D'Arcy on 19/10/2006 at 11:34
I'm just wondering how would the dog save the cat. I can't imagine an arsonist cat just staying put and let a dog open his big mouth to grab him and carry him outside. Most likely what happened there was a wild dog chasing cat while house burns down thing.
Aerothorn on 20/10/2006 at 01:19
oh thanks D'Arcy, that made me feel so much better.
D'Arcy on 20/10/2006 at 14:05
Would you rather think that the dog was so altruistic that he killed himself trying to save the arsonist cat? If so then you're just antropomorphising the dog, and that indeed should make you feel worse. I prefer to think that he simply acted like the animal that he was, and chased the cat into the burning house.
Jeshibu on 20/10/2006 at 15:03
I had to read that twice, D'arcy. First time I though you were accusing the dog of starting the fire by chasing the cat onto the candle. That would be almost too ironic.
Aerothorn on 20/10/2006 at 15:07
Come off it, dude. I'm not anthropormorphizing the animal - he's an animal, but he's been TRAINED to be anthropormorphized.
Did he run into the house to save the cat? Nobody knows.
However, the idea that he ran into the house to save the cat seems kind of dumb. Dogs chase cats when cats are around. He wouldn't leave the catless area just to go and chase the cat.
Plus, chances are if he had reached the cat it would be unconcious from the fumes, so yes, he could have picked it up (if indeed that's what he was doing, which is questionable).
Agent Monkeysee on 20/10/2006 at 15:17
I'm pretty sure "don't run into a fire" is higher on the list of instinctive behaviors than "chase the cat GOGOGO" so I'm gonna guess that the dog was trained to do that. Especially given that the dog was trained to do that for the owner so IT'S NOT LIKE IT'S A STRETCH OR ANYTHING.
You jackasses.
D'Arcy on 20/10/2006 at 17:15
Of course that the dog was trained to help the disabled owner in case a potentially dangerous situation occurred. What he did for the owner was a reflex of that very same training. I just have a problem believing that somewhen along that training the dog was also instructed to try and save a cat, that's all. Nobody knows why the dog went back into the house, but the idea that it was in order to save the cat does look quite dumb. It seems a wild guess to say that saving the cat was his main objective - not to mention that I believe a cat would be able to escape a fire a lot easier than a dog would.
Gestalt on 20/10/2006 at 17:25
The question is whether the idea that the dog tried to bring the cat out is a stupider one than the idea that the dog recognized the danger posed by the fire, helped its owner out of the house, then went WHOA HEY CAT and then ran into a fire for the hell of it.
Agent Monkeysee on 20/10/2006 at 17:35
Quote Posted by D'Arcy
It seems a wild guess to say that saving the cat was his main objective - not to mention that I believe a cat would be able to escape a fire a lot easier than a dog would.
Animals know to stay away from fire. It's like the most basic survival instinct. Given that we KNOW the dog is trained to rescue things from fires it's not any kind of stretch to claim that it was probably going in to get the cat. If it wasn't a trained dog then you have a point but really this just seems like being skeptical for the sake of starting an argument.
The inscrutable po on 20/10/2006 at 18:21
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
Plus, chances are if he had reached the cat it would be unconcious from the fumes, so yes, he could have picked it up (if indeed that's what he was doing, which is questionable).
Is a dog in a smoky fire able to distinguish an unconscious cat from all the other odors in the building? Was kitty able to find a niche from which doggy could not pull it? Maybe in this situation the dog's super olfactory powers failed him and by the time he figured out what happened it was too late. After all I doubt they use very big fires when training the dog.
