a small conversation with his mate to then
finally proceed with coitus. Yet, the dog can undergo even more
complex thinking, which then develops more into emotions. As I
mentioned above, disgust is a feeling that pertains to taste; in order
for an animal to acknowledge taste, it must be a conscious reaction
of not desiring a particular thing, as in food, for example.
The informative pictorial image above was based on the
article written by Stanley Coren, who noted that there are certain
emotions felt by humans that can be attributed to dogs. As he
mentions in his article, to understand what dogs feel turn to
research done to emotions of humans (Which Emotions Do Dogs
Actually Experience?). This point is strongly aligned with my central

thesis because since dogs do have a direct manner of speech as


humans do with verbal communication, it is essentially human
emotions that dogs portray. To some extent this might be a unfair
examination, however given the fact that humans consider dogs
their best-friends, it makes sense to associate dogs with these
Castro 4
characteristics, since they socially accept and love human-beings. It
would not be the case of an alpha predator such as a lion, or a
reptile, like a snake, to collaborate with humans, even though they
might have similar emotions. In the specific case of the dog, Conrey
asserts that researchers have now come to believe that the mind of
a dog is roughly equivalent to that of a human (Which Emotions Do
Dogs Actually Experience?).
Now it is established that animals, specifically dogs, have
somewhat of a conscious. But to take this notion and to amplify it to
a global scale, scientists have recently come to agree to a formal
thesis, as of 2012, namely The Cambridge Declaration on
Consciousness1. This is an important fact that can now be ignored as
an assumption when conducting the studies of cognition of animals;
as Marc Bekoff mentioned in his recently posted article: scientists
presented evidence that led to this self-obvious conclusion

1 The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness: Convergent evidence that


indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and
neurophysiological substrates of conscious states along with the capacity to
exhibit intentional behaviors.

(Scientists Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings). It is


important to note that I very explicitly provided with lengthy
evidence of animal conscious as an argument to refute the
confusion an average person might have of their dog, or of other
dogs, that they are soulless and forever enslaved to humans.
To oppose this fairly common view of dogs being dependent of
humans, I would like to direct to Alexandra Horowitz book, when she
mentions dogs love
Castro 5
is entwined with loyalty (Inside of a Dog, 21). This idea is a very
powerful notion that goes to show that humans so selfishly ignore a
dogs a loyalty and then associate it with dependence. A dog has
such a strong devotion to love that it basically fascinates itself on its
owner. This not only proves my first part of the thesis, that dogs
have a conscious, but also they have feelings of emotion. Love is an
unmeasurable and indescribable emotion that humans share
amongst themselves on a daily basis, but it one of many emotions
that the complex human brain processes. The infographic
illustration proves that there are only a handful of emotions that a
dog can have, and clearly, one of them is love. And so, as Monique
Udell puts, dogs appear to be sensitive to the attentional state of
humans (A Review Of Domestic Dogs Human-Like Behaviors,
Theory of Mind), which is a parallel theory to that of dogs passion or
love for the human-being.

To conclude this review, it has become less of an assumption


that dogs do in fact have a conscious, given their intelligent
cognitive patterning, which would then correspond to them having
emotions. I emphasize the fact that it is a presumption that dogs
have similar behavioral aspects to humans. Logically, to associate
an animal with a conscious using human emotions as a testing
factor, if the test proved to have a positive match, then there must
exist a relationship between the two beings. However, more than
just establishing a connection between humans and animals, the
fact the there is a minimal recognition of dogs is a breakthrough in
the social acceptance of their species. Although I focused on recent
studies, it is vital to acknowledge that the father of animal studies
Charles Darwin, back in the 1800s, already established that dogs
have emotions such
Castro 7
as love, fear, shame and rage, as well as dreams, and the ability to
imitate and reason (A Review Of Domestic Dogs Human-Like
Behaviors).
So dogs do in fact behave in society, not as a fully active
human but as contributors. They then do deserve respect and
consequently, they should have their rights as well. I shall now pose
a challenge to a reflection: if dogs are scientifically proven to have a
conscious, follow to some extent social requirements to be accepted

by humans and do have emotions, what gives a human-being the


right to abuse of this animal?

Works Cited
Bekoff, Marc. The Cognitive Animal Empirical and Theoretical
Perspectives on Animal Cognition. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 2002.
Print.
Coppinger, Raymond, and Lorna Coppinger. Dogs: A Startling New
Understanding of Canine Origin, Behavior, and Evolution. New York:
Scribner, 2001. Print.

Dawkins, Marian Stamp. Why Animals Matter: Animal


Consciousness, Animal Welfare, and Human Well-being. New York:
Oxford UP, 2012. Print.
Hare, Brian, and Vanessa Woods. The Genius of Dogs: How Dogs Are
Smarter than You Think. Penguin, 2013. Print.
Horowitz, Alexandra. Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and
Know. New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.
Coren, Stanley. "Which Emotions Do Dogs Actually Experience?"
Psychology Today. 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 2 Aug. 2015.
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/caninecorner/201303/which-emotions-do-dogs-actually-experience>.
Bekoff, Marc. "Scientists Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious
Beings." Psychology Today. 10 Aug. 2012. Web. 2 Aug. 2015.
<https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animalemotions/201208/scientists-conclude-nonhuman-animals-areconscious-beings>.
Udell, Monique, and C.D.L Wynne. "A Review of Domestic Dogs'
(Canis Familiaris) Human-Like Behaviors: Or Why Behavior Analysts
Should Stop Worrying and Love Their Dogs." Journal of the
Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Society for the Experimental
Analysis of Behavior, Inc., 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 2 Aug. 2015.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2251326/>.

También podría gustarte