Love Story

Can a Dog Really Love?

By Stanley Coren | Photographs by Jess Golden

If you want to cause a commotion in any Psychology department or any other place where animal and human behaviour is studied, all that you have to do is to claim that your dog loves you. Skeptics, critics, and even some ardent supporters will pour out into the halls to argue the pros and cons of that statement.

Among the skeptics you will find the veterinarian Fred Metzger, of Pennsylvania State University, who claims that dogs probably don’t feel love in the typical way humans do.

Dogs make investments in human beings because it works for them. They have something to gain from putting so-called emotions out there. Metzger believes that dogs “love” us only as long as we continue to reward their behaviours with treats and attention.

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