Does you dog feel guilt?

[iris lilies]

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/2012/05/31/do-dogs-feel-guilty/

This article covers a couple of studies about dog behavior tied to owners' perception that they feel "shame" after having done something forbidden.

I don't know who these dogs are! I tell you, shame is not a feeling in bulldogs. I've never seen one of my dogs play guilty party.

A healthy bulldog is a happy, confident dog who believes that everything he/she does has merit. While I've had some unhappy dogs, some neurotic dogs, and some depressed dogs, I've never seen the guilt response.

[Tussiemussies]

I have never seen the guilt response in any of the dogs I've had but on Facebook I've seen plenty of pictures of puppies that look so guilty. I have wondered what they said to the poor pup to get a response like that on camera and I would say that I don't believe any of we're photoshopped. I've seen a number of these. Poor pups....

[puglogic]

Dogs are very adept at reading body language and smelling the body odors associated with anger and stress. When they've done something WE don't like, THEY can read all the signs that we're unhappy, both visible and invisible. To call their natural caution and fear "guilt" is just anthropomorphism at its best.

I've never seen guilt in a dog, just a fear of evoking a negative reaction from me (and the French Bulldog and Pug do not know about that, never really on their radar :) ). That's a natural survival skill, meant to keep them in good graces in the pack. Guilt? Silly, imho.

I don't need them to be people. They are lovely little carnivores with their own range of behaviors. I dont' need to assign them one of mine!! :D

[catherine]

When my lab/border collie/terrier was a puppy of course she went through the chewing stage, and every day I'd find something and yell at her and she'd just wag her tail and "smile" at me.

But one day, I saw my Blackberry on the floor, and when I picked it up, the casing was all chewed up. I was just defeated at that point. Nessie was lying down, and I simply said out loud, kind of to myself in a really sincere, disappointed tone, "Oh, Nessie...." She was watching my face with her eyes. Her body language looked probably how I looked when I did something wrong as a kid after my mother would say: "catherine, I'm disappointed in you." That was the worst!

Anyway, I still remember that look on her face, and she never chewed anything again. Not sure if you would label that "guilt," and maybe I'm just a crazy old dog person at this stage projecting stuff into her, which may well be, but I swear I saw it in her.

ETA, this is not my dog, but just happened to see this pic on FB:

http://images3a.snapfish.com/232323232%7Ffp73496%3Enu%3D32%3C9%3E3%3C4%3E%3A33% 3EWSNRCG%3D395577%3A3%3C2337nu0mrj

[goldensmom]

My dogs feel no shame or guilt or they wouldn't poop just outside the back door when I continually chastise them for doing so. They do respond to my moods, facial expressions, voice etc. They learn my commands, through words, actions or vocal tones (I can la-la-la a command and they respond) and I guess that can look like shame or guilt. I do think they feel happy, sad or depressed because I've seen them exhibit those emotions whether I am in their near presence of not. Shame or guilt? No.

[larknm]

I have two unusually compassionate dogs. When I was laid up with a fractured hip, a vet came to our house. She was new to us. One of these compassionate ones is also terrified of having her nails clipped. This vet thought she could do it, and my dog knocked her down backwards. The vet said, "You know what, I have these not-very-stabler shoes on (they were like Dansko clogs) and it was warned and it wasn't her fault. She felt bad about it, she put her tail between her legs and ran inside." None of us had gotten mad at the dog, just tried to attend to the vet but our dog hates when someone gets hurt, human or dog, and when she's the cause, whether the vet thought so or not, she knows it. The vet called her back out and made up with her.

[Florence]

What a sweet story, larknm!

We have not had a dog in many years but we did have one named Angel and she was an angel. She had never once peed in the house until one day I found her behind a chair peeing on the carpet. I started to fuss at her but immediately stopped because she had such an expression of shame and embarrassment on her face. I took her to the vet and found that she had bladder stones. She had surgery to remove the stones and never again peed in the house. I still miss our sweet Angel.

[razz]

They do read our emotions and body language. I put up a new kennel 16'x14' for our dog and he went in with his head hanging low, probably wondering what was going on. He has been to the local boarding kennel which he loves so not sure why his head hung low and tail dragged in his new one.

I always laughed to see our cocker spaniel who hid after being groomed for the summer heat and sent out with a ribbon in his hair. After the ribbon was removed he was much happier and happier still when his hair started to grow back.

It is very easy to attribute human emotions to pets.

[pony mom]

Dogs are very adept at reading body language and smelling the body odors associated with anger and stress. When they've done something WE don't like, THEY can read all the signs that we're unhappy, both visible and invisible. To call their natural caution and fear "guilt" is just anthropomorphism at its best.

Dogs are great at sussing us out.

When my Gemma was near the end and having frequent accidents in the house, we made a point to not make a big deal out of it, tell her it was OK in a happy voice, and fuss over her afterwards. She was always such a good, well-trained dog and probably would have been mortified if she was mentally "with it" when these accidents happened.

In her younger days, I would sometimes catch her lying on my bed (a definite no-no unless invited). I'd pretend to be surprised and say "Oooooh, what did you do???" and she'd thump her tail, hum (not whine), avoid eye contact and try to become invisible. Then I'd just call her off the bed and praise her for coming to me. I miss that silly doggie.

[Gardenarian]

My dog stole a hamburger off the table and brought it to me to ask if he could eat it.
I'm sure dogs' emotions are very different from human ones, but that they do have emotions, many and powerful, is very clear to me.

[Tussiemussies]

I do agree with you Gardarian. If I get really upset to where I cry my dog will come over and lick my face...This has happened a few times as I don't cry often. I know for sure she is trying to comfort me....

[try2bfrugal]

I think our dogs have always had the same range of emotions as we do. They often looked guilty and would hang their heads when they did something they knew was naughty.

It is really cute with our dog now. Many times when I laugh he wags his tail. If someone tells a joke, it seems like he wags his tail when he hears the punchline. But really he is just responding to my laughter.

[catherine]

My dog stole a hamburger off the table and brought it to me to ask if he could eat it.


That is so cute! I guess your dog doesn't subscribe to the "It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" school of thought.

[goldensmom]

My dog stole a hamburger off the table and brought it to me to ask if he could eat it.
How thoughtful. My girls operate on a ‘need to know’ basis. I ask, ‘what happened to the sloppy joe that was on the counter?’ Their answer ‘you don’t need to know’.

[Florence]

How thoughtful. My girls operate on a ‘need to know’ basis. I ask, ‘what happened to the sloppy joe that was on the counter?’ Their answer ‘you don’t need to know’.

LOL!!

My cats have absolutely no sense of guilt whatsoever.