Izzy laughing at me

February 20, 2008 –  “Do dogs have a sense of humor, I wonder?” e-mailed Karen, a health services executive in Wisconsin. “I know mine do. My Sheltie laughs at me all the time, I can see it in his face.” Karen assured me that dogs can both laugh and smile.
  This is one of those home run dog questions – fascinating, unanswerable, and a question every dog lover has an absolute answer to, and will discuss for hours.
  Strictly speaking, I would say no, absolutely not, not if you believe in science and behaviorism, which many dog lovers don’t. Humor is a very human emotion, and dogs have no need of it, nor is there any evidence I’ve ever heard of or seen that they possess such a complex and sophisticated neural and emotional reaction. Dogs need food, shelter, attention in some cases. And training. Why do they need to laugh?
  We can’t help pondering the notion that dogs find us ridiculous, and see us at our most vulnerable and silliest moments. They have expressions that suggest chuckling or mirth, for sure. And more and more, we want to see them as human-like except better.
   But do they have a sense of humor? Not possible, in my mind. Dogs don’t have language or narrative, and no way to grasp concepts like absurdity, nuance or humor. Literally, they cannot grasp a joke.
  Dogs react instinctively, not with words and human constructs. Certain behaviors are reinforced in dogs, and they pick up on our cues, and they do study humans carefully. Their lives depend on it.
  But I would have to say no, that is another of the very human-like emotions we would love to project on our animals (look what I do to the goats) because it makes US laugh or feel good, and because we need them to “understand us.” It’s not necessarily something they need.
  When you look at Izzy’s photo above, it’s hard not to believe he is smiling at me. But I don’t really have the slightest clue what he is thinking.