How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain

by Gregory Berns

Humans are sloppy creatures. Like the proverbial bull in a china shop, we are oblivious to our body language. We bump into objects. We accidentally step on our dogs’ tails. We emit a constant stream of sounds with frequently inconsistent meanings. It is a wonder that dogs can pull anything consistent out of this barrage of signals. And yet they do.

Dogs have emotional intelligence. Just like people, if dogs can be happy, then surely they can be sad and lonely.

To love, and be loved, is to feel what another feels and have that returned. It really is that simple. If people do this with each other, it seems perfectly natural for us to do it with animals.