A photograph of a police dog laying its paw on the casket of his slain master went viral over the weekend. Photographer Jonathan Palmer said, “It seemed like the dog was aware of what was going on.” Do dogs mourn the loss of their owners?
They sometimes mope, but a dog’s emotions are a mystery. If you’re inclined to believe that dogs grieve over their fallen masters, there are plenty of anecdotes to support your view. Dogs sometimes wail plaintively at funerals, refuse to leave the cemetery, and even track down a deceased owner’s grave weeks after the death. The ASPCA conducted a study showing that two-thirds of dogs experience lethargy and loss of appetite after another dog in the household passes, suggesting that dogs are capable of mourning fellow canines, if not human companions. (Prozac is prescribed to deal with intractable canine grief.) Skeptics, however, believe they can explain these stories without attributing humanlike emotions to canines. Unfortunately, the only way to surmise a dog’s emotional state is through its behavior, which is variable and
open to interpretation.
By Brian Palmer/ Slate /continue
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