I was pondering this earlier and it brought up some interesting questions.
Do Dogs Have Souls?
Looking in to the eyes of my three little bone munchers it would be tough to believe that when they go that it is it. On the other hand it is, of course, partly down to whether we even believe in the concept of a soul at all.
I am not a religious person but I believe there is such a thing as a soul. I certainly believe that the inner core of a person continues after death. The essence of a person can not be annihilated by the end of the body. Or so I believe.
If I believe in a soul then do I believe in a soul for animals?
To be honest it has opened up a whole can of worms. I look at the pooches and I must say I do believe they have souls.
- Such innocence is behind those eyes.
- They act naturally and in accordance with the natural balance of the world.
- Dogs are forever loving and giving.
- Pure of heart and followers of the path of nature.
- They are not corrupted by the trappings of wealth and one upmanship.
- Dogs understand many of the emotions we feel and I know I have observed them going through various emotions themselves.
This leads me to what these ponderings have raised.
I used to be a vegetarian for about 12 years but then I began to eat meat again. I now eat meat often, I have raised and slaughtered my own Chickens (not nice) and don’t really have many qualms about eating meat apart from the conditions the animals are raised in.
Now, if we believe Dogs have souls, do all other animals? Is it just animals with high sentience or is it all living things?
If other animals have souls then is it right to eat them? Is there a difference between eating a Cow or a Dog? Pigs are supposed to be much more intelligent than Dogs.
I wish I had never written this now.
Bloody Dogs!!!!
Let me know your feelings/thoughts on this. It will be very interesting to see what everyone has to say on the subject.
May the Doggie Force be with you all.
I do believe all animals have souls. I am mostly vegetarian, but occasionally I do eat chicken or fish. Some people say there is a collective soul for animals, or that animals don’t have a soul at all. Based on my own experiences, I think every living creature is unique and special and does have a life force that equals that of man. I am not opposed to the raising of livestock or other animals, but I do think we are stewards of the earth and its inhabitants and must have reverence and respect for these important creatures.
TC’s last blog post..Rabbit Foot Goddess
That’s a tough question. I was a vegetarian for 2+ years but recently began eating meat. I am still conflicted about it because of the question of ethics. Do I believe my dog has a soul? Definitely maybe. If a dog does, than I have to believe the cow that gave it’s life for my burger did too. But where does that end? Do ants that I killed en masse because they were invading my home have souls too?
I certainly believe that dogs have spirits, but whether they have souls? I’d like to think that they do.
James’s last blog post..st1100pilot: Crazy world! Starbucks is now offering instant coffee. I requested a sample. I have an open mind and will drink it if good. @Starbucks #VIA
I have pondered the exact same questions and wrestled with the ethics of eating another being with a soul. Wish I knew the answers to this! I’d love o see my beloved dogs that have passed on someday.
Cathy’s last blog post..Harley’s Doggy News
Of course dogs have souls!!!
Taris Janitens’s last blog post..Advertise on OnePoke.com!
It’s funny, my sister and I were just talking about that a few weeks ago, when we were discussing her Duck Toller.
The dog was following our conversation, looking from one person to another, with those big doggie eyes staring at us, full of intelligence and life. There was no doubt…she has a soul.
As for chickens. Meh. I”m a meat eater. I have no qualms about eating farm animals that are raised to feed us. We’re omnivores…it’s part of our nature.
By the way, I never understood why quasi-vegetarians are okay with eating fish or chicken, but not cows or pigs or sheep.
Maybe it’s because fish and chickens are kinda stupid. And don’t have cute big brown eyes staying at you.
Yes, I do believe that dogs have souls. I’m not a vegetarian, but after reading your post, I’ve gained a new perspective and am considering becoming one.
Julia’s last blog post..Stop Dog Biting: Can a Fearful Dog Be Trained Not to Bite?
TC, thanks for a great comment.
James, it really is a tough one isn’t it? As you say, where does it end if we believe Dogs do?
Cathy, me too. I would love to see all my old Doggie buddies again.
Taris, straight to the point there!
Friar, I think you may be right about that. Maybe some animals seem less intelligent and therefore we can’t relate to them the same.
Julia, it certainly is something to think about.
hello three dog blogger its dennis the vizsla dog hay i hav herd this roomer that pigs ar smarter then dogs but if that wer troo how come dogs git to liv in the howse and pigs liv owt in the barn??? obviusly we dogs no sumthing that those silly pigs dont!!!! ha ha in yore fayse pigs ok bye
Dennis the Vizsla’s last blog post..I don’t see what’s so interesting about that stupid computer.
Now now Dennis, no need to be so mean to the Pigs. Just because they live outside doesn’t mean they aren’t clever.
Did you know some hoomans make their Dogs live outside? Especially ones that eat the furniture!
Food for thought my friend!
Okay, I am not a vegetarian. I do believe that dogs have souls. When you look into the eyes of a dog you see intelligence. They respond to many different words and they DO actually have emotions. Pigs are intelligent, but they are (let’s face it) ugly animals. Who wants an ugly anything. Besides, they don’t fetch or play like dogs. I’ve seen my dog smile, frown, look afraid, confused and curious. Now if dogs DO have souls, then do All Dogs go to Heaven? What about vicious dogs? Dogs that hurt, kill and maim just for the sake of doing it? There are people like that and we all know that they don’t go to heaven. Right? So, if dogs have souls and the good ones go to Heaven then the bad ones must go to the bad place, right? Hey, does God of Man determine which dog soul goes where? Whew! That hurt my brain just to think it all up.
Marty, that is exactly why I wished I had never thought about it!
It hurts your brain doesn’t it? Interesting ponderings indeed.
Have you read Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates by Gary Kurz?
An interesting and studied answer to this question.
Tucker, The Sensible Dog’s last blog post..What’s Not to Like
Hello Tucker. That is a very good recommendation. It looks very interesting and has a lot of very good reviews. Thanks for mentioning it.
I have never even given the idea a second though.
Being humans, we are mammals, which places us in the animal kingdom where All other animals are. Therefore, it is pure ignorance and arrogance oh the part of humans to believe that only their species contains within it, that of a soul. Regardless of how a person defines for themselves exactly what a soul is has no meaning what so ever.
Humans always have and unfortunantly always will, value the lives that they believe to be worthy. Which in the general population, is humans.
Of course their are things that humans are able to do that other animals cannot do. In some cases, I can not even imagine why any other animal would want to do the things humans do. Never the less, most humans, while maintaining superiority due to abilities, forget that there are millions of animals that are capable of doing that which no human can do. That is way to often overlooked. Humans are extremely fearful by nature and to feel secure they must find every way possible to justify the horrific crimes commited against other animals. The first thing someone wants to do upon seeing a snake is to grab a tool to kill it with. Of course if the convience of a tool does not present itself at the time, they leave, often running.
In the end, what humans do not understand, they fear. And anything that causes fear in humans is doomed to destruction. For some reason people wish to remain ignorant and fearful instead of making an attempt to understand and respect. It happens often even among the human society, with each other.
If one animal has a soul, of course every animal does. Why is that such a mystery to everyone? We may differ in appearance and abilities but without each other we would be lost. Every living thing, plants included are deeply intertwined with one another. With humans behaving as they are currently, there will be nothing left on this earth. Including humans. With that said, I will ask, what other animal knowingly destroys it’s enviornment? And yet humans claim higher intelligence? I seriously doubt it.
Kim,thankyou for a very full and interesting reply.
There is a lot to be contemplated in your remarks. You are right about many of the actions of people but I do hope that we don’t destroy our great planet. Hopefully people will see the error of many ways before that time comes close.
Who would have thought that contemplating a Dog would lead to so much soul searching?
I would also like to add a response that I noticed to be even a pattern.
Humans are omnivores. Eating meat does not make a human evil. There are many animals that are omnivoures. It is nature. The other animals that share the classification of omnivores do not feel guilt or pride or whatever it is people tend to feel as far as eating meat goes.
There are several reason why I have made a decision not to ingest meat.
First, I honestly never really had much of a taste for it. Especially red meat. I did eat chicken and fish on occasion and then I came to a day where I realized that it had been months since I had eaten meat of any kind.
As one may have already assumed, I am always on the side of those animals other than humans. I have been that way for as far back as I can remember and that would be at the age of 4 or 5. My entire life has been and still is dedicated to that of the weaker species. By weak, in no way do I mean lesser. I mean that on this planet, animals have no voice, no rights, no respect or admiration from the general population of humans. I will stand by them and give my life for them if need be.
I have, in my lifetime learned and related from other animals, more than 16 years of schooling ever gave to me. I have been given so many gifts from other animals than any number of humans could ever offer. I have worked with animals professionally for over 25 years.
I have gone days with the company of that only of dogs and quite honestly, I never in my life felt more calm and relaxed and even healed.
At times I honestly believe that somewhere along the way, nature got confused and placed me in the womb of a human. I am so distant from my own species. And while at times I naturally feel lonely because of it, I would not give it up.
I will never marry and I will never have human children.
I know how selfish and strange all this must sound but where my interest in other animals is concerned, it goes way beyond passion or purpose.
But back on the topic of eating meat. Whether or not you eat meat does not make or break a person as for being inhumane or cruel.
It really is ok to eat meat and still enjoy the company of animals.
I do not run around yelling at everyone because they eat meat, in an attempt to create guilt to others. I normally do not even mention that I do not eat meat to people because quite frankly, I have no desire to discuss the topic or my reasons. It is just part of who I am and another part is to make attempts to not pass judgement on others for whatever it is they choose to engage in. Unless of course I feal a certain injustice is being commited at which point I make no bones about where I stand.
Your hope that humans and their actions will become evident and not destroy the earth is very heartwarming but honestly, look closely at what is happening. We are beyond the time of being close.
If I honestly saw a chance, I would be the first to throw a huge party and invite the entire world to attend, all paid for.
I have worried about this for an extremely long time.For about 39 years or so in fact. I have finally accepted the inevetible and the worry, which was causing severe depression had to cease.
It makes me very sad and when something comes to my attention that validates all those years of worry, I tend to shut down emotionally.
The pain I feel for such a tremendous loss is just too strong to bare.
I attempt instead to focus in the moment and enjoy everything there is for me to indulge my senses in. We have this moment and the next one is that of uncertainty. Knowing that I will be re-united with every animal, human and non, that I have ever loved is what keeps my sanity. I do not pretend to know exactly what the name of this place of meeting is and being a spiritual person, I have no specific religion to push onto anyone else. I just find comfort in the idea that whatever it is that we label as “souls”, is somehow a form of energy, and I see nowhere else for all of this connected energy to go, once the shell ceases to exists, but to rejoin where it began and perhaps start over again at some point.
Dog Bless To You All!!
Dog Bless!
Kim, you are a very intelligent and kind Lady and I am so pleased you have taken the time to contribute so much.
I understand exactly your point of view on the topic of eating meat. It is something we should all question. It is our duty, I believe, to look in to such matters seriously and make informed decisions. Buying a plastic wrapped piece of meat does not explain or show the realities of what we are consuming.
I know about the realities forst hand and have made my choice, but I think if others had similar experiences they would not be eating meat.
I don’t like to think of anyone being sad in this world and I am glad you have chosen to live in the present and enjoy life as it comes.
I am, however more optimistic about the future, although if I had to give my reasons I would be hard pushed to do so. Blind optimism maybe? I’m not sure.
Anyway, keep on giving such great and thought provoking comments whenever you can, although most topics are not as involved as this one.
Your contributions are, however always welcome here.
All the best.
hi again, and I do honestly believe that to say “faith” is not a matter of being pushy in any way. We all, even the most extreme of athiests, have what you call as “blind optimism” regarding one issue or another. It is something we require in order to find a sort of peace in an issue. To me “faith” has absolutely nothing to do with religion but is placed in religion in order to find comfort. All quite natural in my opinion. Believe it or not, even I have put faith at work in my life on many different issues or ideals.
You hit the nail on the head by mentioning knowing first hand about how that pretty meat all dressed in plastic gets into the grocery stores. It is just those type of situations that I am forced to shut my emotions down. I do not mean that I do not care. But I know that this morbid practice is not going to change no matter what the gatehered minorities yell about how terriblly wrong it is.
When I have found myself in a position to actually witness something so horrible being done to such innocent beings I have only found myself in bad trouble and to the point of possibly going to prison.
I really do not care to live the rest of my life in prison so I avoid coming across this type of scenerio at all costs. There is no thought before action when witnessing abuse and cruelty for me. I just react.
I scare myself. When this has happened in the past I see that I am very capable of harming if not killing over such issues. I do also realize this is not healthy. I simply lose all access to my self conrol. My mind knows nothing but getting my hands on the people/person commiting these crimes against animals. So that you understand, the same thing occurs when I am subjected to the situation of such abuse being done to a human as well. There is some tremendous force that takes over and it is “katy bar the door”
I may have mentioned that I am an extremely strong empath. I cannot even watch a movie if it has issues that deal with pain, depression, grief, or any negitive emotion. I pick it up and as of yet I have not completely mastered how to balance it. I have been told it is a gift. I tend to question that. Maybe being able to balance and control it, but sometimes the pain and hurt of others is more overwhelming than that of my own.
But I am blindly optimistic that I will be able to balance it one day and hopefully be able to actually help those who are suffering with those feelings.
Thank you for welcoming my posts. I realize at times I can be way out in Right Field to a lot of people but what can I say? I gotta be me.
Kim, it is always good when we realise that certain things will have a particular effect on us.
Rather than denying it we can then seek a solution. This is the most difficult part (admitting it).
It sounds like you have contemplated a lot of very serious issues. On balance, I think I just try not to think about anything morbid or upsetting.
Why watch the News or read stories that will upset you? Lots of people do I know, me I will just not watch/read.
I agree. I not only refuse to watch or read the news or anything that may deal with subjects that may cause the empathetic negative feelings to overwhelm me, It is necessary for my well being. To become flooded with other people’s sadness and pain is unexplainable. I am unable to watch this sort of stuff, even if it is fiction. I suffered from extreme anxiety and depression for 11 years and I believe that it was because I did not recognize what was going on with me. I had often thought that it was a bit strange how I could sense a general idea of what another person and/or animal was experiencing emotionally or mentally but I think I just assumed that everyone did that. It has not been until quite recently that the “ability” I have was not one that just anyone could access.
Trust me, I really do not feel I have supernatural powers and I certainly do not think I am in anyway above another person. My understanding is that everyone has this capability in one form or another but for what ever reason, they have not been able or have yet to access it. I am now at a stage where I really would like to put this “genie” back in the bottle. It has become obvious to me that upon being educated about empathy and clairsentinent abilities, there has been an extreme increase in flow. It is as if a flood gate has been open and being relitivly new to all of this I feel overwhelmed and have no one to really talk to about it.
There is no doubt that learning to balance and ground myself is a necessity but to whom do I approach and how do I go about approaching anyone trust worthy enough to share this information with in order to learn how to protect myself?
I am not expecting you or anyone else to be able to give me that answer, I guess I was in effect typing that question to myself.
If you did not think I was absolutely insane before, I am certain you do now. (o:
It is ok however. I completely understand how far fetched this topic is for most people and any judgement of my sanity is well understood.
I know this will seem to once again sound pessimistic to you, but in general, in the world today, it is very difficult to be able to simply dodge those issues that affect me. My current position involves managing and living in a boarding home that serves people suffering from mental illness. After a while working here, I found that I could not leave my room. I could barely get out of bed. My shifts were covered, but it was very frightening for me. I had no contact with anyone for about 3 weeks. One day, I got out of bed, showered, got dressed and stepped back into my role. With time I realized I had become more distanced from the residents. Not in the way of not caring, but in the way of emotional attachments. I think I was flooded with all of their emotions and feelings and it was necessary for me to take that time in order to cleanse and re-gain my self. I did not know which emotions where mine and which were someone else’s.
Currently, I am doing well with balancing the responsibilities I have to my job while maintaining an emotional distance from the people I care for.
I have so much more to work on and I really do not want to have to focus on this stuff at all. The more I think about it, the stronger it seems to get. I really want it to go away.
Safe Journeys to everyone!
Kim, I think sometimes we all need a break from the rest of humanity!
I am glad, however, that you at least posed the questions you needed to ask yourself.
Sorry if I can’t really be of any help though, but I wish you all the best.
dogs do have souls and they do go to heaven; they do not need to accept Christ to be saved… only man..who ate the forbidden apple has begun to sin… animals are not sinners and do not have to be saved to go to heaven… they are pure, natural and in line with God’s creations… and the breath of life brings into the body the SOUL…..
P.S.: I am a vegetarian… to a point; I eat fish and poultry.
It is a tough one. I hope they do. I hope humans have souls, for that matter. I can’t imagine much of a “heaven” without some dogs around.
Not only do dogs, and all animals have souls, every living thing has a soul…and when their lives are over they go to that same place our human spirits go to. I don’t believe this, I know this…because when I was so remorseful at having to put my pet down I said a prayer to St. Anthony asking if animals had souls and received a message that yes, dogs have souls…all living things have a soul. Later, after a NDE and doing research, I found a website with a translation of a fragment of the Book of Mary Magdalene which literally said the exact same thing.
We need to eat to live. Unfortunately, we must consume other living things to do so. So whether it’s a steak or a fish or a tomato the thing you are eating had a soul. The way to deal with this is to apologize to that which has died to sustain you and thank it for it’s having to die for your need…even if it’s a steak from the supermarket…because it’s consciousness is not still in the steak, but it is in that other dimension and it will be aware (and I’m sure appreciative) of your apology and thanks.
i believe god created certain animals for food i think those have no soul such as chicken,pig,cow but we know they are horses in heaven the bible says jesus will return riding a white horse in revelations but also to have soul you must know right from wrong and i see in my dogs they know when they have done wrong they hide from me and then come appoligizing so yes i believe dogs have a soul
Now look what you started, hope your happy with yourself.Dogs cats budgies all with souls. as for the poor chickens and goldfish I’m off to bed. Michael.
The Bible records that when God made some of His Covenants he made them not only to Man, but to the animals as well. See the Covenant about the Flood and the rainbow.
WOW! Been reading and I got to admit I was surprised so many people believed dogs have souls. I have always been convinced that most living creatures have souls. But I think that some creatures souls are not as strong as others as with humans. I believe a soul develops as you grow. All baby’s are born with innocence. Wether it be human or other. They have no thoughts other than food, water, mommy, cold, exctra. Everything goes its own way, but the dogs and cats come to us. God gave us mans best friend. He also made his lifespan way to short. I’m assuming there is a reason for this that I will never know. Of course overpopulation exceeds. ` Marty, i Think bad dogs , I’m not sure about that one. It scares me. I would hope that the universe would fix the bad dogs. Of course most bad dogs came from human training. Not going there! Been with dogs all my life, I say they definitely have a soul. I spend a lot of time with dogs it is so some much more relaxing to train dogs than deal with humans.
I know in my heart that dogs have a soul. When I’m sick in bed or when im upset or crying, I always see my little companion at my side with that look of concern and compassion. Our best little friends understand when we hurt or when we’re sick or even happy and excited. They are always first in line to be our biggest supporters on whatever we are doing. To feel at all or even to know the difference between right and wrong, you have got to have a soul. I do believe that we will all see our beloved pets in the afterlife one day.