Your pet doesn't "smile" and no, they dont think they're human. Do they?

[Powerogue]

Humans anthropomorphize things, pets even robots. There was a big outrage on the internet when that guy at Boston Dynamics kept knocking that robot over when all the robot wanted to do was pick up a box.

And why shouldn't they outrage? The poor robot quit his job!

[Jotaux]

My cat just always has a look of annoyance on her face.

[Vanillidari]

Someone peed in OP's Cheerios I think

[Templar 331]

I watched a documentary a long while back that said dogs recognize facial expressions from humans. They understand what a smile is just as any human does.

As for thinking they are human, I think it's them understanding they are a part of the family/pack.

[Celista]

The closest my tortoise comes to smiling is when he is making sweet sweet love to that rock in his terrarium he thinks is a female tortoise.

The happiest looking animal I've ever seen was a tortoise sunning itself on a rock in the middle of a pond on a sunny day.

He had this huge happy tortoise grin on this face and it was adorable.

[lollyfolly]

we'll never know what dogs truly think. ever. unless we get re incarnated as dogs.

[Polyxo]

I'm pretty sure one of my dogs smiles. I don't think its so much of a natural pleasurable expression as much as she's learned how to approximate what it looks like to be happy.

[Lumineus]

Sure they smile. I don't believe they think they are humans so much as they think people are weird hairless dogs who don't know how to walk right.

[lollyfolly]

dogs are dogs are dogs, not humans. which is good enough.

[Kathranis]

My border collie would smile. If you smiled at her, she would definitely smile back.

It's well known that dogs know how to read human facial expressions and body language, and can develop a limited understanding of spoken word (IE recognizing, memorizing, and differentiating commands or names). They even understand pointing, a concept which chimps and even young children don't understand.

It's symbiotic adaptation; they've been living side-by-side with humans for millenia and have evolved adaptations that help them do that.

Some dogs definitely do mirror human facial expressions, particularily smiles. I don't think it's necessarily tied into emotion beyond being behavior that's likely to help them receive affection, creating a sort of positive reinforcement loop: happy person smiles -> happy dog smiles back -> happier person pets dog -> happier dog.

They don't think they're humans or understand what it means. Most likely it's simply an adaptation that endears them to humans and helps ensure they breed and pass the trait down. I don't think it's by any means universal; smarter dog breeds (working breeds) seem more likely to pick up the behavior. But as time goes, I think it'll become more common, as it gives them an obvious advantage in artificial selection.


Edit: Dogs can also make expressions that are very clearly embarassed or ashamed, depending on their behavior. Again, this isn't really an actual expression of emotion, but rather a behavior helps them interact with humans. If a dog recognizes that it's done something wrong and then appears ashamed or sad, it can avoid scolding or punishment.

[Synbios]

Animals can think they're human or other species, it just depends on who raised them and how. If a bird of prey is poorly raised, for example, it'll think that it's human and have reproductive behaviors with humans instead of other birds of prey they'd be introduced to later on in their life. The early life of an animal is very important for the development of their identity and character, just like it is for humans, which is why it's important to expose them to all kind of situations early on.

[Rudkobing]

People like to humanize things....

[Ravex]

I don't know but some people try way to hard to act like their animal is human and the baby talk makes me hate them inside each time they do it.

I think people that dress their dogs/cats up in clothing needs to be beaten with a bag full of irish spring.

I agree with you about dressing up your pets and going overboard with humanizing them.

I'm a pretty big imposing guy and I have 0 problems baby talking pets, they respond well to the type of energy you give while not giving a shit that you look like a giant goof.

You need to get some help with that hate though.

[Leodok]

When dogs are raised by humans, they see themselves as the same kind of animal as us (in a way. I'm pretty sure they know there's a difference between a dog and a human).
If they think that we're weird dogs or that they're different humans, who knows.

I don't think they smile, though they show their happyness with their ears, tail, etc.

[Irian]

No. I think often open mouth/pulled up facial expression is the sign of energy and, as a result, happiness in a lot of animals (hell, this is borderline fact for a lot of mammals) but they're not smiling necessarily. Many of the animals we have as pets just naturally have upturned mouths so when they're happy we point it out.

But no, I don't think animals ever think they're human. Contrarily, cats behave towards their owners as if they are cats as opposed to the cat being human. That's why if a cat really likes someone people often make the mistake of saying that the cat is acting human; they're not, they're treating you as another cat in their litter.

This stuff is pretty much proven and scientific. I don't think someone's wrong if they say their animal is happy or smiling (dogs actually do look like they're smiling when really energetic/happy, but they also smile other times as well) but I think people just want to humanize their pets.

[Deleted]

Do doggos even recognize humans as something else?

[Deleted]

You are taking this way too literally tbh.

It's like when someone refers to their pet as their baby, they don't mean their actual baby.