Emotional intelligence in dogs

[Alberich]

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In your opinion, how similar are dogs to us humans emotionally? Are there any emotions you believe they cannot express?

I find it fascinating that they can show joy, sadness, scare, self-doubt, disgust, anger, guilt, courage and excitement - as illustrated here:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/timm318/9-facial-expressions-of-dogs-that-prove-they-are-l-2kxli

 

[gypsysmum2]

It is pretty well documented that dogs feel emotions. Not sure about that whole list (have not clicked on link for security reasons).

Guilt is certainly not one of the emotions that dogs feel To feel guilt you have to have a conscience and that is something only attributed to humans. What we often read as "guilt" in a dogs body language i.e. a cowering, lip licking, averting eyes etc is caused by fear. The dog often remembers what makes us angry or recognises our angry body language and shows deferential body language to appease us. Or the dog may remember a similar situation in which people got angry.

This means that when you find the chewed up furniture etc and look at your dog he is showing anxiety or fear not guilt.

 

[Alberich]

So you think a dog may show "guilty behavior" simply because the owner expresses an aggressive body language?

I remember the "Denver the guilty dog" video:

Now you mention it, it makes sense that dogs cannot express any emotions that are related to self-consciousness, because only a few animals such as dolphins and certain monkeys possess it.

Which other emotions require self-awareness?

And can we say though that we share all kind of emotions with dogs that are not related to self-awareness?

 

[gypsysmum2]

This link talks about the EMRA assessment devised and used by COAPE.

Doesn't look as though the link will work. If you google Emotional Mood Reinforcement Assessment it will come up with lots of diagrams to help when looking at a dog's mood state during its behaviour. The chart is used to assess a dog's mood state during challenging behaviours. Dogs learn best when at "resting contentment" and most behaviourists will work on a dog's behaviour until they can achieve that state.