Do Dogs have Souls?

On CNN's Belief Blog, John Blake post the story (Does Fido have a soul?) of a lady who had a funeral for her dog.  He asked the question at the end "Do dogs have souls?”  Obviously to a Buddhist it's a non-question; of course they do they are a sentient being, DUH!  The part that struck me about the article was the comments.  The first comment was:

Of course not. Do dogs laugh? no. cry? no.. they are the same as a cow or wasp. I love my dogs.. but lets not get carried away. A funeral for a dog? please. poop people are starving to death and this woman wastes money on that

So the definition of a soul according to Mike is something that laughs and cries, what like a hyena or monkey or A DOG.  Yep scientists say dogs’ panting is a replacement for laughing (article on MSNBC). So I guess that blows Mikes theory.  Of course his respect for other beings is obvious since they are just like a cow or wasp.  What?  Well at least he's an equal opportunity offender. UGH!

 Then there is the atheist hate wing that trolls the religious blogsphere in search of a place to declare their intellectual superiority like these guys:

jeff

 nothing has a soul, we all evolved from lower life forms. The nutjob indoctrinated christards will never understand that.

John D

In the common religious usage, I doubt there's any such thing as a soul at all, canine or otherwise.
I suspect that consciousness and personality are just emergent properties of the physical brain. There's nothing supernatural about it.

steve88

... it is also more likely that supernatural claims, whatever they may be; karma, reincarnation, souls, immortality, deities, holy books/dogma... that it is more likely ideas created by mankind, because of our fears of what we do not know.(especially death.)

Finally all the Christians that believe "All Dogs Go to Heaven".  I was that guy once.  I don't have a problem really with them at all.  I love to hear people talk about the Rainbow Bridge and all their pets waiting to love them once more. 

I believe that dogs and all beings have a soul.  Its my definition of soul, probably not completely accurate from an academic perspective but we all have a phenomena that make us sentient - able to feel and perceive - this is our soul.  It is both beginning-less and endless.  It separates us from rocks, trees, water, and trash.  It makes us BE.    

So yes dogs have a soul and these 5 souls have meant a lot to me.