We're not far apart on this James. Here's a brief article on attributing human feelings and emotions to our dogs and other pets. It explains it better than I can. Sure, our pets can become anxious and nervous like we do but to claim that the dog in the train station every day for 10 years was sad because its master was not getting off the train is of a higher order. When I take Pepper's leash off its hook Pepper becomes very excited but I seriously doubt she is "thinking" great I get to go for a walk. She just inherently feels excited much like me taking down her dog food. Right now as I'm typing this she is hiding behind our toilet in the guest bathroom because some idiots nearby are setting off cherry bombs and they are LOUD. She isn't thinking those A holes are at it again but she is nervous, anxious, and scared. She doesn't "know" what scares her other than a loud noise.
Here is the article: [
www.annarbor.com]
It all comes down to this re Hachiko: In order for the dog to sit there in sadness wondering where her master is she would have to have a "language" (i.e. "where's my master. I'm very sad because he's not getting off the train".) That is something of a "higher order".
Keep in mind I'm as bad as anyone when it comes to this stuff. In the movie "Racing in the Rain" near the end when the dog is close to the end of his life he TALKS to his master who is driving a Ferrari around a track: "Lets go around one more time". You bet I cried.
There is a lot of science on this stuff too.