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They Don't Call Him Fido for Nothing
Dogs are ethical, full of natural goodness, scientist says
By Wesley Oliver
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Posted May 16, 09 5:58 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Science is finally catching up to what dog owners have known all along: Canines are ethical. After thousands of hours studying dogs—once dismissed as "furry automatons," an author said—animal behaviorist Marc Bekoff concluded that they possess the capacity for empathy and compassion, the hallmarks of morality. Humans aren’t alone “in having a nuanced moral system,” Bekoff told the Denver Post.
Dogs “learn to read us. We're tightly linked, and there is something spiritual about that unity," said Beckoff. What's more, man's best friend even laughs, by rhythmically panting. And Harvard has opened lab to compare mutts to people. “If we have souls, our animals have souls,” Beckoff said, brushing off critics. “If we can't know this for sure, let's give them the benefit of a doubt.”