When our dog wags its tail happily, dances excitedly around us, or growls, we know that our beloved pet has emotions. They express joy but can also convey displeasure. The emotional life of dogs is complex. How do dogs show their emotions? Can dogs feel guilt? Do dogs experience jealousy? Let’s explore these aspects in this article.

Can we understand the behavior of dogs?

Many emotions are exclusive to us humans. Are emotions like envy, pride, jealousy, or guilt applicable to your dog from your perspective? These emotions are challenging for us to interpret. However, emotions like anger, fear, or joy are more straightforward. In such cases, our pets usually communicate their feelings clearly. Understanding your dog’s emotions is possible with a considerable amount of empathy for your furry friend and keen observation. Researchers discovered years ago that, similar to humans, the right side of a dog’s face reflects emotions more accurately than the left side.

This tendency means that dogs, like humans, prefer looking at the left side. Additionally, dogs can partially smell our emotions, allowing them to detect whether we are stressed or upset during training sessions.

Do dogs experience fear?

Fear is an ancient basic emotion that dogs inherited from their wolf ancestors. Fear was essential for survival in the past. On the one hand, there is vague fear, a state arising from general concern and tension, which is rare in dogs but should still be taken seriously as prolonged anxiety can be detrimental to their health. On the other hand, there is specific fear related to a person, situation, other animals, or noises.

You can recognize signs that your dog is afraid by observing the following:

Our Pro Tip: It’s crucial to pay attention to other signs along with averted gaze or head-turning. Turning away alone may not necessarily indicate fear and might be related to ignoring in some cases, which dogs are quite adept at.

When do dogs show joy?

It would be strange if joy were not part of a dog’s emotional life. Fortunately, this emotion is quite apparent in your pet. Your dog leaps around like crazy when you come home. He goes wild playing outdoors or during walks. Pay close attention and observe your dog’s expressions. In some cases, the high state of excitement can lead to stress for your dog. This is manifested by visible tension, nervousness, or restlessness. It’s then time to calm him down.

Minus the stress, here are signs that your dog is happy:

Can dogs be happy?

Yes, absolutely. Our furry friends have a rich emotional life, and happiness is part of it. Describing this state is challenging because dogs have different criteria for happiness. They can’t win the lottery, but they can simply be dogs and feel our love. That makes them happy. For the emotional well-being of dogs, it’s crucial to eliminate factors that make them unhappy. For your dog to be happy, companionship is essential.

Either from you as their owner or when interacting with other members of their species. Boredom makes them unhappy, as well as physical mistreatment. It sounds obvious, but not every dog owner acts responsibly. That’s undeniable. For your dog’s happiness, provide security, closeness to you, plenty of variety, and exercise. This includes exploring the world, both literally and in the sense of communicating with other dogs, whether during walks or at the dog park.

Can dogs experience loneliness?

From our perspective, dogs react with specific behaviors when someone from their environment is absent for an extended period. This is the case for puppies when you step out briefly, not realizing that you’ll be back soon. The little furry friend doesn’t know that you’ll return shortly. The same applies when you have to go to work. Some dogs exhibit emotions similar to humans when they miss someone. Your dog may seem lethargic, apathetic, and lose interest in eating.

In these cases, the issue is simply being left alone. You can train your pet to get used to this. He learns that being alone is not a permanent state, and over time, he won’t miss you when you’re at work. While it may sound harsh for you, it’s beneficial for your dog. He doesn’t need to worry about whether you, as the owner, will return home.

What about grief in dogs?

The emotional life of dogs includes the ability to experience grief. The notion of a grieving dog was long considered more of an imagination than reality. However, every true dog lover understands the emotional life of their pet and knows that dogs can mourn. This is especially true when your furry friend loses a significant person, like a family member who has passed away.

Similarly, if one of his fellow dogs crosses the rainbow bridge and is no longer there for him. No more encounters at the dog park or during walks. Certainly, your furry friend doesn’t understand why the other canine companion is suddenly absent, but he is still sad. Grief and fears are evident, especially when your dog loses interest in eating, without any underlying illness. This applies to all dog breeds.

It can also happen that your beloved pet frequently urinates indoors and excessively licks his paws. These are also signs of grief or depression. If your dog regularly withdraws and no longer seeks your closeness, loses interest in cuddling, there’s a reason behind it. In any case, you should take your dog to the vet to first check his overall health. If he is physically fine, consider whether anything in his environment has changed.

Do dogs feel guilt?

If you have the impression that your dog gives you the infamous “puppy eyes” when you scold him, it’s actually on you. Your behavior influences your dog’s feelings.

Humans experience guilt when we realize that we’ve committed a moral transgression, violated social rules, hurt someone with words, or damaged something. We sense that someone is sad or angry about it, leading to a sense of guilt. Dogs don’t comprehend this moral transgression. No matter how upset you are, your canine companion doesn’t know the value of the pair of shoes he chewed on during your four-hour absence. Consequently, he doesn’t feel shame.

Do dogs understand humans? The fact that your furry friend puts on the look of a repentant sinner is solely because of you. Expecting a scolding, he shows remorse, and you get the impression that your pet is expressing guilt. He isn’t doing it because of the ruined shoes; he chewed them up an hour ago. It’s your behavior that prompts him to give you the “puppy eyes.” If your dog doesn’t anticipate a reprimand, he behaves nonchalantly. However, we cannot rule out that he might feel a bit guilty in certain situations. So, dogs’ guilt feelings are not very prominent.

How does jealousy manifest in dogs?

Jealousy is a part of the emotional life of dogs, but it doesn’t manifest the same way as it does in humans. Our irrational situations sometimes trigger jealousy, but fortunately, this is not the case for dogs. Our furry friends notice changes in their surroundings and struggle with losing their position in the pack.

This can happen, for instance, when a new pet joins the household. Dogs realize that someone else is receiving a lot of love. Especially when a second dog is added, the first one must assert dominance. This behavior is genetically ingrained as dogs are social animals. They experience competition among their littermates during puppyhood, and this continues throughout their lives.

Similarly, your beloved pet might growl during a walk if you spend too much time with another dog and its owner. In other words, in many cases, you trigger jealousy in your furry friend.

Common triggers include:

A clear sign of jealousy is when your canine companion inserts themselves into certain situations to divert attention. Observe when this happens. The problem is that some dog owners believe their dogs are intentionally being disruptive. However, the dog is not trying to be malicious; rather, it wants to maintain equality and its place in the pack. It becomes a concern when these jealous behaviors manifest through barking or small bites. At that point, it’s time to understand the root cause of your dog’s behavior. He’s not being malicious; he just needs the attention he used to receive.

Can dogs be angry?

The loss of control in certain situations unleashes emotions that are highly impulsive, and we refer to this loss of self-control as anger. However, we cannot equate our anger with that of dogs. That would be too simplistic. An aggressive dog is not necessarily angry. In the communication among their kind, our furry friends naturally possess a certain degree of aggression. What may appear to us as the dog angrily barking at another dog is more like a conversation between the two animals.

This interaction could revolve around territorial disputes where both rivals are assessing their strength. On the other hand, it could also be fear in a situation that the dog perceives as uncontrollable from its perspective. In other words, anger is relatively rare in dogs. The behavior we perceive as anger can have multiple triggers and simultaneously evoke different emotions.

We hope that we could provide you with a closer understanding of the emotional life of dogs and that you can now respond even better to the emotions of your furry friend.