Do All Dogs Go to Heaven?

Recently I was having a conversation with someone about souls. I can't even tell you how the conversation maneuvered to the souls of animals or lack thereof, but I was amazed to learn that there are a few people out there that don't believe animals have souls.

My thought is that every living thing has a soul. I think having a soul is based on energy. Living beings are vessels of energy and when you die the energy is released, i.e. - your soul or spirit, however you choose to look at it. The religious take was that animals are on the planet for man to rule and they don't have souls. Makes me think that this is some sort of justification for doing as we like to animals. I may have not expressed the religious comment clearly but this is what I drew from it.

It's amazing to think that people think my dog doesn't have a soul. When I look at Big Mac (pictured), I see his emotions. I know when he's happy, sad, lonely, bored. He is very expressive. He knows when I'm angry and he knows when he's done something bad - I can tell by how reacts to me. When I look into his eyes I know there's a soul in there - his spirit adds to my ups and downs everyday!

I asked a couple of other friends what their take was on it and many folks said yes while others were unsure and some that said absolutely not.

I started to wonder about where I may have built this belief. Did I get it from my family? Did I learn it from TV? It couldn't have been from the movie, "All Dogs Go to Heaven" because I've only seen maybe 20 minutes of the animated film. In talking with my father today - he agreed - animals do have a soul. Oddly enough, this is the first real conversation related to religion that he and I have ever had, so I can't say I picked up this belief solely from him.

What I do remember from my childhood is burying one of our dogs in the backyard. I remember my father crying as he was digging the hole. I remember his covering our family dog with dirt in the rain. I also remember how spiritual it all felt. I truly believe that as an animal that has shown nothing but unconditional love, protection and companionship our family dog went to heaven.

Do you think animals have a soul/spirit and go to heaven?

Here's an interesting thread on the thought: <Click Here>