Do Dogs Understand Death?

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 29, Issue 47, 19 June 1917, Page 2

Do Dogs Understand Death?

Many interesting questions concorning the intelligence of tae dog have been raised by episodes of war in which this animal has figured. The extensive use of dogs to draw light guns and other military vehicles, their services in rescuing the wounded and their remarkable devotion to the soldiers, have given unusual opportunities for observing the behaviour of this friend of man. Does a dog know when his master is dead ?

Does a dog really feel grief ? Does a dog rescue the wounded from love of mankind ? Does a dog employed for fighting purposes feel a hatred of the enemy ? These are a few of the interesting questions that have been raised by war and are being debated. One incident has been made the subject of a poem by Miguel Zamacois, who is one of the most popular poets of the day in Prance. He refers to the undoubted fact that a dog was found watching day after day over the grave, near. Esternay, of ten French soldiers, one of them had picked him up when homeless and taken care of him. M. Zamacois only dwells on the pathetic aspect of the incident and leaves the analysis of the dog s feelings to scientists. One observer has asserted that this dog showed genuine grief, emotion of a high order, in waiting over the grave of its dead friend. Another student of dog behaviour argued that perhaps the animal did not know that his master was dead, and was simply waiting for the man who had fed him to return. “What reason is there to say that this dog did not show real grief of the deepest kind ?” asks the first observer. There is no doubt, according to this friend of the dog, that the animal knew that his master was dead. The dog, with the keenness of its senses, is able to tell much more quickly than a man that another creature is dead. It could probably perceive the fact even though the dead person or animal were buried many feet below the ground. , It is well known that a dog often detects the presence of an animal it is hunting beneath the ground. The dog, it is argued, must he familiar with the nature of death, because this is as common among those of its own race as among men. There is no need to argue that the dog has as complete an idea of all that death implies as a man, but there is reason to believe that he knows that it means the end of a man’s or an animal’s earthly activities. It isrtfierefore unreasonable to say that'a dog watching over his master’s grave does not know that he is dead and is expecting him to come up and feed him. But if the dog knows that his master is dead, some one may ask why he should linger over his grave. That is simply an eflect of blind unreasoning love and grief. How long will the dog stay over his master’s grave ? That depends on the ’ dog. In some cases the animal is said to have stayed there until he died, while in others hunger or some other cause drives him away after a time.

Why should we suppose that the dog does not experience real grief and that he is Merely waiting for his food ? It can be proved that the dog has the most boundless and unselfish affection for a man. Therefore it follows that he must be capable of feeling grief. It is not reasonable to believe that au animal can feel strong affection and not feel the complementary emotion that the loss of the object of his affection must cause.

Many of the animal observers argue that the dog has stronger feelings of affection and grief than, the average human being, although it is generally admitted that the most sensative human beings, owing to their higher mental powers, are capable of greater of feeling. The dog, however, is almost invariably a very emotionable creature, while great numbers of human beings are very slightly emotional.

Records show that the dog is capable of the most deep and lasting affection, not only for human beings, but for other dogs and animals. It is a common experiment to find a dog strongly attached to a horse and sometimes even a cat. When a dog’s devotion is concentrated on one of his own species it is not usually directed to one of the opposite sex. A superficial observer who imagines that human sentimentality is the noblest of qualities may think that this is an evidence of the dog’s great inferiority to man, but more thoughtful observers argue that it is a mark of the dog’s moral superiority. The friends of the dog argue that in all the purely moral qualities, as theologians and philosophers have classed them, the dog proves himself fairly equal to man, if not superior. Thus we find the dog exhibiting affection, devotion, unselfishness, courage and generosity in a great degree. If the dog’s organism is so filled with these qualities it may be that there is not room for the cold rcas-

omng powers. j Dogs have been used very largely | by the French and Germans and ■ other combatants for finding and ( helping the wounded. The services] they have rendered in this way have | been of great value. For instance, ] in going over a large battlefield the medical officers have often been un- j able to distinguish quickly between | the unconscious wounded and the | dead. A trained clog will at once | pick out the man who has the least j trace of life left in him. This fact j in itself is sufficient proof that the j dog knows whether bis master is dead or rot.