Dogs Are People, Too

[shapeshifter]

'The ability to experience positive emotions, like love and attachment, would mean that dogs have a level of sentience comparable to that of a human child. And this ability suggests a rethinking of how we treat dogs.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1

I feel like saying "urr dur".

I'm sure it's not an amazing conclusion for majority of animal owners.

Edited October 7, 2013 by shapeshifter

[DesertDobes]

I like the findings though, will give some credibility to the argument.

Just been reading a animal rights movement bashing written by someone pro puppy mill/ pet shop and they seem to think that its crazy talk to think of animals as being capable of human type emotions so this article was a nice balance.

[~Anne~]

I think you're getting a little excited about what it says. The 'findings' are that dogs may 'anticipate', not that they feel human like emotions.

In dogs, we found that activity in the caudate increased in response to hand signals indicating food. The caudate also activated to the smells of familiar humans. And in preliminary tests, it activated to the return of an owner who had momentarily stepped out of view. Do these findings prove that dogs love us? Not quite. But many of the same things that activate the human caudate, which are associated with positive emotions, also activate the dog caudate. Neuroscientists call this a functional homology, and it may be an indication of canine emotions.

[moosmum]

I like the native American way of looking at it, where dogs would be , not human, but the "dog people"