Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Love Journal | Page 33

Does a “Man’s Best Friend” Really Feel and Express Love?
Love is an emotion that relates to a feeling of strong attachment associated with something or someone. These strong emotions may
have first originated through the species fitness value in which they are valued on how many viable offspring each individual reproduces. Love
is a motivational tool that allows individuals to care and protect one another for a survival advantage. For example, parents that are emotional-
ly attached to one another will raise children more effectively and cooperatively. While love may have evolved throughout nature, individuals
usually associate love with a mate, child, close friend, or even an idolized figure. However, in some cases, people associate love with an animal/
pet such as a dog. This then brings the question, do animals feel and express love? As this is very debateable, I feel that animals, especially
dogs feel and express love.
Firstly, love may include, passion, intimacy, and desire for romance, also termed Eros . It may also be a charity, selfless kind of
love, such as love for God or Agape. However, it may also be non-sexual and relate to a closeness value of friendship and emotion, also termed
Philia. The love for a dog mostly relates to philia and platonic love because it is non-sexual yet extremely powerful. Philia the type of
friendship kind of love seems to be the best to describe the love for a dog because dogs are considered a “man’s best friend.” This kind of love
is unique and is a feeling of love being reciprocated with the ability to forgive and forget. Dogs capture the essence of forgiving and forget-
ting and allow humans to feel this unconditional love.
Many people say that dogs love us unconditionally, however, others argue that they are incapable of love, let alone, unconditional
love. The main argument is whether or not they truly do love or if they are just conditioned to behave in ways that recreate this feeling of
love. First what is unconditional dog love? Unconditional dog love is when the dog seeks human company, attention, and have the ability to
forgive and forget. To me, dogs show unconditional love for “their human” and have been placed in many fields that further prove this. For
example, many dogs are placed in the criminal and health fields, whether the dog is there for support or a device to sniff out drugs, dogs
continue to help humans. This shows some sort of emotion and connection to humans. Dogs have even been reported to show unconditional love for
“their master” even after they have passed away.
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