Do dogs feel guilt?

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I don't have a dog but was wondering if dogs feel guilt (like when they've emptied the contents of the bin over the floor when you're out)...

I don’t know that they feel guilt as such. They might have a guilty expression but I think that’s more concern they might be about to get a telling off.

It’s a good question, my dog does the best guilty face but yes what poster above says probably makes more sense!!!

The guilty face is so cute it’s hard to stay annoyed 🤷🏼‍♀️

No, that needs a sense of morality which dogs don’t have, they’re opportunistic. As @Twiglets1 says, they’re just worried about your response.

It makes me quite pleased that my hooligan has never looked guilty in his life, despite being an absolute menace.

“For lack of better words, if you do something that’s wrong or morally frowned upon, some animals know it and will judge you for it.”

Dogs and Monkeys Both Have An Innate Sense of Morality, Study Finds

www.labroots.com/trending/plants-and-animals/5439/dogs-monkeys-innate-sense-morality-study#:~:text=In%20the%20case%20of%20dogs,or%20people%20are%20morally%20adequate.

I've read somewhere that dogs only experience primary emotions (like fear, happiness or sadness), but they don't have the right brain chemistry for secondary emotions (like guilt or shame). Whenever a dog "looks guilty" after being caught doing something wrong, it's actually appeasement behaviour they are showing.
Dogs in general have very short attention spans. Which means they have a very short memory for cause and effect but they are also highly intuitive to our emotions. Add on to this that dogs, while they have short attention spans, do not have really bad memories and can remember times in the past when say you (in the general sense) yelled when there was garbage on the floor or when something was chewed up, and they can connect garbage on the floor = angry human but the likelihood that they understand that getting into the garbage 4 hours ago is why the owner is angry is not terribly likely.

That's an interesting article, thanks!

But it's not really "right and wrong" in a moral sense, is it? Dogs (and other animals who live in groups, I guess? I know all my dogs were judgy about sharing) have this huge sense of fairness, so they will judge you whenever it seems that something hasn't been "fair" (at least in their understanding).

Yes dogs definitely have a sense of fairness.

Like if we take something away from out dog (because it's potentially dangerous for example) we offer him a more appropriate alternative.

If we don't offer the alternative immediately, he definitely looks disappointed and gives us "the look".

Guilt as in remorse? No. Guilt as in an inability to lie so look 'guilty'? Yes.

I really wonder about canine cognition a d how deep it goes. I used to believe that they couldn't feel 'guilt' but I came home once and knew something was up from the facial expression and behaviour of one of the dogs and sure enough... Perhaps that dog (who was almost certainly the one who had done whatever it was, due to size and general tendencies) was anticipating a pissed off human, but the other dog (almost certainly uninvolved) was acting normally, despite the mess. So it could have just been a link between recent behaviour, mess, likely irritated human, or it could have been some sort of remorse (shouldn't have done that, might get caught) even if not guilt based in any sort of morality.

One of my dogs is 100% capable of deceiving the other. I've watched her do it on multiple ocassions, which definitely implies she has some sort of theory of mind (if I do this, numbskull over there will do that, and bingo, I get what I want). She is a very clever dog, but the first time I saw her conduct complex deceit I thought nah, fluke. Then she did it again 10 minutes later. It was a 3 or 4 step process, which she either remembered in every detail (impressive) or planned in advance (even more impressive).

Numbskull fell for it both times.

No, they don't have the same thought processes as humans. They live in the moment but they will definitely have a worried look when they can sense someone is cross with them.

I hate those videos when someone comes home to find their dog has done something like raid the bin and proceeds to ask them what's happened - like others have said, it's fear / uncertainty that the dogs are showing (because their human is angry / unhappy but they don't know why). So the videos people think are cute or funny are really showing their dog is scared / worried by them. I have a very hungry dog and his brain process is there's a bin full of yummy stuff to eat that smells great, I can break into that, my human's out so there's no-one to stop me, yippee! No guilt, no shame, no forward thinking other than bin equals food. So he's not given access to it!

Maybe. My dad's dog chewed his glasses case when he first got him. After that, every time he was shown the glasses case he would look away. We thought embarrassment. He was a very sensible dog otherwise

No. When they are 'looking guilty' they just are aware you are not happy and are trying to avoid conflict by appeasement.

Hah, yes, dogs are definitely capable of deceit. Bill's besty is a trainee assistance dog and the cleverest and funniest dog I've ever met - she is totally capable of lying to him and other dogs/humans about her intentions so she can pinch his squeaky ball and run off with it. She has a very sophisticated theory of mind, and is teaching the brighter puppies at the park to join her on the dark side.

They don't give a hoot ! They might react to a telling off that looks like guilt. but all they know is emptying the bin is lots of fun and a reward.

I have two like this. It’s fascinating to watch! I agree there is an awareness of doing something their human won’t like - rather than guilt - but the potential payoff - food! - is worth it.