Posted on 03/19/2013 4:05:39 PM PDT by Sir Napsalot
Mal, In Various States of Concern
People can reliably read a dog’s facial expressions, suggesting humans are finely tuned to detect emotions even in other creatures. Behavioral scientists have long known that people can accurately read other humans’ emotions, but this study suggests our empathy extends to other members of the animal kingdom.
While a Ph.D student at Walden University in Florida, Tina Bloom worked with Harris Friedman and a dog named Mal at the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Mal, a 5-year-old Belgian shepherd and trained police dog, was subjected to a variety of stimuli, and the researchers took pictures of his reactions.
For instance, in one experiment the researchers praised him, trying to elicit a happy reaction; Mal looked at the camera with his ears erect and tongue lolling. Then they reprimanded him, and Mal’s ears flattened, he looked down and his eyes became mournful. They used a jack-in-the-box to surprise him; foul-tasting medicine to disgust him; nail trimmers to strike fear into his heart; and so on. One of the researchers even pretended to be a criminal, and Mal got angry. Then the team showed 50 volunteers photographs of these reactions, and asked them to categorize his emotions.....
(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...
Somebody got paid to ‘prove’ the obvious?
Hell, I can tell what my snakes are thinking and they don’t really have “expressions”.
[but they do have definite body language]
Man, I miss my doggie. Lost him four weeks ago. I miss his smile.
She looks happy to me.
Look at my profile. Then tell me about cats, love and emotions...
So sorry to hear that.
Better to get a puppy to fill the void (when the time is right).
Well go get another one. You’ll love the new one just as much.
I only went about a week between when Mr Brown died and bringing Bowser home.
#1 top left..”and how does that make it taste better?”
#2 middle...”but he(the cat)made me do it”
#3...”....yeah tell him I did it on my own”
#4...”...someone said park...???... grass green park right?”
#5...”oh chit, they found it”
#6...”Vet?...I was just at the vet’s,I don’t wanna go”
I miss mine too — lost him February 8. And yes, I could tell what he was thinking by the look on his face.
My beautiful Golden Retriever was suffering from pancreatic cancer. The vet brought him in and asked him to lie down on a blanket, while we gathered around and petted him. The vet gave him his shot, and I watched all the care and pain vanish from his face as he relaxed. Even his fur relaxed and he just looked peaceful when he was gone.
I’m glad that I stayed for that (even though I didn’t want to) because I felt at peace too. He was such a good dog andgood friend. RIP, Max.
Sorry to hear that, Andy. I feel for you, I really do. There have been people in my life who have died that I seriously couldn’t give two sh*ts about, but there are dogs that I will miss until the day I die.
The same #10 response to Andy goes for you, too. Glad that you found peace.
I know how you feel. I lost Wink in 2011 and I still mourn.
Thank you. It still hurts, and I’m still finding dog hair around the house and the office. (He was a Golden, after all.) I think of him all the time.
I’m going in for knee replacement surgery in 2 weeks. Otherwise, there was a really cute Labrador puppy advertised at the Humane Society today...
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