A partial list of human universals from the book The Blank Slate:
facial communication
facial expression of anger
facial expression of contempt
facial expression of disgust
facial expression of fear
facial expression of happiness
facial expression of surprise
facial expressions, masking/modifying of
A partial list of human universals from the book The Blank Slate:
facial communication
facial expression of anger
facial expression of contempt
facial expression of disgust
facial expression of fear
facial expression of happiness
facial expression of surprise
facial expressions, masking/modifying of[/quote]
All the dogs and cats I’ve ever had have made all of those faces (except for the masking) and their body language has fully supported their facial expressions. Like humans, they make these expressions with their eyes and mouths, and they sometimes use bdy language as well. Yeah, they have emotions, alright! The only thing that separates us from them is that we are devious about our emotions.
A partial list of human universals from the book The Blank Slate:
facial communication
facial expression of anger
facial expression of contempt
facial expression of disgust
facial expression of fear
facial expression of happiness
facial expression of surprise
facial expressions, masking/modifying of[/quote]
All the dogs and cats I’ve ever had have made all of those faces (except for the masking) and their body language has fully supported their facial expressions. Like humans, they make these expressions with their eyes and mouths, and they sometimes use bdy language as well. Yeah, they have emotions, alright! The only thing that separates us from them is that we are devious about our emotions.[/quote]
I never said that animals don’t experience any emotions. I am just refuting the notion that animals feel the complex emotion of love “as we understand it”.
But that’s the point. I don’t think that we can pooh-pooh the concept of love in animals (especially higher-intelligence animals) without considering that we all experience love differently. There’s no universal understanding of love. If we as humans can’t even agree on the true definition, how can we be so quick to exempt animals? Not too long ago, it was thought that animals had no emotions or even thoughts. When will we stop underestimating them?
Just one in the long list of human conceits! They will put us in our grave long before you get a positive answer to your question I suppose.
Supposedly, this is all the rage right now in Japan–Dog Yoga. My university chum from Japan and his family (they run a publishing company) were visiting Taiwan during New Years, and his sister seemed very excited about the whole thing.
Pampered Tokyo pups 
[/quote]
Oh my God - can you imagine trying to do this with my 70kg big girl??!!
[quote=“Modest Mouse”]
Do pets really “love” us, as we understand it?
No. Love is purely a human emotion. Anyone who says otherwise is living in an anthropomorphically-driven fantasy world. Do they show us affection? Yes. Loyalty? yes. But love? no!
Don’t get me wrong…I love animals, but people project their emotions too easily and the road to becoming a “crazy cat lady” is a slippery slope.[/quote]
I know this is controversial but I agree with Modest Mouse. We humans are needy and we like to believe that our pets love us (the way we understand that term) because we need them to love us. Humans - unlike dogs - can’t seem to just give love freely and unconditionally - they always want to be loved in return.
Also, humans like to totally anthropomorphise everything - it’s a sign of our arrogance, that everything is only correct when translated into a human perspective. I see it a lot when dog training - a lot of owners believe their dogs get jealous and that explains their naughty actions but jealousy is a human emotion. Dogs don’t feel jealous. They feel territorial about things - whether it is food, toys or their owners. And when your dog jostles you or acts up because you are giving another dog attention - that isn’t because they are jealous - they simply want some of your attention too. It’s simple attention-seeking behaviour. It may also be hierarchical behaviour, because they believe their place in the pack merits more attention than or before the other dog. They certainly don’t feel that kind of devious, manipulative jealousy that we feel.
I believe the emotion that our pets feel for us is more a sense of security and reassurance - a strong bond, yes, but not love the way we understand it. Security is important to animals and we give our pets security when we provide leadership, routine, regular creature comforts and affection at appropriate times - I think that is what they appreciate from us. I suppose you can all it “love”, if you want to though! 
And although we don’t like to believe this - in many cases, if another human provided them with those things too, they will learn to “love” them and adapt happily to life with them. Which is good, I think. I wouldn’t selfishly only want my dog to be able to only “love” me - if it spoils her chance of achieving a happy life again with someone else, should something happen to me.
I want to share with you about my love Dog Dharma.
She greets me at the door every time I come home. I love spending time with her. She prefers to play small balls and loves sleeping in my bed
Dharma is right here 
please see:
My heart sinks when I read this:
[quote]Local animal protection volunteers are in a race against time to find a new home for “Wong Wong,” a[color=#0000FF] ten-year-old black mutt who’s been “waiting” for his owner to come back for the past five years.[/color] According to Animal Rescue Team Taiwan, an animal protection group, Wong Wong has been living on the doorsteps outside his former home in Taipei County [color=#0000FF]for the past five years, after his owner died and he was thrown out onto the streets.[/color]
Residents of the area around Hsuehfu Road in northern Tucheng City say Wong Wong grew up in the neighborhood since he was a puppy.
“Many of the residents feel saddened at the sight of Wong Wong, who refuses to leave his old home as if waiting for his owner to return,” said Antony Ni, a volunteer with the rescue team.
Wong Wong has been taken care of by residents of the area who do what they can to help him, explained Ni. One such resident, Renee Chen, a designer and also a volunteer of the animal protection group, was the one to inform Animal Rescue Team Taiwan about Wong Wong.
After the rescue team heard about the story, Ni said he traveled from the group’s headquarters in southern Kaohsiung City to see Wong Wong on Sunday. Volunteers placed a makeshift home made of cardboard to keep Wong Wong warm and checked him for any health problems.
But while there are many who feel sympathy for Wong Wong and help him in whatever way they can, there are others who do exactly the opposite. “Wong Wong has almost no teeth, which we suspect was the act of abuse,” noted Ni.
“Wong Wong’s cardboard home was also stolen several times in the past!” Chen denounced. “I can’t believe people would even want to steal a cardboard!”
OK, another anecdote, but I saw the kitties I used to live with, after being away for two and a half months. They definitely remembered me.
The lazy, mean old one actually condescended to turn his head to look at me and consented to his belly being rubbed for almost 25 seconds. He also shifted himself to follow me into the kitchen because I often used to give them a can of sardines as a treat, which my sister doesn’t do. He batted my foot with his when I sat down on the sheepskin rug between him and the fire, though.
The kitten miaowed and did a running ‘Banzai!’ down the banister, clawing the shit out of my stockings and spent the whole evening with eyes (and claws) only for me.
My jealous sister said ‘They don’t REALLY miss you, they just love you because you give them sardines and let them sleep in your wardrobe.’ Either way, it was nice to be home.
Animals have no soul and therefore are incapable of love as we know it. Ask the Catholics.
Of course in the ancient greek or hebrew that there texts were written in there were about 8 million words for love, one of which was probably the love shown by your kitten when it throws up on your shoes.
Bighoneydog glad you saw this and posted as I immediately thought of you when I saw the dog yoga - very funny.
I love my cats even though:
They killed my DVD recorder. Bye bye 15 thousand nts…
They bait the dog and tease him mercilessly, by stealing his toys, clothes, and they broke his water bowl.
They broke two window screens this month.
But they are healthy, very happy and make me warm at night. Thank you guys.
I think my cats do … go read “101 Reason Why a Cat is Better Than a Man” 
I think my cats do … go read “101 Reason Why a Cat is Better Than a Man” [/quote]
You meet an awful lot of men like that, too.
[quote=“Edgar Allen”]Animals have no soul and therefore are incapable of love as we know it. Ask the Catholics.
Of course in the ancient greek or hebrew that there texts were written in there were about 8 million words for love, one of which was probably the love shown by your kitten when it throws up on your shoes.
Bighoneydog glad you saw this and posted as I immediately thought of you when I saw the dog yoga - very funny.[/quote]
Actually, that reminds me of what some misguided Buddists say about animals, especially pets. They say that animals are people who have been punished by reincarnating in that form because they were bad, so if we are good to them, we “delay” their redemption. 
And Catholics should follow Saint Francis more, and not just in the animals department.
About kittens and shoes, my cats used to put some kibble in my shoes as a token of appreciation… so I wouldn’t starve on my way to work to earn money to feed them.