That's bullshit. It doesn't matter how you breed them, dogs would be much happier in the wild and off a leash. Furthermore, dogs are intelligent enough to survive on their own and have a sense of self, a conscience even. Just because your dog likes you, don't delude yourself into thinking it's any less of a captive. I'm sure dolphins like their trainers too.
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Ah, so that's what he was getting at last post! He's pretty much a real-life N from Pokémon Black and White!
There are pets and there are companion animals. The former are pretty much your captives while the latter can be with you completely on their own accord.
We currently take care of two cats, both of them have full freedom to wander our neighbourhood, play and hunt as they will but can always return to home with clean litterbox and bowls full of food. They are quite clearly bonded to us to the point where one of them got physically sick when she had to live with my great aunt for few weeks. I don`t believe they see themselves as our prisoners, if anything they are the ones in charge...
My cats can roam free a couple of hours each day. They still come back when they are bored, cold, wet or hungry. The female usually only wants to check that everything is as usual, then she wants to go in again. The male loves to slumber for hours on the sofa on our porch.
Cats are intelligent enough to realize that life with humans is a pretty easy and laid-back existence; no need to hunt for food, plenty of dry and warm places to sleep, people grooming you regularly.
Summer-cats (i.e. cats that are bought at the beginning of the summer as kittens, played with all summer at the summer residence, and then left behind when the people go back to the city in the fall) usually can't survive on their own, as they have learned to depend on humans.
Domesticated animals don't work that way.
If you release a domesticated population into the wild *some* will survive, the majority will not.
Take fancy rats. They have been domesticated so abruptly and their breeding so controlled that even if you got a wild mother rat to accept them as a newborn pup it would not survive on its own.
Dogs have been with humans for at least a hundred thousand years. They are irreversibly changed and intertwined with our lives. We are as dependent on them as they are on us, even in the modern age, we need dogs and dogs need us to take care of their needs which can't be met in the wild.
Fuckwit. Tell you what, you go out in the wild, hunt for food, find your own shelter, keep yourself safe, warm and healthy, all with no help from modern conveniences or anyone else. Then pop back here and tell us how much happier you are without all the comforts of civilisation
Okay, now the previous entry makes sense why it was submitted to FSTDT.
This is why context is vital, kids.
That's bullshit. It doesn't matter how you breed them
Except it totally does. That's why they're called dogs, and not wolves, you imbecile. Or are you going to deny that they've undergone domestication now?
Furthermore, dogs are intelligent enough to survive on their own and have a sense of self
And yet, they fail the Mirror Test. Also, in experiments comparing the performance of dogs and wolves (raised by humans) at problem-solving, researchers found that dogs looked at humans for direction significantly more than wolves did (who mostly ignored humans and tried to solve the problems on their own). This doesn't necessarily mean that dogs are less intelligent, but that they've adapted to humans to the point that they're attuned to our behaviour in a way other animals aren't.
Just because your dog likes you, don't delude yourself into thinking it's any less of a captive. I'm sure dolphins like their trainers too.
False analogy. Dolphins are captured in the wild and have no longstanding relationship with humans as a species. Dogs, on the other hand, have been associating with humans for well over 15 000 years.
You're zero for three. Try again, dumbass.
Apollo, I recommend to you Sir Terry Pratchett's "Men at Arms", with specific attention to the chapters dealing with the "Dog's Guild".
Regards & all,
Thomas L. Nielsen
Yea, I guarantee that your typical pug, teacup chihuahua, or corgi (for example) wouldn't last a week in the wild. They would either starve, be killed & eaten by a larger predator (which could be anything as small as a rat, for the chihuahua), or die of dehydration because they no longer have the instincts to properly hunt or find water.
And in fact, abandoned dogs are left to their own devices all the time - and guess what? The overwhelming majority die due to starvation and/or disease!
But look at me, expecting reason from a PETA supporter. The only thing that kills more stray dogs than starvation is PETA.
Addendum, as I'm on a different computer, and side-note.
Sure, there are people who are mean to animals. I met a Saint-Bernard last year who had been abused by former owners, and she was simply terrified of new humans. It was horrible to watch; that large dog screaming in fright when humans came too close (her barks were clearly not just "look, humans are coming", like most dogs "say"). But as we all stayed well away, she saw that we were not dangerous, and calmed down, close to her new (and very loving) owners. If she wanted to, she could have just run off; she was big enough to topple over her female owner, if she really made a run for it.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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