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Comment by kristiandupont | Hacker News Reader

I don't think anyone who's had a dog could ever question whether animals can feel empathy, it's just so obvious. I am sure that the level varies from species to species and also within a species, as it does in humans. But a story like this https://www.thedodo.com/lost-dog-saves-trapped-friend-135355... is hard to read and not feel a little warmer.

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I have a dog, too and have to admit I sometimes use her as an "emotions detector" - much like a guide dog, because I'm actually not that good at recognizing people's emotions/moods. The angles at which she puts her ears and head are pretty reliable and easy to read indicators. :) When she sees someone's upset or sad she'll walk over to them and cheer them up. Even random people in the street or on the subway. I mostly fail to even notice...

I was gonna post the same sentiment.

My dog has such a huge range of emotions, it's no doubt in my mind he feels in many ways like we do.

He even has dreams and nightmares.

Slightly OT: according to actual scientific research ([1]) done by Rupert Sheldrake, dogs are even telepathic.

There is also a very interesting Google-talks video of Sheldrake explaining the experiments.

[1] http://www.sheldrake.org/research/telepathy

I struggle with the telepathy argument. I think it's just a placeholder explanation for something a little less sci-fi. Such as scent, body language or just dumb coincidence.

However I do like the "Falling Skies" (a Sci-Fi drama starring Noah Wyle) explanation for telepathy; which was communication over the electromagnetic spectrum in a frequency that humans wouldn't normally detect (long waves IIRC)

Scientists are wrong all the time, often for their whole lives, and on the balance of things it is extremely likely Mr. Sheldrake is an example of this.

exactly. i remember my doge trying to cheer me up whenever i felt sad

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