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Survival Bill : Survival & Bushcraft Forums • View topic - Do Dogs Feel Love?
Do Dogs Feel Love?
We feel tremendous love for our dogs, and our dogs sure seem to love us.
But is a dog really capable of emotions?
Or are we just projecting our feelings onto our dogs?
Scientists avoid the subject because part of what sets humans apart from the animals is our ability to experience feelings.
To say that animals actually have feelings, in the same way we do, would change everything – perhaps disrupt our entire position and standing in the animal kingdom.
However, any dog owner knows that dogs love completely and have a greater capacity for love than most people.
If one were to describe the main characteristics of a dog, they would have to be:
1.
Strong affection
2.
Warm attachment
3.
Unselfish loyalty and benevolent concern for others
Wait a minute – those are the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions of love.
Probably why the author of Dogs Never Lie About Love, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson writes, “dogs are love.” So there isn’t a question of whether dogs love, the mystery is how they have such an enormous capacity for it.
Dogs who are neglected or abused still show love for their human and wag their tails in hope of a little affection.
Dogs taken from abusive situations hold no grudges toward the human race.
A half an ounce of kindness from a new person results in an abundance of affection from the formerly mistreated dog.
Humans rarely have the capacity to so completely forgive and love under those circumstances.
Probably the biggest reason the dog has become man’s best friend is because we know that when it comes to love, a dog can always outdo us.
The highest form of love, agape love, which is completely unconditional, is something that people often have to work at or grow into.
Agape love seems to come naturally between parent and child, but it’s more difficult between husband and wife, and harder still between friends.
To love someone regardless of what wrongs they have done you is very difficult for humans.
A dog, however, is born with an endless capacity for agape love, and doesn’t even have to work at it.
You can be a complete grouch, ignore your dog, and refuse him your love.
When you decide you’re ready to be sociable again, your dog doesn’t pay you back by ignoring you too.
He’s just happy you’re there.
More amazing still, is that the love that dogs and owners feel for each other lasts a lifetime.
This is the ideal love humans strive for, but often fail at.
As Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson so beautifully writes in Dogs Never Lie About Love, “Learning to know somebody intimately is often the beginnings of dislike, sometimes even of contempt.
Among humans, love often does not survive a growing acquaintance, but in a dog, love seems to grow with acquaintance, to get stronger, deeper.
Even when fully acquainted with all our weaknesses, our treachery, our unkindness, the dog seems to love strongly – and this love is returned by most dog-loving humans.
We, too, seem to love our dogs the more we get to know them.
The bond grows between us and our dogs.”
This is why we need dogs.
They do something for us that rarely a human companion can do.
No matter how much you mess up your life, or how much wrong you do, no matter how many mistakes you make or how often you make them, regardless of your looks, income or social standing, your dog never judges you.
He always thinks you are wonderful and loves you with all his heart.
http://pets.yahoo.com/dogs/behavior-and ...
Ove/print/ __
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Very true, I've had several dogs since I was a kid, the most recent was a Rhodesian Ridgeback she was the best dog of all, just put her down last month.
Now I'm sold on dogs that have some hound blood in them.
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Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs are indeed beautiful dogs, I first learned about them in Soldier of Fortune magazine.
I like the way they have a darker colored stripe of fur down their backs.
"This year will go down in history.
For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration.
Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolf Hitler,1935
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That was such a cool article Coyote.
And Rhodesian Ridgebacks are great dogs.
I know one that's a sweetheart.
So are Swiss Mountain dogs and Rottweillers I'm discovering.
Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.
- Arthur Dent in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
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Ah Yes, Saint Bernards I've had three.
They are very good with kids and very protective.
The bad guys are afraid to get out of their cars.
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Thank you for posting the Coyote, that really touched me.
Personally, I find Pit Bulls, German Shepards, and Rottweilers are great dogs to have around for a number of reasons.
I love them as they each have separate definable traits.
They can be the sweetest thing ever as well.
Pit Bulls: While jealous dogs, are very protective, loving and caring, and overall beautiful.
They can be excellent killers as well in case you're attacked by another dog, coyote (:grin:), or any animal for that matter, they've got your back, and are willing to kill in the name of love.
Romantic eh?
German Shepards: Not an overly jealous dog, and are extremely talented at just about anything you train them to do.
Loving and protective, they can kill but would rather not, instead they harm in hopes that the attacker will leave.
(This is just with my experiences, keep in mind this is not a scientific definition)
Rottweilers: Very big dogs, with plenty of strength and power, they are more or less bred for protection, but make excellent pets as well.
Again this is based on my experiences, and you should not whatsoever make any decision to get one of these dogs based on what I have described above.
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Yes...i agree....all emotions we have indeed Remember it is our minds that are our best weapon..Use it Wisely..
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I think they feel love.
When the owners come back for them at the kennel where I work, and they do that dance of joy, it's pretty obvious.
You can see it on their furry faces.
It's awfully cute when a big mastiff does that.
Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.
- Arthur Dent in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
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I firmly believe that GOD created man, woman, and dog's in that order.
If any animal has a soul it has to be a dog.
They say "all dogs go to heaven" I personaly hope it's true...
NOBODY survives more than 40 days in the WILDERNESS.
WHY? cause on the 41st, day YOU are NOT just "SURVIVING"...
YOU are "LIVING" there now!
Official "SMACK DADDY" of the 2008 OLYMPIC'S.
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Me to love dogs got a real good one now
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Quote: : Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs are indeed beautiful dogs, I first learned about them in Soldier of Fortune magazine.
I like the way they have a darker colored stripe of fur down their backs.
Ya..look like a buckskin horse for whatever reason, I have always prefer the "Buckskin", they seem to be stronger in spirit and body and quick on their feet.
My Dad was from eastern OK and his family had a cattle ranch and his opinion was that they were the best saddle horse.
Barb Mustang blood, I quess
Anyway....back to RRs....I saw my first ones back in the early 70s.
Watched a pack of four (one male and three females) run a male lion to ground and "hold" it for us to arrive and dispatch it.
(cattle killer). The same dogs provided homestead security for the family..
The Blacks were always "careful" around them.
With the dogs on patrol (loose) at night, one did not need to worry about unwanted visitors near the homestead at night .
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That would be one of the biggest plus to have the dogs as security dad had one dog that put up the alarm and made sure that if you were on the property and wanted to get in you had to try and get past him first and he liked to show off his nice big white teeth to prove the point too
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