Parenting-Furkids

Dogs => Caring For Your Dog => Training => Topic started by: DeeDee on August 16, 2016, 10:30:39 PM

Title: Something That Needs to Be CLOSELY Monitored
Post by: DeeDee on August 16, 2016, 10:30:39 PM
This is going around FB as "cute."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3735247/Heartwarming-video-shows-massive-German-shepherd-Tennyson-carrying-tiny-kitten-Moo-stairs.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3735247/Heartwarming-video-shows-massive-German-shepherd-Tennyson-carrying-tiny-kitten-Moo-stairs.html)

I don't think it's cute at all. That kitten was going up those stairs just fine. The dog suddenly started blocking the kitten. The dog isn't picking the kitten up as a dam would. It's picking it up by the head as if it's about to crunch down on a live meal. Whenever possible, crushing the heads of small prey is the most expedient way to kill.

Know why it makes me cringe so badly? Watch the video here and read the text down below the video:

http://www.livescience.com/34279-lioness-baby-antelope-kob.html (http://www.livescience.com/34279-lioness-baby-antelope-kob.html)
Quote
In photographer Adri De Visser's photo series of the incident, which has been reproduced all over the Web in recent days, the lioness nuzzles the tiny, orphaned calf, picks it up by the scruff of its neck and hauls it off "like one of her own cubs," as the Daily Mail put it. According to many media outlets, the lioness's maternal instincts kicked in when confronted with the poor, defenseless youngster.

But is that really what happened?

Far from it. Everybody likes a good story about a lion lying down with a lamb. But in nature, "the lamb always gets eaten," said ecologist Craig Packer, director of the Lion Research Center at the University of Minnesota. "It's quite common for cats to play with their prey and they can look very gentle doing it. But it always ends in tears," he said.

Yeah. That dog reminds me of that lioness playing with her prey, and I think that most animal behaviorists would be cringing just like I am. I agree that unlikely animal friendships exist, but somehow, watching this dog doesn't remind me of anything remotely like that.

If you're going to have different species living together as pets, it would behoove you greatly to always supervise or have separated until you are absolutely positive that one isn't going to become a snack.
Title: Re: Something That Needs to Be CLOSELY Monitored
Post by: Middle Child on August 17, 2016, 06:01:16 PM
I don't even know what to say.
Title: Re: Something That Needs to Be CLOSELY Monitored
Post by: Pookie on August 17, 2016, 07:49:38 PM
Not watching . . .