Do Dogs Feel Guilt?

Is guilt a purely human emotion or do dogs feel it too?  As I sit in the sunroom this afternoon watching college football and needle pointing a long list of chores I should be doing before this runs through my head; the mail is stacked up in various piles around the house, laundry goes unfolded in the dryer, the garage has collected a number of items that belong other places — Nothing life threatening, but nothing so exciting that I want to jump up and work on them.

Shay Shay snuggles happily on top of Russ who is working away on his I-pad.  Russ never stops working since keeping up with all the news in the world can be classified as research for his job.  He does not while away his time on his I-pad playing games like his wife.

I have some guilt about being lazy.  I have some guilt about putting real half and half in my coffee just now, I have some guilt that sitting is not exercise and that I have been a little too sedentary lately.  Is this guilt changing my actions?  Not really.  Will it eventually get me to be more productive?  Maybe.

As Shay sighs her sound of contentment I wonder if she feels guilty about anything?  When she snuggles on Russ making him stay in one place so as not to disturb her is she guilty about that?  When she steels a paper towel off the coffee table and shreds it up into feather like bits, leaving it in a pile on the guest room floor is she ashamed?  If she quietly grabs a strip of bacon off Carter’s plate and swallows it down uninvited is she regretful.  No, no and no on all counts.

Now if Shay gets caught doing anyone of these things and gets scolded I think she feels shame, but maybe for just a few moments.  Not enough time for guilt to come into play.  I certainly think she does not walk around muttering, “I really should not have eaten that biscuit.”

Is guilt a good thing?  Does it drive us to the best behaviors or does it just make us feel bad about our natural instinct?  I know I don’t want to get scolded by anyone and since I am more or less an autonomous adult there is no one really watching my every move and grading me on it. Guilt must be my own personal grading system, but is it enough to get me to be on my best behavior all the time?  I wonder who is more evolved, dogs who live happily without guilt or humans who use guilt as a tool for self-moderation, just not that successfully?