Wednesday, December 10, 2008

News Reel - Why anthropomorphize dogs?

One of my pet peeves is when people anthropomorphize dogs. They are dogs. They are not humans. Sure, they think, but they don't think like humans - they think like dogs. I don't know why it irritates me, but it does. Probably bothers me because those people who anthropomorphize dogs are also the ones that have dogs that are 'uncontrollable'.

A dog was caught on video surveillance in Chile. They assume it is a stray dog and that it was trying to "save" another dog's life. I read the headlines and thought how sweet ... then I realized after watching the video surveillance footage that it doesn't actually show what the dog did when reaching the median.


There are two stories, here are the links:

Homeless dog tries to save dog hit by car in Chile
Little hope for Chile's highway hero dog


The way it was written in the first article, it sounded as though this happened recently, however, upon reading the second article, we realize that it actually happened in the spring (March 23). On the second article there is a link to the video footage so you can see the dog crossing traffic, then pulling the hurt dog in.


So here's what made me start thinking. This dog was so badly injured that it died from its injuries (per the second news clip). Why would a stray dog risk itself by crossing all those lines of traffic for a dying dog? hmmm ... Makes you think, right?


Perhaps it's true and he really was trying to save the dog. I know at this time of year, it sure is nice to think of these things with a good spin on things - unfortunately, for my cynical mind, I need facts. All I see in this footage is a dog going out to drag the carcass of another animal off the road.

Let's assume that the news casters are correct in their theory that this dog is a stray. Do we know for certain that this stray dog wasn't hungry/starved (being a stray dog and all)? Could he not have been pulling this other dog to the median to have a nice lunch?

I noticed that they don't show the dog reaching the median in the news video, but if you go to the YouTube video found here, you will note that although they do show the median, they still cut part out and you don't actually see what the dog did with the injured one once the median was attained.


Dogs are dogs. I have never met a dog that doesn't enjoy a nice snack of roadkill. They usually don't care what it is; the smellier the better. I know it isn't the prettiest thing to think of ...

What do you think?
Hungry Dog = Roadkill snack?
Or
Hero Dog = Trying to Save Another (Dying) Dog?

5 comments:

Lacy said...

w00f's DDF, we gotta go with hero dog..just because its christmas time and i love a heartwarming story...

b safe,
~rocky~

GoLightly said...

I won't watch the video, I've seen enough animals HBC. Had a bad enough day already..

Survivor dog.
But I am, as you may have noticed, cynical:)

RedDeerSeeker said...

OK.....sorry, but this is no hero. There is NO WAY this dog has a rescue on his mind. In most of the video it actually looks like the dog is trying to(for lack of a better term) 'hump' the dead dog. at the very least, he is looking for a snack.

Look people...dogs are not humans. I find it amazing that people can look at this video and say....awe....so sweet. NOT!

RedDeerSeeker said...

Watch the utube video, it shows a lot more.

GoLightly said...

Eleanor
I am so glad I didn't watch it. I thought that exactly, when I heard about it on the radio, everyone saying Awwww, I thought, eeeewwww.
That country isn't known for it's dog kindnesses. I am sure survivor dog was doing just that. Surviving.
Starving. When you see a free meal, you eat it.
Poor critters.