What Emotions Can a Dog Feel?

Many people wonder whether their dog has feelings or emotions, which ones it can experience, and how intensely. Dogs, like humans, can experience emotions, to a greater or lesser degree, but in a way similar to how we do.

Let's go over the feelings/emotions they can experience and how they're affected by them.

Love and Happiness

There's no clearer example than when we get home after being away for a few hours, and our dog greets us with all its love and joy. In that moment, its brain releases the same sensations as when we're in love — it fills with happiness, joy, and love all at once.

A dog's love is unconditional — dogs don't question why they love someone, nor do they place conditions on it. They simply have the capacity to love, and they do. Their love is completely sincere, pure, and much more intense than a human's, as strange as that might sound.

We all know how to tell when our dog is happy — it comes looking for pets, gives us licks, plays with us, wags its tail... countless signs and gestures that, in canine language, mean they love us.

And although love is a very noticeable trait in most dogs, this doesn't mean they love us unconditionally without cause. We should understand that we're their family, their parents, their siblings, their pack... treating them properly, training them, feeding them, caring for and pampering them is what creates a strong bond between you and your dog, the origin of that love.

Fear, Sadness, and Guilt

Now that you think carefully about it, you realize your dog has indeed been scared, sad, or felt guilty at some point, right? This is completely normal — like humans, dogs go through every emotional phase, experiencing and expressing them.

When a dog is scared, it quickly tucks its tail between its legs and pulls its ears back — these are clear signs, a way the dog communicates to show it's afraid.

Similarly, they can also feel sadness. It's not the first or last case you'll hear of dogs dying of grief after their humans pass away — dogs that go to the cemetery and stay there until they die, keeping their human company.

When we scold our dog, for example for peeing on the bed, we can observe in its expression and body language (ears, tail, eyes) how ashamed and upset it feels. Guilt exists in dogs — it's clearly noticeable and usually comes paired with a feeling of sadness.

Pain and Jealousy

We all know dogs are much tougher than humans when it comes to enduring physical pain — a recently neutered dog barely needs a couple of days before wanting to run and play with its dog friends... their tolerance for pain is astonishing.

Emotional pain, however, is different — they can feel hurt in certain situations, like being abandoned, being hit, being scolded for no reason, and so on.

Jealousy is an emotion very present in dogs — it's not a good idea to stir up jealousy, since it can lead to uncomfortable situations. When a baby arrives home and we give it all our attention, our dog might feel jealous. When a new dog comes home and we pamper it more than our own dog, it can also feel jealous.

The best way to prevent jealousy is by keeping the same level of care and attention for our dog. Don't push it aside because of a new baby's arrival or a new dog — let it be part of the growing family and keep pampering it as always.

Conclusions

Dogs do have feelings and emotions, just like you do. But their brain isn't as developed as yours — it doesn't ask itself why it loves you, it simply loves you, period.

It doesn't question whether it should be afraid of this or that — it simply gets scared when certain things happen (fireworks, the presence of another dog it doesn't get along with, a scolding from you, and so on).

Dogs are incredibly emotional animals — to them, you're their family. Don't disappoint them.

Bibliography The basic emotional circuits of mammalian brains: Do animals have affective lives? Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.08.003 Psychosocial and Psychophysiological Effects of Human-Animal Interactions: The Possible Role of Oxytocin. Frontiers in Psychology, 2012. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00234/full