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I recently read a study, I don’t remember where now, that claimed to definitively prove that dogs don’t feel any guilt. Researchers left a variety of dogs alone in a room (one dog per room) with some treats. All the dogs were scolded when the humans came back, whether or not they actually got into the treats. Each dog reacted to the admonishment, no matter what it had done. In fact the innocent dogs, the ones that had left the treats alone, acted even more ashamed of the supposed crime than the guilty ones.
The researchers concluded that dogs aren’t reacting to what they’ve done, they’re reacting to the scolding. They submit to their pack leaders when the pack leaders show displeasure towards them, and humans read that as a sign of guilt.
I didn’t need a study to tell me that Chihiro will act penitent if I scold her. I know that if I walked into the living room right now, where my dog is peacefully sleeping, and started telling her off for being a bad girl, she’d flop on her belly. She’d pound her tail against the ground in a placating gesture and give me the Sad Eyes (trademark).
But I also think that, to an extent, Chihiro knows when she’s done something wrong. I wouldn’t assign her an emotion as complex as guilt; when Chihiro’s done something bad, which usually means eating something she’s not supposed to, she acted on her most basic canine instincts when doing so. She’s never going to wish she hadn’t done it; put her in the same situation and time and time again she’d make the decision (unless it has to do with eating cat toys, she’s strangely inconsistent about that) to reach onto the edge of the table and eat that pie.
Canines simply aren’t complex enough to feel shame for having done something. That’s what guilt means to me. But I do believe that we train them to learn which behaviors we find desirable, and that they’re aware when they’ve done something that we won’t like.
I base most of this on Chihiro’s own behavior. If she’s gotten into something she shouldn’t, I often know before I’ve even found it. She always greats me with joy at the door and will follow me around the house until I’ve given her enough attention. If she won’t follow me into a room, however, I know that she’s done something bad and that I’ll find the evidence in that room.
The way her body language immediately droops from jubilant to contrite when I spot the signs of her carnage shows she knows she’s in trouble. She’ll do this even before I start reprimanding her. Maybe I give off a certain odor or stiffen my body in a minute way I don’t notice the second I see her wrongdoing, but all I know is she starts trying to placate me before I’ve even started scolding her. It’s not guilt per se, but it’s definitely knowledge of wrongdoing.
I’m not sure entirely what to call this simplified awareness, not even emotion, that dogs have. Remorse-less knowledge of transgression, perhaps? That’s a mouthful. Mostly I just think of a William Carlos Williams poem, “This Is Just To Say,” whenever I find a pen or something all chewed up on the floor:
“I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the iceboxand which
you were probably
saving
for breakfastForgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold”
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*(This image by robstephaustralia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.)
