A popular but controversial topic that I’ve always found interesting is do dogs have human emotions. Do they feel love or mischievousness? Well I recently came across an article in psychology that I felt satisfied my curiosity. The article made many interesting points I want to share so I’ll give my impression of the article as well as a link to it.

It is believed by certain scientists that dogs function similarly to a machine and that much like a machine it can have certain emotions preprogrammed. There are also some scientists who have adopted the church’s perspective that the dog lacks the divine spark or soul. However, we now have the technology that supplies evidence that dogs have a similar chemical reaction in brain as humans and that dogs are capable of emotions.  It is also evident that their development does not reach that of an adult human. Dogs have the same hormones oxytocin and go though the same chemical changes as a human. Although in a dog the brain development is believed to cut off at a very early stage. Making the range of emotion as limited as a two year old.

Now people may try to argue that their dog feels more such as guilt or pride, but this is merely the fear of punishment not actual guilt. I have researched this topic due to my mothers insistance that dogs do have human emotion, in a sense that’s true, but as an owner I do not believe you should personify your pet too much. Despite their emotions they do not think like humans or at least this is the conclusion I have reached.
The website is www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner.