Do Dogs Think?

Ever wondered what your dog thought about something or even how they feel about you?  Pretty soon, we may be able to find out.  I found this article from The New York Times to be fascinating.  It’s titled Dogs Are People, Too.  The author tells about a study by Emory University using MRI’s to map a dog’s brain activity to see how they feel about smells, people, and other animals. 

For this study dogs were trained to hold still in an MRI without being sedated.  Different smells, sounds, and images were used to map how the dog’s brain reacted to various stimuli.  All the reactions were very similar to human reactions.  The article states “by using the M.R.I. to push away the limitations of behaviorism, we can no longer hide from the evidence. Dogs, and probably many other animals (especially our closest primate relatives), seem to have emotions just like us. And this means we must reconsider their treatment as property.”  This proves what I have always believed…dogs are sentient beings and should be treated as such.

The Des Moines Register just ran this story about the study mentioned above and one for a study that believes cats get stressed out when you pet them.  This study does not make cat lovers very happy.  This study was performed by three different universities in England, Brazil, and Austria and measured stress hormones produce by cats under various conditions.  The study goes so far as to say that cats who tolerate petting are the most stressed.

Now I don’t know about you, but my cat Merlin loved to be petted.  He would come up to me and butt my hand until I started petting him.  I will have to disagree with the findings of this study…at least where Merlin and a few other cats I know are concerned.  

I believe a cat’s reaction has a lot to do with their personality.  Some cats are loners and don’t really care for human contact.  We are their food source and that is pretty much it.  Different cats have different personalities, just like humans.  So to me, this also proves that cats are sentient beings and should be treated as such.

What do you think??  Really…let me know.  I would love to see how my readers react to these studies.

Be Well & Be Happy,

Pet~Pourri