Category: Animal House
After watching how different people ahve treated our puppy, I've come to the conclusion that you can tell a lot about a person and their personality just by watching hwo they treat pets, not just hwen they're good, but when they're being particularly bad, the pets i mean. I guess i would suppor tmy kind of theory by saying that because they feel that animals are not worht as much as they are, that they can treat them however they wish, which in turn reveals to other people watching them who they really are beneath all those surface niceties. D you guys agree?
yes, i agree.
Well an extreme example of that is people who abuse animals often go on to abuse or kill people, it's thought they are practising on the unfortunate animals. I believe that animals know who is ok or otherwise, is your pup more receptive to some visitors than others, I'd trust your pup's intuition even at this young age.
I definitely agree. I've heard it said that you can't fool dogs or children. I think we can generalize that to animals. I used to work with the elderly in their homes. I learned that the best way to earn their trust was to try and make friends with their animals.
Lou
Well, when my bus driver once came over to give me back my papers that I'd left on the bus, he did bark and try to protect me, but that was becuase his previous owners kept him in their garage for pretty much most of the time. But, yes, he's always so happy to see me, nad hwen I was gone for about two months, he jumped all over me when I came back! So...yeah. But the point that you made about people who abuse animals go on to abuse people is very good. I never thought of that.
As the owner of a guinea pig and a new dog I agree with you Iris! My new dog Daisy was abused by her former owner! It really breaks my hear to know that and the person who did it lives right across the street and there's nothing I can do about it!
Grace it's common with serial killers who have been known to start with animals.
wow, that's horrible! Well, wow, I guess Ididn't think that I'd find much support for what I've noticed, but I guess it's true, then. So, I guess that kind of goes for making friends too? Like, if you brought them over and saw how they treated your pet? Would that be a good determinant of their personalities?
It might be, and I've even heard of women deciding whether or not to stick with someone they are dating based on how he treats her pet.
But here's something interesting - I've known at least one person who actually was wonderful to animals, especially dogs, but nasty to people. So, I guess you can't always tell.
Hi. I do agree that how people treat animals says a lot about them. Not always, as someone just pointed out, but often. Goblikn is right. I have my bachelor's degree in Psychology, and that's one of the things we learned. One of the warmning signs of a future sociopath can be things like kids who are cruel to animals, and have no remorse for it, etc. I also know of a woman who refused to leave an abusive relationship because she was afraid what her abuser would do to her cat after she left. she found a shelter that would foster the kitty until she got on her feet, then let her have it back. How horrible that abusers use animals as pawns! some peple don't really care for animals, which is just fine, so long as they're not cruel to them.
Yes, I do agree. It has been said that "In order to determine a man's character, look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.".
Yuri Brezhnev
I've got a friend who hates cats. But when she comes over, she is very good about tolerating my cat. I appreciate people who can put their personal feelings aside when they visit people with pets they don't really like.
I love animals, they taste great.
Funny, smart ass. LOL
We have 5 dogs, 3 of which are mine. Sunshine and Chiquita, who belong to my mother and youngest brother respectively, both have similar personalities. They are stubborn and if let to run around outside the yard, (which Chiquita manages to do even though we don't intentionally let her), they would not listen to us easily to come back in the gate. However, Sunshine usually won't be without Chiquita and/or his brother Azi, whereas Chiquita can be with or without the others. Also, both will not allow people to take them because they run away from even us a lot of the time. Sunshine is an especially nervous dog, who tenses and squirms when picked up and backs away when we kneel down to pet him. (We've had all these dogs, excluding Chiquita who had been given to us, since puppyhood and have never physically abused or hit them; that's just how he is.) I think of that nervous personality like my mom's because she can easily panic about stuff and is emotional. Chiquita, like my brother, is very affectionate toard us, but then thinks she can go whereever she wants and make herself at home there. She often ends up following us walking to the store and will wait for us to get out. If we yell at her to go home, she will only go part of the way and hide behind something. Then she will either end up sneaking behind us the rest of the way, and/or will follow us home. She also eats out at my grandma's a few houses down and at several of our neighbor's across the street, so can be picky about eating the dog food we give her at home. In fact, for being the oldest and almost the smallest, she even feels entitled to eat other dogs' food, like when we visited my aunt who has an elderly blind dog who is larger, he was eating his food and my cousin saw Chiquita growl and snap at him. She also did that when he wanted to interact with her but of course could only find her by smell and touch. (She was one of the few dogs he respected and got allong with, as he had been aggressive toward most dogs and cats who were smaller, not including her.) She also expects the other dogs here not to touch her food even when she walks away from it and will hurry to make sure they don't get it if they go near it. Anyway, so Chiquita insists on acting the dominant one. As for my dogs, Azi is the opposite of Sunshine, he is usually very calm and seems to have a more serious nature. He will usually listen to us, but is not as active, even toward most other dogs, excluding Sunshine and Penny (our larger dog). If I have anything in my hand or put anything down, Azi is the first to come and investegate what I have. If not somewhere else or trying to get your attention from another dog, He will usually sit and watch people or just whatever's going on. He is very quick to learn, like (if we don't put the gate latch all the way down) trying to push it up with his nose, or once when he saw my dad wipe his feet on something, he went and did the same with his back feet on it. He also loves shaking hands and will repeatedly do this on his own (I think) just because he knows we like to do that, and probably because he knows it will distract our attention from the other dogs, who don't do that trick usually even when asked to. Penny, my large mix, is also very curious and investegative, but although she is also friendly, she is much more active than Azi. She is usually gentle (I guess depending on what she senses) toward the smaller dogs, and will not bite people, but does not follow commands easily unless you use a stern voice. When she is in my room, she seems to wait quietly for me when I leave and come back, and she will usually jump on my bed and appropriately lay down with her head on the pillow, just to get a reaction from me I guess, which is usually for me to just go toward her and pull her off the bed or exclaiming in a raised but not angry voice: "Hey!Get off my bed!" (Sometimes I just have to go toward her and she'll jump off before I get there.) She also seemed to once make up her own game where when I threw a large bone (that I usually give to distract her from getting into my stuff), she tossed and dragged it 'till she got to or near to where I was and left it for me to get and rethrow it. We played several turns of this, and I just thought it was cool because for not being trained, she did this herself. When outside, She sleeps on top of instead of inside her doghouse and stands on it to look into my room. (She would only be able to see in one side as it's a somewhat large rectangular room.) Finally, my newest dog, Star, has her own unique quirks as well. Besides being the only dog I know that barks a regular bark (not the high-pitched one) for attention, if we bark or howl, she also responds with a bark or howl. It's pretty amusing. *smile* She also howls in response to made-up tunes my mother "sings" by doing a semi-high-pitched thing, I would guess like opera singing, but not varying the tone too too much, yet doing it so that iit has some kind of tune. (My mother does that, my dog just howls.) I sometimes joke that Star would probably like listening to opera music. Because she happens to be in a high place, (she has a large crate but I put a box and her bed on top of it), she can go from my Brailler's desk (wich she seemingly prefers to hang out on a lot), to my computer desk (which she knows will get my attention because I always take her off it and put her back in her bed.)
By the way, Chiquita and Star are both chihuahuas, Sunshine and Azi are chihuahua mixes, and as mentioned, Penny is a mix of I think Dad said she looks like part Lab and something else. I don't know, she's slender and has floppy but not very long ears and a straight tail that seems to be held out and not too short/notpointed nose. Anyways, and I also used to have this small pooddle/terrier mix named Jubilee, who, besides also being smart and pretty obedient, used to make these vocalizations that, to me were like laughing, or like maybe a monkey. I don't know, but she would do this when I would be near her; I think it was a way of saying she was happy to see me. It was interesting, as she was the only dog we've had and that I honestly know of who used to do that. She also used to do the "singing" thing, wel like Star does, in response to Mom's "singing". *smile*
I care about how cruel a human being might treat an animal, and I think it's wrong, but in my opinion a human being will always be of higher value than an animal. I think it's sad that there are people who treat animals as though they were human beings because it shows how the human family has failed to live in peace and in love.
Wow, i never thought that this topic would stil be going! lol Plus, I really liked that quote about judging a man by how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. That is totally true. if the person has a solid character, then he/she will treat all with respect, whether they are lower than him or higher in position than him. On the point about animals being a human's inferior, i don't think that it's sad to treat your pet as though you would treat a person. Being an open Christian, i firmly believe that not only has God put us in charge of the Earth, in terms of making sure that it's healthy and all, but to love the animals and care for them. If you've the hospitality to let an animal into your home, then you should treat it as one of your close friends of family members. Yes, i do agree that we have built many walls in our dealings with one another, but contrastly, i do feel that animals provide us with a glimpse into Gods nature and character that sometimes, just sometimes, people can't, if that makes sense. lol
There may be something to what you're saying. I remember a while back I was watching a documentary about the nazis on the history channel and they showed Hitler stooping down a little to pet his dog, but instead of the dog wagging its tail or rubbing itself against the bastard's legs, it sort of backed away in a terrified manner. Do you think animals can sense evil? I know that in this case, the poor dog must've been abused by the bastard but still, I don't know, there have been times when I visit somebody and their dog barks endlessly at me. The usual comment I get from them is: Dog's can sense evil. I don't consider myself an evil person, but can dogs really sense evil? I wonder...
I hate it when pets get treated like something you'd walk on. It's really sad when you come accross animals that have been badly hurt by thoughtless idiots, that call themselves pet owners. My dogs are like family to me, and I even let them sleep on my bed. So, if anyone hurt my dogs, they'd better wish that they didn't in the first place. My dogs are my babies, and I'd never let them get hurt.
I agreee with the poster who said we should treat our animals as people. They are a living thing, just as we are, and deserve our respect and our love just as we would love another person. Yeah, I know sometimes, we hate other people too. Point is, they are not to be ignored. We've had two cats, and I've learned a great deal about myself from them. I thought I was a patient person, but our current cat came from an animal blood bank, and had a really hard time living with people. He was very scared of people, and it took him a long time to warm up to us. Somehow, I knew that I couldn't force the relationship to grow. It had to do so on his terms. I'm betting that anyone who has had animals has probably learned something through the experience.
Lou