see, this is how christianity ruins societies. instead of presenting this as an obvious empirical reality that is debatable to nobody, they have to tip-toe around it by bringing in ancient (and 80% preposterous) philosophy as well as suggestions from foreign cultures.

of course your dog has a consciousness. nobody needs an argument to demonstrate that. universal? well, define that. there's a level of complexity required, and it's a pretty fuzzy idea. if we're going back to debating whether a rock has a soul or not, i'm leaving the room...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-consciousness-universal&