Are animals capable of feeling emotions, such as embarrassment?

Answer 1

Yes!! I have seen a dog that was embarassed!! My dog Mitchell (RIP) once slipped and fell when he was jumping off of my bed and he totally was embarrassed when I laughed at him and he proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the day. Also when I see my dog Jasper pooping in the yard I point and laugh at him and while still pooping he turns around so he isnt facing me with a injured look on his face. I cant help doing it because it is so funny and he wont poop on the leash when I am walking him unless I look away.....if that isnt embarassment nothing is. Also about 2 weeks ago I went with my friend to a lake to take her dog swimming and a guy was down there with his chocolate lab who is old and really friendly, well I picked up a stick to throw for the lab and when I threw it my friends dog, Copper, got jealous and ran over and shoulder checked her face first into the water...the look on the labs face was so totally offended I cant say I have ever seen a dog look so completely utterly offended and sad...she walked over to the truck where her owner was sitting and got in with a look on her face like take me home that dog is rude!!! and she wouldnt come back out so the guy and his dog left LOL it was soo funny we both felt bad but Copper looked very satisfied with himself!! Trust me dont listen to people and thier anthropomorphism crap, dogs may not feel emotions in the same way as we do but since we only have so many words to describe emotion we have to say a dog is happy or sad etc and for anyone who has a dog we KNOW without the shadow of a doubt that dogs feel just as many emotions as we do.....I wish I could let you watch the video I took of my dogs when I went to the store just to see what they do when I am gone....My dog who I can never get to howl was howling like crazy and it sounded sooo sad I just know that is what he felt since he only does it when I am not here because he misses me and is SAD I am gone. How else can you describe or explain that!?!?!

Answer 2

I think so. I had a dog who would burp, hiccup, or pass gas & then look around as if to see whether anyone else noticed. Sometimes she'd growl in her sleep then wake up surprised. Animals have personalities like humans do. Koko, the gorilla that uses sign language, expressed sadness when a kitten that she
" adopted " died. & Binti, a silverback gorilla, rescued a child that fell into her compound & defended the child from the other gorillas until the boy ( ? ) could be rescued. If that's not emotion, I don't know WHAT is.

Answer 3

I think animals are capable of many emotions. I have seen my animals grieve over the death of another pet. My Boxer pup was very emotional when her mother was shot and died in front of her at 9 months of age. She still has some emotional problems over the ordeal at 2 yrs. I've seen dogs get very embarrassed over being shaved, being laughed at, etc.

Answer 4

I wouldn't say embarrassment, but my dogs hide after they've made a mess in the house. They've learned that I get upset when they do, so they avoid me. It's not embarrassment though, more like not wanting to get yelled at.

As for other animals, I don't think they have any shame. It's a human thing.

Answer 5

A lot of the answers I see below,refer to dogs fouling in the house,this response is taught to them by us in training them not to do it, so the response is that of which we have taught them.as with cats,small animals and birds,they certainly don't follow these rules or reactions in the wild. even as regards to food time and you coming home.Wild dogs do not show any of these signs or habits,so the emotion these animal have are to please us for rewards,love,etc but naturally left to their own no they would only have instincts to survive. Some Primates who take one partner in life such as gibbons,feel emotions, gibbons take one partner and if one dies the other will in most case pine away with in days. Some other primates carry their dead young for days for example.so yes I think some animals feel emotion,when not brought on by humans.

Answer 6

I don't think that dogs can feel embarrassment. That is more of a human trait. Our culture teaches us embarrassment, so it is more of a learned emotion, not a natural one.

However, I believe that dogs have tons of other emotions like depressed, happy, angry, etc...

Answer 7

Just ask my Dog. She gets embarrassed over lots of things.

Answer 8

YES! For example, if a cat slips off of somthing, you may notice that they automaticly start licking themselves. It's like they are saying "I didn't just fall....I was grooming....yeah, that's it."

Another example of emotions is a dog I had. His mother was sold to another family & until we got him a puppy to play with, he did nothing but howl & wimper. ( I felt terrible , but it was my parents that sold the mother.)

Answer 9

Animals show simple emotions not complex.

Answer 10

When we had our dog neutered he moped around and would not look at us directly for about two weeks, I'm pretty sure he was embarrassed about losing something.