My neighbour had a couple of adorable german shepherds who were quite old, We was drinking one night and dressed them up as a pair of prostitutes, it was really funny and we all could not stop laughing.... The dogs looked really sad... Would they know we was laughing at them and made them feel bad?

If my dog trips up or walks into something and I laugh she glares at me, so have all my cats, so I would say yes they knew.


How much did you pay them?

Ha ha

Anyway - yes, I firmly believe dogs know when they're being laughed at and feel something similar to humiliation. My dog always looks deeply embarrassed if anyone laughs at something she does.

On the other hand, I think dogs are one of the few animals which understand humour (on their own terms, of course) and my dog regularly plays dog-jokes on me and our cats.

It's much more fun to laugh with a dog than at it.

Why do humans insist on attributing human emotions to dogs? They're not humans. I am not sure they are sophisticated enough to feel 'embarrassemnt' How would they know what they are dressed as?

My dog certainly had embarrassment-like expressions on her face. Her ears would lie flat and she would turn away with her head down.
You could just tell she was upset.
However, I wouldn't dress up any animal of mine.

Everytime my springer spaniel puppy is chewing on a toy she usually lets out a little "whoarrrrrr" high pitched groan and I always burst out laughing, and she always sits up and looks at me as if to say "and what are YOU laughing at".

Are you saying dogs dont feel anger, love, sadness,happiness, grief?

Its not the fact of what they were dressed as, its the fact they they were being laughed at.. most dogs and cats hate it and do feel embarrassed

I had a cat that when you laughed at it , it would run over and attack you.

I am saying that the dog might be picking up on something from the human in terms of vibes thahuman is giving off. I don't think the dog is sitting there thinking 'God, this is well embarrassing '

I think the dog will be interpreting the humans' behaviours as something else it finds threatening.

I used to think our cat got embaressed when we laughed at him after he had a pratt fall.
But, thinking about it, when humans laugh, we bare our fangs. To most animals thats a sign of aggression, so cats & dogs are probably confused and playing it safe in case we have actually turned on them.

Yep, I'm sure dogs are mightily embarassed and looking around furtively to see who is watching when they've got their arses parked in a bush dropping a load!
Or when they're having a good lick at their knackers when you've got a houseful of guests!

We constantly laugh at our dopey black lab due to his (lovable) stupidity, but he doesn't know or feel humiliation - he's not a human.

Cat behaviourists say that cats have a sense of humour, but hate being laughed at, so I assume it's pretty much the same with dogs.

Cats certainly know the emotion of embarrassment, try watching them next time they use the litter tray!

Emotion isn't uniquely human, it's a simple biological mechanism which seems to prompt/reward/punish certain kinds of behaviour, particularly in social mammals. It's a bit unscientific to think that emotion is somehow a 'human' quality.

I'm not suggesting that dogs feel (something like) humiliation about the SAME things that humans do - after all, we have different social rules (obviously) as different species. It isn't unreasonable however to suggest that shame/humiliation/fear of loss of care is felt by dogs when/if they understand being laughed at as a form of exclusion.

Domestic dogs are 'neotenous' animals, meaning they retain juvenile behavioural characteristics into adulthood. That's why they make great human companions. As part of this they accept dependency and will be sensitive to anything that threatens their security.

Also - interestingly - dogs have been shown to have a 'left gaze bias' (opens as pdf) when looking at human faces (but not at other animals, dogs or inanimate objects) meaning that they appear to have evolved to 'read' human expressions which are expressed most intensely on the right side of the face.

So I think it's fair to say that dogs have emotions, as all mammals appear to, and that they are unusually responsive to emotions in humans. It isn't difficult to see how this was a crucial skill in their evolution as the world's no. 1 companion animal for humans.

My dog used to get very sheepish looking if she was naughty and made to sit in the 'box of shame' (the cats bed).

Has anybody been watching 'Super Tiny Animals' on ITV?

If there was ever a bunch of embarrassed pets, it's those poor dogs in the silly constumes they have been dressed in.

I agree, I don't think it's appropriate that animals should be dressed up for the amusement of others.

Both of my dogs knew when I was laughing at them. One of them would walk up to me and look me right in the eyes as if to say....and your problem is ! Cant understand all this clothing for dogs no matter how small. But cant see anything wrong in a lovely pink collar with stones on it lol.

of course - dogs are only slightly less intelligent than some ********men

you are very lucky they can only chat to other doggy friends about you.

Only some men lol