Princess

                                                               Pablo at the beach

Animal Emotions

Animals got a bad deal when they were put on earth without the ability to speak.  We humans are a little better off because we can easily transmit our thoughts and feelings to one another through speech.  There are some people who think of animals as dumb brutes and who go so far as to hold that animals have no souls, emotions, spirits, or even self consciousness.  They think that animals are ours to use, however we like.  If you buy into that idea it's easy to justify the cruelty we apply to food animals, lab animals, and working animals.  After all, they say, animals don't tell us they object to the cruel treatment we give them.

Anyone who ever loved and lived with a dog or even a cat will deny such a blunt, mechanistic view of animals. You can't have a dog for a pet and think he has no emotions, self consciousness, etc.  A dog will bond for life with his master in a very short time.  Even though he can't tell me how he feels in words, I still know he has a big range of emotions from observing his interaction with me.  He shows it by his physical reactions to our emotions like tail wagging, racing, bowing, licking, or even barking.  He reads the emotions of our lives and shows us his reactions.  Be it anger, fear, calmness, rush, sleep, love, he has a reaction tailored to our feelings.  How could he understand and differentiate out moods and actions and react to each one appropriately if he didn't have emotions and self consciousness himself?

With a faint stirring of her tail, my sweet little Princess responds to my recognition of her.  If I look like I want to pet her, she comes to me, rolls over and presents her tummy for a scratching. I always thought my dogs were better at reading my emotions and moods than most other people are, even though I can speak to people about my feelings.  Think about it—wouldn't you develop a keener perception about others' feelings if you didn't have speech to help you?

At the top of this posting is one of my favorite pictures of an animal.  It's Pablo at the beach in Malibu.  I've used this picture and Pablo's story before, but this time I do it just to ask you a question.  Is this dog angry, upset, sick, loveless?  Or is he bursting with joy, loving life, and at peace with his situation?

Those are easy questions, so here's a tougher one: What is Pablo trying to say to Amanda, his owner and the woman behind the camera?  Clearly he's telling us how great he's feeling and returning her love.  Keep in mind Pablo had a many months-long bout with illness until he was healthy enough to be flown to the US and his new home with Amanda.  Chances are  in his entire life he never had a moment of pure joy like the one the camera caught on California's most famous beach.

You might notice that when I refer to animals with relative pronouns, I do it with "who," not "which," and when I use personal pronouns for animals, Princess is "she, and Danny was "he."  Stuffy grammarians say doing this is "anthropomorphizing" (attributing human qualities to an animal) and prescribe against it.  But I emphatically deny this is wrong.  These companions are emotional little beings who share their feelings with me and understand mine as well.

Our penchant for political correct language finally made "chairman" into "chair" and "spokesman" into "spokesperson."  I'm hoping it won't be too long until we honor our animal companions with "he" or "she" instead of the godless, cold, inert "which."

Les Inglis

Les Inglis