I’m just back from the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. I was one of several speakers discussing the Human/Animal Bond at NIH’s STEP Forum, a monthly meeting for all NIH staff designed to educate staff about issues relating to science in the public health. It was very much worth the travel; the talks given by zoo-anthropologist Dr. James Serpell, Dr. Sandra Barker and Dr. Joan Esnayra were each worth the trip alone. Dr. Serpell discussed historical and cross-cultural aspects of the human-animal bond, and dispelled the myths that “pets” are only luxuries indulged in by industrial societies and that people who love animals do so from some social pathology that prevents them from “normal” relationships with other people. His books In the Company of Animals and The Domestic Dog are classics, you might want to look them up.
Dr. Barker, a Professor of Psychiatry and active participant using animal in therapy, spoke about the impact of Animal Assisted Interventions (distinguishing between Animal Assisted Therapy, in which the animal works with a licensed therapist toward a specific goal for the client and Animal Assisted Activities, in which animals are brought in to comfort and alleviate stress–both vital efforts) and her ongoing research projects at VCU to elucidate the context in which AAT and AAA can be clinically valuable.
Dr. Esnayra founded the Psychiatric Service Dog Society and gave a compelling speech about the effective use of assistance dogs for those with mental illness (instead of physical disabilities). She is absolutely up front about living herself with Bipolar Disorder and PTSD, and has 2 beautiful (and beautifully behaved) Rhodesian Ridgebacks who work with her (and attended the forum). We also met Mike Townsend and Donna Dellaglio, who have a Helper Monkey who has ‘changed their lives’ . Mike has severe MS, is confined to a wheel chair and no longer has the use of his arms. Kathy, their capuchin, allows him to watch television, turn lots of equipment off and on, and most importantly, use the computer. “Kathy gave Mike his life back” is a pretty inspiring thing to hear at the end of a morning on the importance of animals in our lives.
I spoke second, after Serpell, arguing that the profound love that many of us have for our dogs is a biological phenomenon that deserves more scientific attention. In my talk I speculated, as I did in the book For the Love of a Dog, that one of the reasons we become so intensely attached to dogs is that dogs have such expressive faces and as Darwin argued over a century ago, their expressions of fear, anger and happiness are very much like our own.
Those comments were soundly criticized by a veterinary behaviorist in the audience who argued that I was being problematically anthropomorphic to 1) make any association between the expressions of people and the expressions of dogs and 2) use the word ‘anger’ in association with dogs. I can’t quote the person exactly, but the point was that anger is a human construct, and it is wrong to attribute it to dogs.
I was (and am) fascinated by her criticisms. First off, the evidence continues to grow about the continuum of the biology of emotion in mammals.. we share the same basic neuro-anatomy related to emotions, the same neuro-physiology related to emotions (serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin to name a few) and many of the same behavioral reactions. Emotions are such primitive things, it always interests me that ascribing them to non-human animals makes people uncomfortable. Of course, there’s a huge difference between how an emotion is processed in the brain of a human and that of a dog, but the glass is half full as well as half empty, and the biology of emotions is far more similar in dogs and people than it is different. In addition, I’d love to claim credit for the notion that the expressions of emotion on the faces of dogs and people are related, but since Darwin wrote about it over a hundred years ago I don’t think I’d better! Unless you believe that people and other animals have virtually no biological connection of any kind, it is sound science to compare the expressions of 2 highly social mammals who use subtle visual signals to maintain social harmony.
I am especially interested in the expressed concern that anger is “human construct.” I’ve heard that before from several different fields (mainly psychology and from other veterinary behaviorists), and yet… anger, or ‘rage’ as it is usually called in the literature, is considered one of the most basic and primal of emotions. Jaak Panskeep, the author of Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions calls rage one of the “core” emotions of all mammals. Truly, you can’t attribute fear to a dog and deny then that a dog could get angry… those two emotions are too closely tied together in so many, many ways.
I believe completely and without question that dogs can experience anger, the biology to support that is overwhelming. However.. and this is a big HOWEVER… I also think that anger is one of the emotions that people most mis-understand in dogs. Owners often tell trainers or behaviorists that their dog defecated on the carpet because he was “angry” that he’d been left, when the motivating emotions was either fear of being left alone, or none in particular, because the dog simply wasn’t house trained! I suspect that although dogs can get angry, (for example when frustrated by being pulled away from the window while barking at a passer by), dogs actually experience anger very very little compared to humans. I write more about this in For the Love of a Dog… and am inspired to write more in a magazine article somewhere, sometime . . .
But right now I’d better get home. Lassie and Willie have been waiting for me to come home and start the holidays with them, and I don’t want them to get angry at me if I come home late. (Please, oh please know that I am kidding and that no, honestly, truly, I really do not believe that my dogs will experience anger if I get home later than I am hoping to. . .
Meanwhile, have a great holiday. I hope you have a lot to be thankful for. I certainly do and I am overwhelmed with gratitude because of it.
Pam H says
Since I was there for part : (( of the forum, I will say that it was FANTASTIC! I hope that a transcript will be published (have to be NIH staff to download the video). The speakers were amazing (in addition to Trisha, whom we all already know is amazing). I’m glad Trisha is taking on the veterinary behaviorist, though persons like that cause us to think and better define our positions. (So perhaps we should thank them).
If I may interject myself in this discussion, I would like to plug the Delta Society which was mentioned in conjunction with Dr. Esnayra and her discussions about psychiatric (and other types of) service animals. The Delta Society had been very helpful to me, and I think they are one of the very, very best resources for information about service animals and the rights of the disabled. Since there was a question at the forum- their website is deltasociety.org
Hopefully the field of animal “emotional” behavior will continue to be studied so that we have more hard data to support what we as animal lovers already know. Just my two cents- have you ever seen a dog react when another canine has stolen his bone??? If that’s not anger, I don’t know what is!
Carolyn says
Happy Thanksgiving!
Crystal says
I certainly think we, as humans, tend to anthropomorphize a bit too much with our dogs… but I think our tendency to do that is exactly why we bond with them so much. It is easy to ascribe emotions to them- regardless of whether or not they feel them- which, as you say, helps us feel closer to them. I think there is danger in ascribing them human feelings when it results in punishments for perceived slights (ie, my dog pooped on the carpet because he’s mad I was gone all day, so I’d better teach him not to do that), but it certainly is at least part of what keeps our pet dogs so well cared for and loved. In that sense, dogs are lucky, because we buy them all manner of treats, toys, and provide expensive specialty medical care.
Kelly Ladouceur says
Sounds like a really great couple of days, with some fascinating speakers.
I find the veterinarian’s comments to you interesting. I have read all of your books, and I agree that dogs feel and express emotion, just not necessarily in the way that we humans do. Sometimes that makes it a bit more difficult to detect, and that leads people to believe that we (we being used in a general sense) are simply anthropomorphizing.
It’s not Thanksgiving in Canada (ours is the second Monday in October), but have a wonderful holiday. I have MUCH to be thankful for on any given day, and will take some time today to reflect on life’s blessings.
Denise says
I had a Rottweiler mix, Bubba, that loved to swim and a Shepard/Basset mix, Harley (think lowrider), that hated water, didn’t even want to get his feet wet. Bubba would routinely come out of the water, his dense undercoat thoroughly saturated with water, ease up alongside Harley and shake, soaking the water hater. Harley’s large erect ears would rotate slightly forward and downward, his brow would furrow, his lips would purse and he would let out a protest growl/groan. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing but I truly believe Harley was expressing anger over the soaking. I also believe Bubba had a sense of humor and was amused by this joke because, while Harley was glaring and protesting, Bubba would bounce back and forth on his front feet, bobbing his head up and down with his mouth open in what I would describe as a grin while making huffing sounds that I would describe as a laugh.
Anecdotal, yes and far from scientific but I don’t know how anyone with more than a passing interest in dogs could believe they don’t experience anger…
cissy says
I’m so glad you got an opportunity to meet Joan Esnayra and hear her presentation. I’ve used non-traditional breeds (flock guardians) for PSDs for 12 years and have known Joan and benefited from her support and incredible intelligence and dedication for all of that time.
I have PTSD and have taken many different psychotropic medications over the years in addition to psychotherapy. Using a service dog is the single best means I’ve found for regaining and maintaining a meaningful quality of life. With all of the medication changes I’ve had, the measure of efficacy has and remains my self-reporting to my physician. Anti-depressants have been used for decades, and we are just now beginning to untangle how they work.
I’ve always been and remained appalled by the fact that in an area where patient self-reporting is a recognized and scientifically accepted methodology for testing the efficacy of psychopharmaceuticals, the efficacy of PSDs is routinely questioned and challenged because no one can “see” how this modality works. We are a long way from reliably (reproducibly) attributing emotion to behavior (or behavior to emotion) in humans and animals and our use of the ill-defined, generally used descriptive and analytic language of both is a testament to our lack of understanding. But it is also a testament to the wide acceptance of the existence of something that needs to be explored and understood and understood in terms of the ways in which animals and humans do and can relate to each other.
I admire the very important work that both you and Dr. Esnayra are doing. IMHO, while perhaps not immediately obvious, you are traveling on very similar roads. So thank you for linking to the PSDS website. You have given a broad audience access to options for themselves and/or family and friends they may not have known are available and helped with the battle to destigmatize mental illness.
Rubia Burnier says
By the subjects discussed in this forum I have no doubt it was amazing and I truly wish we have the opportunity to read more about it soon. I’m a veterinary behaviorist here in Brazil and I think there are so much yet to understand about animal’s emotions that any discussion about it is very important. Theres no doubt the emotions play a big role on the animal behavior. We tend to think that a dog can not have “feeling” simply because there must be a rational thinking and a developed brain to elaborate it. Fear, jealousy, anger…perhaps human being tend to analyze too much what is behind anything and animais simply let it be. Lets keep watching them and learning more. Best regards to you.
Julie Drigot says
As a Waldorf school teacher I study the written work of Rudolf Steiner. I am intrigued by his take on animals as sharing our human feelings, yet not our sense for thinking and memory. Whether anyone believes this or not isn’t so important but some examples of these ideas might be the following:
First of all anyone can observe an angry look on a cat’s face compared to a peaceful and calm demeanor. A dog clearly smiles with their mouth open, their tongue out and a sparkle is in their eye. Usually this happens accompanied by play or other interaction with people or other dogs.This is certainly easy to compare to when people smile. (minus the tongue hanging out)
Secondly, Steiner uses an example about thinking and particularly memory in regards to what happens to a dog or cat when we leave home. He says something to the effect that the dog isn’t laying there thinking, “now when are they coming back? Julie should be here by now, she’ll be wearing that hat and coat and her loud boots that make that stamping noise, I sure wish she would hurry up !
Instead there is a strong sense of longing for someone or something wonderfully familiar and fulfilling that is missing. This is an idea I’ve been working with regarding my own dog, birds etc. and I find it interesting.
Carmen Hurley says
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend! We are experiencing our first few inches of snow here in NE Iowa but doesn’t appear to be anything too serious.
While I don’t see my own dogs become angry all that often, they do occasionally, and at these times I can’t think of any other emotion to describe what they might be feeling other than anger or rage. Usually the scenario at our house is a result of one dog continually ignoring warning after warning from another dog, and finally what started out as mild annoyance progresses to full blown anger. I think the danger of anthropormorphizing comes as you described earlier, when a dog is stated to be “angry” because they fouled the carpet or refused to play b/c they were “mad at me”. However, this is of course very different than the actual emotion of anger that a dog is capable of feeling as a direct response to something in his/her environment.
Emily says
I see the same thing in my dogs as commenter Carmen above. Anger doesn’t appear often, but sometimes can surface if one dog keeps pushing another (say for possession of a prized toy). My 1.5 year old border heeler can also clearly become angry if, during play wrestling (and oh does he love to wrestle), he gets a nip that is just a wee bit too painful. He will lash back in what I could only label anger – and he makes it very clear when he is not pleased…but it does blow over quickly! My other two dogs rarely show anger – they have somewhat milder temperaments and aren’t quite as ‘intense’.
Colleen says
I do believe dogs get angry. Merriam-Webster online defines anger as: a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism. A perfect example would be my little borzoi, who will sometimes flare up and attack another dog that gets food she wants. It takes her 5 to 10 minutes to calm down, during which time she is still shaking and making small snapping movements with her jaws, just like a person trembling with rage. I really cannot see a difference between anger as a human and as a canine emotion. What I do wonder is whether dogs, or any animal other than humans, feel hatred – defined as a long lasting and intense animosity. Your thoughts?
Amy says
What about jealousy? This seems like a very human emotion, and I am certain my dogs get jealous, but I’ve never seen my cat act jealous. He can be a bit condescending, but never envious.
DeAnna says
in response to Colleen re: hatred:
Based on your definition of hatred, I would say that my childhood dog, a wolf/GSD cross harbored intense hatred for the next-door neighboor boys who would taunt her through the fence. She knew who they were, and if she had ever seen them when she wasn’t restrained I have no doubt that she would have killed them, even if they were not taunting her at the time. She was not otherwise a vicious dog.
Tori says
This is a very interesting topic! I would have to say that I do agree that dogs share similar emotions to humans, but not to the extent that we experience them. And I very much liked your point that it’s not really fair to point out the emotion of fear in a dog and ignore a possibility of anger.
I do think that our dogs experience anger, but I think their reaction when this emotion occurs is an immediate, innate response to a stimulus. In other words, dogs don’t sit around at home during the day coming up with schemes to use against us. Now cats, that’s a different story….haha just kidding! (maybe? 😉
Awesome blog, I can’t wait until Winter Break so I can read more. =)
Beth says
You must have heard about the study that just came out in the news last week that dogs understand the concept of fairness. When one dog sees another getting a better reward for doing the same task, he is reluctant to respond as enthuisiastically the next time around.
More and more, scientific studies are proving that dogs are more like humans than we are taught to think. Recently I’ve read some observations by Darwin who concurred with this notion. As dog owners we are constantly bombarded by warnings not to anthropomorphize our animal companions. While it’s true, obviously, that they are not human, they are sentient beings who experience emotions just as we do. I’m hoping scientists, trainers and other dog experts will wake up to this one day soon so that the world will be a more humane place for dogs and the rest of our animal friends.
Kat says
I rarely see Ranger become angry but I have seen it a couple of times. The first time was at the dog park when a very rude Great Dane was trying to pin him against the fence and mount him. Ranger had very definitely said he didn’t care for this but the Dane wouldn’t let up, following him around the park to continue his rude behavior. Finally, Ranger had enough and got what I can only describe as angry, his face snarling, his hackles were up and the low menacing growl issuing from his throat very clearly said “I’ve had enough, cut it out or I’ll take you to pieces.” The Dane tucked tail and ran to his people. Ranger glared after him for a moment, shook himself and came over to check in before going on his merry way.
vinny olito says
Always love your articles and use you as my go to reference for comparing human to canine science. I am watching a video of The lecture of Paul Whalen, “Face to face with the emotional brain”, given during the 15th Kraków Methodological Conference – The Emotional Brain: From the Humanities to Neuroscience and Back Again”. Its mainly focused on the amygdala and the part that interested me was the reactions from fear faces and anger and compared them to how much humans learn compared to amygdala activity. It just interested me and instantly my brain went to canines and how they percive the threat as fear or anger and the reiforcment history of their response compared to amydgala acitivity. Therefore searched anger in canines under your name for your opinion and knowledge of anger and canines 🙂
TY so much for sharing your knowledge with us in the canine world. You have been such a big inspiration in my career and mission in canine behavior…
Vinny