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Anthropomorphism

What the hell are you looking at?

On the outside, I may look like a rat in a dress. But on the inside, I am a killer.

This post at NIT got me to thinking that I ought to talk about dogs again. More importantly, about perceptions of dogs and why dogs aren’t people.

You leave the house for a few minutes to get something. You return to find the roast you left on the counter gone, the dishes in the floor, and a quite content pooch asleep with gravy stains on his face. What happened? Did the dog make a choice to snatch the roast? Or did something in the fiber of his being remind him that he is a scavenger and override the rule you established for him to not jump on counters? Regardless, you shouldn’t have left the roast on the counter.

Or, another made-up example is my dog (here’s a pic for reference). He was bred to be a farm dog and, more specifically, he was bred to hunt hogs and to restrain cattle. Later, his breed was used to create dogs specifically for fighting other dogs. He has the following characteristics:

  • His upper body is large compared to his lower body – the better to grab a hold with
  • He has a protruding under-bite – so that when he latches on to something, he can breathe while hanging on
  • He has large nostrils with elongated slits in the sides – to help the breathing while hanging on and to enhance his inherent tracking ability.
  • He has a short coat – so that when he’s running through the woods, he doesn’t get caught on brambles and bushes and thickets. And so that he has less for something else to hold on to
  • He has a high tolerance for pain – so that when he’s grabbing a pig or cow that is much larger than him, he won’t give up when kicked or stepped on.
  • He was bred to naturally be tolerant of humans – so that when a human is removing him from a hog/cow/other dog, he won’t bite the human
  • And that’s genetics. A couple of other facts about my dog in terms of socialization:

  • I have never encouraged him to hunt or fight.
  • He has never come into contact with a pig.
  • He has never come into contact with a cow.
  • He’s been in a few scrapes with our other dog, usually because the other dog was the dominant one.
  • I have never trained him to for any police work (something I used to do) other than obedience
  • Now, if you came to my backyard right now and put a pig in there, what do you think would happen? Give up? I’ll tell you, without me there to direct him, he will kill it. Period. He’s genetically programmed to do that. He’s built to do that. He has a desire to do that. And unless trained to stop, that’s what he will do. It’s never come up because there just aren’t a lot of pigs in suburbia.

    When it comes to a fighting dog, the dogs involved in that hideous and repulsive activity have been bred and conditioned to do just that. Period. The dogs are not forced. Dogs do not have a will like we do and they don’t make choices like we do. Pavlov’s dogs did not choose to drool nor did they do so against their will. They were the product of their genetics and conditioning. Dogs fight for a reason and the primary reason is that it often is how they decide who is in charge. That is, for a dog, a natural tendency. Fighting dogs have been conditioned to kill the other dog, which is something that is rare in a dog fight among non-fighting dogs that usually fight until one dog says uncle. But the urge to get into the fight at all is something all dogs have.

    Assigning human qualities to dogs is foolish. Dogs are not evil or good. They don’t make bad or good choices. They react to their environment and that can be controlled through conditioning. Dogs are just dogs.

    Dogs are animals. Dogs are killers. Dogs are scavengers. Dogs are followers. They are also loving companions and great protectors due to their nature. But never forget that even little fluffy would love to rip the throat out of a rat. Those cute little Dachshunds were bred to kill badgers. Do you realize how tough a badger is? And how tough a small dog would have to be to go toe-to-toe with one? When people forget that dogs are animals to be controlled, it’s dangerous for the people and unfair to the dogs.

    Update: Funny story to illustrate. I was camping and Politically Incorrect Dog and I went fishing. He was hanging out (restrained, of course) and I landed about an 8 pound catfish. I pulled it out of the water to remove it from the line. Without so much as a sound or warning, Politically Incorrect Dog was on that fish like Barbie Cummings on a Tennessee State Trooper. He saw something he didn’t recognize, perceived it as either a threat or prey, and reacted. I pulled him off and we had a fish fry.

    Update 2: When a bull dog mistakes your couch for a pig. Heh. Speaking of, my dog likes couches too. But as a springboard.

    13 Responses to “Anthropomorphism”

    1. Robb Allen Says:

      Yeah, and my American Bulldog once thought a couch was a pig.

      Damned couch didn’t stand a chance. This happened after she chewed off the lock on her cage and got out while we were out of the house.

    2. Dave Says:

      Yep – it’s hard to train and condition against a dog’s instincts. Our dog knows she’s not allowed in the bathroom, and when we’re home, she’s a perfect angel. She won’t go anywhere near it. But, if we forget to put up the gate to block the door when we leave, give her two minutes and she’s rummaging through the trash can and the cat’s litter box. When we get home, she slinks down the stairs in complete submission because she knows what she did was wrong (to us at least) but that wasn’t enough to stop her. I could beat her silly and it wouldn’t do any good – and if it did, it would ruin her as a friend.

    3. SayUncle » Speaking of dogs Says:

      […] December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 « « Anthropomorphism | Home […]

    4. Todd Says:

      …And they have big blocky heads! We have Whippets and Greyhounds and we do lure coursing with them. Was in Tallahassee late last year and a Pit got loose from his owner (note: use a suitable lead) while one of my Whippets was in a course. Pit came tearing out onto the field. Luckily he was chasing the lure and not my dog, but did end up T-boning him and breaking a rib. Moral of the story, if the Pit was genetically programmed to fight, my dog would have been dead. Instead, the lure ended up in a thousand shredded pieces.

    5. john Says:

      theory: The ultimate purpose of this write up was to use “says uncle” in a sentence!

    6. Standard Mischief Says:

      theory: The ultimate purpose of this write up was to use “says uncle” in a sentence!

      Actually, that’s usually my standard mischief.

    7. Sebastian-PGP Says:

      It’s funny how frequently the people who support the bone headed ideas behind breed bans against Rotties, pits, GS’s, or any other dog bigger than a cocker spaniel do so because of media-ignorance-fed baloney. These are often the same people who rail (correctly, I might add) about media bias against guns.

      Nothing irks me more than some dolt prattling on about the need to ban pit bulls because of the nonsensical myths he’s read or heard on TV when same said dolt freely and readily understands the media bias against guns.

      Hint: “they’re evil human aggressive killer dogs with locking jaws and a taste for blood that can turn on your in a second” is the same as “.50BMGs are used to shoot down airliners and cop killers use copkilling-designed teflon coated super depleted uranium exploding bullets that pierce armour on tanks.”

    8. Xrlq Says:

      Actually, that’s usually my standard mischief.

      Mine too, so take that, ya big … um … xrlq?!

    9. Certainly the Sigh is not Pavlovian! « Tiny Cat Pants Says:

      […] is not Pavlovian! Filed under: Adventures with Mrs. Wigglebottom — Aunt B. @ 1:40 pm Say Uncle continues to school us all in the ways of dogs.  I take to my fainting couch and refuse to believe that Mrs. Wigglebottom […]

    10. Nashville is Talking » Your Dog Likes Killing Says:

      […] Ayep: Dogs are animals. Dogs are killers. Dogs are scavengers. Dogs are followers. They are also loving companions and great protectors due to their nature. But never forget that even little fluffy would love to rip the throat out of a rat. Those cute little Dachshunds were bred to kill badgers. Do you realize how tough a badger is? And how tough a small dog would have to be to go toe-to-toe with one? When people forget that dogs are animals to be controlled, it’s dangerous for the people and unfair to the dogs. Spread It Around: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]

    11. genetics technology » Blog Archive » Anthropomorphism Says:

      […] and conditioning. Dogs fight for a reason and the primary reason is that it often is how they decide who is in charge. That is, for a dog, a natural tendency. Fighting dogs have been conditioned … …more […]

    12. Saturday Afternoon's Alright For Fighting, Apparently « The Lynnster Zone Says:

      […] just irritating.  I know it’s natural, I know dogs are territorial animals, and as Say Uncle has recently reminded us all, dogs are natural fighters and natural […]

    13. SayUncle » Messengers of God: inconsiderate pricks Says:

      […] he has his OMG. Do something now or I’m gonna kill it bark. That bark, I’d only heard once before and I heard it again the other […]

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