How do dogs feel pain?

By the way Im sorry for these examples. I was wondering about this because my dogs (and other dogs) behavior when they get hurt is weird. Once my dog cut himself open on a screw sticking out of the fence (he was trying to get out, and yes this was Lightning) and in the morning he was smiling all big and running all around like it was fine.

I was wondering how dogs felt pain. I heard that animal pain was different than human pain, like they forget about the pain after they feel it or somthing. Like you someone whipped a dog 5 times, whe it hit him he would think "ouch something is hurting me" and then forget about it, and then just repeat the process. This doesnt really make sense because that would kind of imly that dogs cannot feel continual pain. Meaning if you shot a dog (sorry for these examples) it would hurt but then he would forget he got shot.
Does anyone know anything about this? How come dogs will make one sound and then its like they forget about it??

 

I think what happens, at least with Ranger, is that he forgets about it, and then, when he is in a similar situtation, it all comes back.

 

Interesting question....I know my dogs are great at hiding pain. I think that it may be an instictual thing... if they showed pain or injury or looked sick in the wild they would be a magnet for predators. Maybe in the interest of survival they hide it really well. Also just like people some dogs have a higher tolerance for pain. Dooley is a wuss..one little scratch and he is limping like his limb is broken. Witt on the other hand screams like a maniac if the cat gets him. My horse was once quicked by a farrier, not just once...but several times in a row. It made her very sore, she was dead lame for a week or two. I no longer use that shoer...but every time she gets her shoes done she walks off like she expects it to hurt, she pussy foots it around and then after a few minutes realizes it doesn't hurt..and runs around happy as a clam. So I know she remembers and made the association about what caused the pain.
I also know that, for instance if Dooley is injured and limping but something arrouses him...prey drive kicks in and he chases something he isn't limping for the chase....but afterwards he does. When we play flyball with him he would never quit because he was hurting, he would run through it and pay later.

 

they have to hide it...a dog might now show the pain when being beat but you can bet it's going to show it emotionally - they remember all to well what a beating is.

I think of the boxer found on the side of the road in the southern part of NH (this made this news throughout New England). This poor poor dog had its mouth tied shout with plastic ties, and it's penis had also been closed with a plastic tie.

The dog was found laying on the side of a road and some wonderful passersby stopped thinking the dog had been hit by a car. They took the dog and flew to a nearby home to get something to cut the hideous ties off the dog. The dog was in rough shape but did survive. Come to find out a young woman owned the dog and did this and then dumped it off on the side of the road in the hopes it would wander off and die (oh how i'd love to spend a moment w/her).

Anyway the dog was quickly brought back to health (although with urinary issues that'll probably haunt him forever) but it did take him sometime to trust again. Luckily by nature he was a sweet dog and adapted quickly but he had some stuff to overcome.

They remember...they just hide the pain for survival

 

That's an interesting question...I think they feel pain just the same as we do. My dog Brie doesn't show it though. But Zoey does, and will milk it for a while and come to me for help. But then again, maybe they just have different tolerances for pain--just like people.

And oh yeah, they remember. For instance, the baby gate fell down once on both dogs. They will still jump at it sometimes, but not ON it and if it starts to slip, they take off!

Mary--what a sad story. :cry:

 

I think it's pretty obvious dogs experience pain. If they experience it in the same way or to the same extent humans do is open to debate. Even the so called experts can't seem to agree on that.

And I think in some instances they remember a painfull experience. Sometimes they anticipate pain, but not as often as humans do. For example, even before I had surgery on my back, I knew there would be pain involved, and anticipated it. Dogs don't do that. After my surgery, I anticipated that certain movements would be painfull, and dog's don't do that either, although they learn pretty quickly that some activities will cause them pain, and try to avoid those activities.

Dogs also don't anticipate or make the connection that some medical procedures will make them feel bad later. Just like a 2 year old human undergoing chemotherapy won't make the association that getting their chemo is what makes them feel sick later in the day. They don't anticipate it, don't become anxious about it, and don't suffer the emotional aspects of dreading that visit to the hospital to get their meds.

 

it's why dogs will run right into the path of an oncoming car - they have no concept of what that vehicle will do to them.

 

I can't stop thinking about how horrible that is to do to a dog (or anything) that takes a real crazyu stupid sicko nut job bad person and all the other bad words. That is so sad.

 

Yes they do. I think many times they hide it as part of a long ingrained instinct to not show weakness. But my guys limp when their foot is hurt and cry when I step on their tail.

 

Animals feel pain just as much as humans do. Recently a scientist experimenting on flys found that the common house fly has the same CNS as mammals....therefore it feels pain just as much as mammals feel pain. How can anyone ask if a dog feels pain like humans do...have you never heard a dog screaming after being hit by a car or kicked by someone.....

 

While I agree that dogs experience pain, I'm not so sure they feel it the same way people do. And I hope I can explain this so it makes sense.

Of course, it's necessary for survival to reccognize that certain stimuli represents danger or injury, but it's possible to experience that response without it being the same pain we humans feel. Even amongst humans we don't all experience the same response to painfull stimuli. Some people don't experience much pain at all; their brains either screen it out, or interpret it as something other than pain.

When I injured my back several years ago I was in agony. The pain I experienced was something akin to having a blow torch held against my leg. Traditional pain medications proved useless. I was given two different drugs that aren't pain medications, but altered how my brain interpreted the pain signals that my brain received. I still felt something, but it wasn't painfull, just annoying. Thankfully surgery removed the pressure on the nerve, and the pain subsided, although I still take one of the medications to deal with the residual effects of the damage that was done, and is permenent.

That led me to believe that brain chemestry can have a definate effect on how an animal or human percieves pain. I think that explains, in part, why some people can lift a car off a loved one in an emergency situation, or why some mentally ill people can be so unbelievably strong. The pain that would normally stop us from lifting a car is percieved differently by a brain temporarily suffering an altered chemestry. And it also explains in part why some people (and animals) self mutilate in response to anxiety. The physical pain doesn't feel exactly the same to them as it would to others, and is outweighed by the psycological pain caused by an obsessive compulsion.

I've heard dogs scream in pain after being struck by a car, but I've also heard dogs scream exactly the same way from just being touched. At the same time, I've also seen dogs that were injured after being struck by a car, and never utter a sound. I don't believe one necessarily experienced more pain than the other. I just think their brains interpreted it differently.

Even amongst people it's difficult to impossible to say with any certainty that what I call pain is the same sensation anyone else would call pain. If I cut myself, I feel something I call pain. But that doesn't mean it's the same thing you feel if you cut yourself, even though you'd also call it pain.

And even if the pain is the same sensation, it may be more intense for some individuals than for others. I gave birth to two babies without pain medication, and without any intense pain. In fact, the second one was delivered without any pain at all, just a lot of pressure. And we all know there are a lot of women who can't say that.

So, even though I believe animals feel pain, I'm not certain what they feel is the same sensation or the same intensity I feel. It's a combination of brain chemestry, the number of pain receptors in the brain, the number and sensitivity of nerve endings, and individuals psychology and tolerance.

 

I see what your saying shine but in reference to a dog being touched screaming the same way as a dog being hit by a car, do you not think that the dog being touched is responding to something that has traumatized it before? My chi/fox terrier did that after I first adopted her, she had been abused by the previous owner (hit and shaken) after a while once she trusted me she no longer did it, pets that come into the vets for vaccines that scream before you even get near them with a needle, are they not responding to the anxiety and memory of their last visit.
Puppies that scream when you restrain them, the screaming is because they dont want to be restrained not because your hurting them which can be compared to a baby suddenly starting to cry or scream when someone they dont know picks them up...
We had a Doberman that had been hit side on by a jeep, I have always thought of some breeds in general, Dobermans being one of them as extremely stoic, they rarely make much noise when in pain, this dog had compound fractures in both right side legs, we had to move the dog to get x-rays before we sedated him, just because he didnt scream didnt mean he wasnt in pain, you only had to look in his eyes to see he was in pain, feel his heartbeat increase rapidly when we moved him (he had no chest injuries).
Do I think he was in any less pain than a screaming dog with similar injuries, no I think his response was different.
I know with people they do respond differently, Ive heard people scream with just a nip from a dog, Ive seen them get hysterical over it, Ive been bitten a couple of times, it hurt like h*ll but I didnt scream....
A perfect example would be going to the docs for a blood test, some people dont worry about it, they are relaxed when they go in and it isnt as painful for them, me personally, Im usually sick for days before going, Im tense when I get there....and as far as Im concerned its painful....but when your anxious your muscles tense up, the adrenilin is pumping and the fear is all in your head, once its over Im usually sitting there wondering what was I worried about.
Yes I think we process pain differently as individual people and I think the fear of pain makes things 'more painful' do I think animals feel less pain than people, no but I do think their response can differ just the same as peoples can.

 

I think you aptly illustrated part of what I was trying to say; outward response isn't necessarily an indication of if or how much pain an individual, dog or human, may be experiencing.

But further examples of the differences in the acuteness of the senses should be concidered. For example, both humans and dogs have a sense of smell. But we all know dogs smell things much more acutely than humans do.

We also know that humans and dogs see color. But a dogs perception of color differs from humans, because of their anatomy and physiology. Humans have a much more varied and acute perception of color.

The sense of hearing also differs between dogs and humans. Dogs hear tones we don't, and they also hear sounds that are too soft for humans to perceive.

Soooooo, is it possible dogs perception of pain can be higher or lower than a humans due to differences in their anatomy and physiology? I think it's possible, but the only ones who could really answer that question are the dogs. And they aren't saying.

 

Shineillusion you're smart.


Hey how about taste? Can dogs taste things? If so then how come they eat it so fast! :lol:

 

:lol:

 

All I know is what I learned from my dogs: my Dad popped our dog once with a cardboard middle from a roll of paper towels -- I know it didn't hurt, but he yelped because it was intimidating. He listened quite well to my Dad after that, btw. Contrasting that, another time, my brother (the worst I've ever seen him - he was 4 at the time) was allowing his friend to throw little rocks at the dog through the fence. Little bitty rocks, sure, but one nicked him and got blood on his nice white chest. I bet it hurt at least a little. This time, though, *I* screamed, (when I came outside and saw blood on my baby!) but the dog just thought it was a "catch the pebble" game and was enjoying himself! (My brother did get in trouble, btw, but after we explained that the dog could feel pain too, he never wanted to let it happen again.) It was rather strange how things that I would think hurt, he barely noticed, if at all, while things that wouldn't have even hurt ME (wuss) got a reaction out of him! Just like if you step on a tail or something, I think they may react first as a sign that you are ABOUT to hurt them, rather than actual pain -- which does help, because you get off the limb or tail in a heartbeat when you hear a yelp!

 

Kira was in a lot of pain as time went by. One thing I have found in most all breeds much like us each has a different pain threshold. Pyrs seem to show pain less then my Jack who screams bloody murder when she gets hurt. If I step on the foot of my Pyr he just gives me a look off klutz you could not see me. While my Jack well run around crying and holding her foot up and even play it for a day to get attention much like a kid does. Some breeds show pain by shivering (depending on the degree of pain) or you may even see tears or stains around the eyes from crying. Some breeds well go as far as to hurt themselves by banging there heads on a wall or floor. We had one dog that hurt its foot and for years it would hold it up when we did not pay attention to her. Sassy (Jack) does much the same as she broke her back leg but she well hold up her front one to get her way. We can tell her broken leg and she holds it up at command now.
Don’t get confused when a dog shakes it can mean a lot of different things one has to take into consideration the circumstances. Such as I am sitting here right now Sassy is trebling but I know why she does not like anything that makes a high pitch beep. Yet my other guys just could care less and go back to sleep.


1pyr