The anthropomorphism is : to attribute to dogs (because I am only talking about them here) the behaviors, feelings and characteristics of human beings.
Regarding dogs, this word seems to have become a fault. Being "accused" of anthropomorphism implies you see dogs inappropriately, you misunderstand them, and place them on an equal level with humans in terms of existential value.
Emotions
In 2023, we are sure that just like human beings dogs feel the six primary emotions : fear (avoid a danger), surprise (get ready for what comes next), disgust (avoid a poison), sadness and joy (share what you feel), anger (change a situation).
Emotions are short-lived physiological reactions.
Some other emotions have not been assessed yet or are deemed as too complex to be attributed to dogs for they require more advanced cognitive skills.
Frustration : turning impatient to get something, pacing, barking, whining
Jealousy : coming between two beings out of fear of losing the attention
Excitement : being aroused when facing a stimulus
I’m sure many of you can recognize those emotional states in your dogs.
The guilty look
« He knows ! »
You find Doggy lowering his head, showing the whites of his eyes, hiding, walking with his body as low as possible, turning his head away. And this, while you show him what you consider to be a misdeed. Maybe he shredded the toilet paper, dug in the garden, ate your sandwich on the table, destroyed your slippers, etc.
If he is acting that way, for you, it is an admission that he recognizes that he acted badly, that he knew he should not have committed those acts.
Several experiments were replicated to verify that the result did not vary :
1/ a dog is placed with an experimenter ; a sausage is lying on the ground ; the dog's owner comes out after ordering him to leave it ; the experimenter encourages the dog to eat it ; the dog eats it ; when he returns, the owner is upset.
2/ the same dog, the same scenario, except that this time the experimenter takes the sausage and hides it. Even before the owner knows what really happened, the dog adopts the behavior described in the previous paragraph when he returns.
When your dog is adopting this "guilty" look, he is not confessing anything ; we don't yet know if dogs are capable of feeling guilt as humans hear it. What is certain is that these behaviors are those of conflict avoidance. Moreover, in the experiment, dogs may have learned that the absence of the sausage makes his owner angry, not the fact that he did eat it.
Revenge
« He does it on purpose out of revenge »
Revenge is defined as a « moral compensation of the offended by punishment of the offender ».
The first issue that arises with revenge is that dogs do not perceive the world according to the morality of humans (who themselves do not all perceive it in the same way depending on their culture and life experiences). For dogs, there is above all what is dangerous, neutral, safe.
An offense implies that Doggy was upset by your behavior long enough for him to maintain a plan and carry it out.
To take revenge, it is necessary : to have knowledge of what is punitive and unpleasant according to the offender, which will demotivate him to reproduce the behavior considered offensive, to establish a plan with various actions and possible actors to achieve his purposes.
A dog that destroys your house because you were in the movie theater is not taking revenge, he is reacting emotionally to a specific context.
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