this article on animal emotions starts out with an obvious observation that bears repeating – that any animal owner can chew your ear off with stories about animals that appear to be just as emotional as humans.

mauja, our very emotive malamute, is goldmine for stories. malamutes are notorious for “talking”. they don’t bark per se, rather they’ll “talk” to you in what sounds something like choppy, wolf-like howls and moans, and after you’ve been around a malamute for awhile you find yourself engaging in long-winded conversations about one thing or another. and if a malamute is unhappy, watch out. they’ll let you know and give you and earfull. maybe they think you’ve been to park without them. or maybe you’ve been away for a little too long. or maybe they really think you might be able to be convinced to give them a little human food. they’ll come up with a very convincing argument using all their powers of persuasion.

when we had to put harper down, we witnessed the depths of a malamute’s emotions. he was in a royal funk. and bitchy. and he’d tell you how unhappy he was. endlessly. scoff if you will, but mauja was depressed and i don’t need a new study to verify that.