About This Lesson
From Shiloh to Lassie and Old Yeller, young adult literature is full of stories about friendship between people and man’s best friend - dogs. People love animals but what do animals feel? There is a debate in the scientific community and in popular culture about what emotions animals are capable of and how they display these emotions. Does recognizing that animals can feel take away from human emotion? Or does it help us recognize where these traits came from? Listen to this story and then discuss how literature often captures the emotions in the animal world.