alexander pope on the souls of dogs

No, not the Pope, but the British poet Alexander Pope:

Some one mentioned to Pope the opinion that animals have reasoning. He replied, "So they have, to be sure. All our disputes about that are only a dispute about words. Man has reason enough only to know what it is necessary for him to know, and dogs have just that too." "But then," it was rejoined, " they must have souls too, as imperishable in their nature as ours." "And what harm," said Pope, "would that be to us?"

- Quote found in George Jesse's Researches Into the History of the British Dog, vol. I, p. 14.