Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dogs have souls, but you already knew that
seattletimes ^ | May 16, 2009 | Electa Draper

Posted on 05/16/2009 4:22:51 PM PDT by JoeProBono

For centuries, humans have imagined they are the only animals with morals. But humans are not alone in the moral arena, a new breed of behavior experts says. Natural historian Jake Page said some scientists are acknowledging what pet owners have told their canines all along: "Good dog."

Dogs are full of natural goodness and have rich emotional lives, said animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

A dog's code of ethics is on display daily in parks, backyards and family rooms. "We're not trying to elevate animals," Bekoff said. "We're not trying to reduce humans. We're not saying we're better or worse or the same. We're saying we're not alone in having a nuanced moral system." Page, author of "Do Dogs Smile?," said biology no longer dismisses dogs and other animals as "furry automatons" driven by instinct and food. "People like Bekoff have figured out how to measure these things," Page said. "It's a whole new ballgame for studying dog personalities and emotions." Bekoff, co-author of "Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals," spent thousands of hours observing coyotes, wolves and dogs. He analyzed videotapes frame by frame. The work convinced him these animals possess empathy and compassion, the emotions upon which moral sense is built. While much the same can be said of monkeys, wolves, elephants, dolphins, whales and other social animals, dogs are special cases; they share in human lives, he said. "Dogs know they are dependent. They learn to read us," Bekoff said.

"Dogs develop this great sense of trust. We're tightly linked, and there is something spiritual about that unity."

(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: dog; doggieping; soul
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 181-200 next last
To: Diana in Wisconsin
The clamor and chatter when I get home from work...

Have you ever noticed that a dog's sense of time is limited to "forever"?

When you leave for work, they mope.
"Aw crap. He's NEVER coming back. I'm gonna die.

When you arrive home from work, they are ecstatic.
"Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy, Where've you been!? Where've you been!? Where've you been!? Where've you been!? I thought you'd NEVER come back!!! Pet me, pet me, pet me!!!!"

41 posted on 05/16/2009 5:04:45 PM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just and that His justice cannot sleep forever.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin; Bloody Sam Roberts
Well--to each their own.

You haven't been touched with the full power of the love between animal and human, and you are not alone.

We are carnivores, they are food for us. We need their abilities when hunting, needing security and leading us, ie the blind.

We are gifted with these creatures for a reason. And we are commanded to take care of them for a reason.

I expect God loves all of His handiwork pretty thoroughly and I expect only HE knows who is going to be taken to heaven.

42 posted on 05/16/2009 5:05:24 PM PDT by Republic (Jedem das Seine)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: DieHard the Hunter

“If dogs do not have souls, neither do humans. Period.”

Well gee I guess that makes you God. Can you tell us the rest of the secrets of the Universe?


43 posted on 05/16/2009 5:05:31 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin
Well, you’re proof of that, Laz, LOL! :)

(grin)

44 posted on 05/16/2009 5:07:17 PM PDT by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union, then we became them." -- Lazamataz, 2005)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver

> Well gee I guess that makes you God. Can you tell us the rest of the secrets of the Universe?

What secrets of the Universe would you like to know?


45 posted on 05/16/2009 5:08:31 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: DieHard the Hunter

What makes a person think they know better than God the Father?


46 posted on 05/16/2009 5:11:39 PM PDT by driftdiver (I could eat it raw, but why do that when I have a fire.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono
"The one absolutely unselfish friend that humans can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts them, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is their dog." ~George Graham Vest, Senator of Missouri, 1855

(most)Dogs truly are Mans best friend. Cats are in it just for the free food.

47 posted on 05/16/2009 5:13:52 PM PDT by OCC
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

It’s a bit of a leap from establishing that dogs display empathy, to saying that they have souls.

They most likely do though. It’s simple logic. Heaven is a good place. Most good places have dogs. Ergo, dogs likely have souls, and go to heaven.


48 posted on 05/16/2009 5:14:12 PM PDT by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lazamataz

You’re kinda cute without your skin. ;)


49 posted on 05/16/2009 5:15:51 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin
I won't go into a debate about weather animals have a soul or not, BUT.
Would you agree that there will be animals in Heaven and or on the New Earth? Almost every Christian would say Yes.

Would you agree your beloved animal was created by God, maybe He even had it planed to bring you together? Again most Christians would say yes, God created our pets.

Is God bound by any rules that prevents him from recreating our beloved pet when we get to Heaven? Our little puny human minds could not even comprehend the wonders he has in-store for us. Having our beloved pet waging his tail for us as we enter the Kingdom is not beyond Gods power.

50 posted on 05/16/2009 5:16:03 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek

I think that that was the best episode I ever saw.

Of course, I’m a bit biased, because that’s the type of people I grew up around in the East Tennessee mountains.

They’re all but gone now though.


51 posted on 05/16/2009 5:16:42 PM PDT by Semper Mark (I detect a fowl odor emanating from OUR White House...must be chicken feathers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono
Dogs,cats etc all have souls! They all know pain, fear etc, all the emotions. That`s why its so terrible to think of all the caged animals on death row all around the world at so called shelters and SPCA`s. I am a Christian conservative and I believe animals have souls, no question about it!

I just wish people would adopt these wonderful creatures instead of buying dogs from breeders, pet stores etc. Just pull in to any vet parking lot and watch the horror as small puppy mill dogs go in and out of the vet, while the unwanted ones tremble as they wait to be put down. It`s a Holocaust!!!

52 posted on 05/16/2009 5:16:54 PM PDT by Friendofgeorge (I LOVE SARAH PALIN)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Diana in Wisconsin
Does their ‘moral code’ include not eating my remains when I fall down the cellar stairs and break my neck and am unable to feed them for a day? LOL! I highly doubt it.

Is that your only benchmark for the existence of morality? Whether or not something eats your corpse? That's a pretty odd one--and there are human cultures where eating the corpse of a loved one is considered a sign of respect. I guess humans lack the capacity for morality, too.

53 posted on 05/16/2009 5:17:46 PM PDT by Caesar Soze
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Markos33
Of course, I’m a bit biased, because that’s the type of people I grew up around in the East Tennessee mountains.

You're talking to a guy who carries his arthritic old dog up and down the steps so he can go out.
54 posted on 05/16/2009 5:18:49 PM PDT by cripplecreek (The poor bastards have us surrounded.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Republic

“You haven’t been touched with the full power of the love between animal and human, and you are not alone.”

Yep. That’s me. One of Life’s Losers, LOL! Never feels a thing for her pets or livestock.

*Rolleyes*


55 posted on 05/16/2009 5:20:41 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (Save The Earth. It's The Only Planet With Chocolate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: driftdiver

> What makes a person think they know better than God the Father?

I don’t know, but my dog might. One moment and I’ll ask her...


56 posted on 05/16/2009 5:21:02 PM PDT by DieHard the Hunter (Is mise an ceann-cinnidh. Cha ghéill mi do dhuine. Fàg am bealach.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek
I was referring to Ol’ Mountain Boy's with coon dogs as being a dying breed. But God bless you for loving your dog so much.
57 posted on 05/16/2009 5:25:55 PM PDT by Semper Mark (I detect a fowl odor emanating from OUR White House...must be chicken feathers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

What a joy they are! Love my dogsss! As for the ‘nuanced’ moral system; dogs ‘are what they are’ - incredible, loving and loyal creatures. We, however, get to ‘choose’ what kind of creature we may be. . .good/bad/ugly. . .dispositions with varying loyalties. Dogs make the ‘best frieds’; we come in second here/lol. . .


58 posted on 05/16/2009 5:29:07 PM PDT by cricket ('Don't bow for me . . Obama ' (America's 'sorry' President))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoeProBono

What a joy they are! Love my dogsss! As for the ‘nuanced’ moral system; dogs ‘are what they are’ - incredible, loving and loyal creatures. We, however, get to ‘choose’ what kind of creature we may be. . .good/bad/ugly. . .dispositions with varying loyalties. Dogs make the ‘best frieds’; we come in second here/lol. . .


59 posted on 05/16/2009 5:29:09 PM PDT by cricket ('Don't bow for me . . Obama ' (America's 'sorry' President))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OCC
(most)Dogs truly are Mans best friend. Cats are in it just for the free food.

I've known good dogs and bad dogs, but I've never known a bad cat. But maybe I just missed the latest attack of a toddler by a pit bullcat.

60 posted on 05/16/2009 5:30:37 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 181-200 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson