I was thinking about writing this blog post and then someone said something stupid to me. Now it’s going to be a 2 part blog so that I can address what I can only define as belittlement. Both of animals and of myself, and through that my time at university and many current experts in animal behaviour.
Let me begin; your pets have emotions. Heck my dissertation was based on the principals of emotional and behavioral response to stress. They do not think like you, but they think, they feel and they are not oblivious. When your pet dies his cage mate misses his presence, their interaction and the emotional bond between them. He may not understand that his friend is dead and cannot come back but, like a human, he needs to come to terms with the emotional loss before he will form the same bonds with another pet.
Why do animals have emotions? Well firstly We Are Animals. Our brains work the same. As you go up the evolutionary tree from simpler life to more complex the brain changes are not a re-write but a building upon. Therefore, we can say “a dog is as smart as a 4-year-old child” for example, the part of the dogs brain involved in memory and decision making are at the same developmental level as that of your average 4 year old. Emotions are in essence how we decide to interact with the world. They are the corner stone to behaviour. You sense pain in your stomach, your mind understands this as a concept whether you’re a slug or a human, you’re hungry. You want rid of the pain and are driven to make it go away. Emotions really come into it when we think “where will I get food”. Say a predator, if he is afraid of attacking a cow more than he desires to stop the pain he will not attack it and will opt to find something smaller to hunt or find carrion to eat. Thus, the decision was made based on emotion. This is why socialization, desensitization etc is so important to animals, it removes fear allowing desire to drive them. Desire to get a treat or even desire to make you happy.
Now to emotional bonds. Emotional bonds are certainly different from basic emotions of fear, desire and content-ness. Emotional bonds and interaction are a trademark of thinking animals. They are used to form social groups of many different types (social behaviour can also be bred in, if you own a domestic animal it will have most likely been bred to be more intrinsically social, meaning they form these bonds deeper and easier, as well as being mentally more open to them. A blog for another day perhaps). There is the maternal bond, seen in all animals with dependent young, and necessary for the successful survival of the genes. There is also ranges in these emotional bonds, the protective element where a herd of zebra will run together and in the confusion of the movement is much weaker than the bond that drives a pack of related lions to hunt together, hopefully bringing down larger prey and everyone getting more food. Neither is purely altruistic like that of a mother but that is because these are based on instincts not direct interaction. Let me put it this way; if you were at school and someone died you’d be shocked, sad, but move on, if they’re in your class you might need to be off school for a while, you saw this person every day how can they just be gone? Can that happen to you? Now let’s imagine it was your best friend. And now you’re alone. Nothing’s changed the same people say hello, you eat food in the same place, you sit in the same seat, but you are different. Your world is different now but what makes it different is that emotional bond.
We feel closer to people we have shared experiences with (that’s what dating’s for) you’re brain literally changes how it associates to people if you have shared an experience. For example, after a trip to summer camp you may feel closer to someone than anyone else in your life.
These chemical changes are the same over social animals. An excellent way to bond with an animal is to train him. He will be spending a lot of active thinking time with you and his brain will release these chemicals. This explains why someone who trains cruelly may have a better bond with their pet than someone who does not really interact with their pet. Their relationship may not be as healthy, but it is stronger. There is something amazing to be said for the bond between owners and pets for people who have went through an emotional upheaval or life shake up with their pets alongside them, again caused by this same chemical change. And let’s not forget that there are animals who make choices to help people, even trained service animals have to desire to do their job, since often they are constantly working, and their bond is what drives them to protect/help their owner. If we go back to our school scenario, your teacher tries to put another kid next to you, your friends off sick. You cannot speak so you ignore them, they try to interact with you and you make it clear you want your friend there not this random kid. You do not want your friend replaced, you are not ready. You do not need to think in words to feel like this, you only need emotions.
So, it is not anthropomorphism to think your pet loves you, he does. You’re not just a meal ticket, you’re the one he has a developed emotional bond with. It’s not anthropomorphism to think your pet misses their friend and is not ready to move past that emotional bond yet. It is anthropomorphism to suggest that your pet is thinking in words, but to be honest as our knowledge and proof of the intelligence of animals grows I think we will one day be shocked at how flippantly we belittled their understanding and attempts to have a voice in their world.
Let your pet have a voice
… and listen
See you next time for a rant on how stress can stop learning
Bye for now