Who is in the mood for a shaggy dog story?

Lou

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Companion animals have always been sort of a controversial area for vegans. If animals are sentient than people can't own them. Often I have heard vegans use the concept of a partnership. The dog and his companion enter a partnership. Not formal. Not ever verbal. but still and understanding. I will take care of you in exchange for ______. Probably writing up the agreement between a cat and his human would be challenging or could be humorous. I will take care of you in exchange for you bringing me small dead rodents. Or shedding on any garment I leave on my bed. or not suffocating me in my sleep.

Anyway, courts of law have sometimes found themselves in the situation of trying to decide who owns an animal when that animal's ownership is called into question. sometimes the judge decides the best route is just to ask the animal.

For entertainment purposes here are two examples of that.
The first is an article I ran into recently. It does explore a little bit of the history, philosophy and sociology of the concept of pet ownership. It also describes in detail one of the earliest documented incidences of a dog deciding who its owner is.
You can read the full article here.
https://narratively.com/the-dog-who-took-the-witness-stand/

The second story is from an episode of Judge Judy.

 
@Lou - That's pretty funny. Makes me think of my dog - that totally likes my son better than me, but I'm the one taking care of him. Basically I'm the boss, and my son is the one who gives him all the treats. LOL :joy::sob:
I had the same kind of thoughts of that video clip. The stiff looking woman is the one taking to dog to the vet, the one giving the dog medicine, etc. And also, I think some dogs can learn to notice when it's a bad time to approach a human, and even I wouldn't go near that lady. But then again, I admit that I might be just imagining things -my social skills deffinitely are really bad.
 
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So you guys don't think dogs make good witnesses? In that first article, the reporter also injected some doubt if Justice had been served.
 
So you guys don't think dogs make good witnesses? In that first article, the reporter also injected some doubt if Justice had been served.
Well, yes, and no. I mean, if a dog cowards when a human approaches, it is a clear sign that the human is abusive. Or then it could be that the dog has been abused in general by all the humans the dog has ever encountered. But I would like to see some footage of how the dog is being handled by the humans, before making a full conclusion of which one is better owner. But then, the humans could pretend to be better guardians, when filmed, than what they usually are...
It's complicated. But also interesting to think about.
I haven't read the article well yet. I'm going to read it tomorrow morning, it's already late at night here where I live.
 
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Okay, I can't sleep when this just goes on and on in my mind...

There is this story, based on real life of James and Bob.
One day James noticed an injured cat at his appartment staircase and when James asked the neighbours if the cat was theirs, they answered that it wasn't. So then James, a former homeless and a drug addict, took the cat to the vet, and spent almost all of his money to the cats medication, vet bills and cat food, nursing the cat back to health.
After that, James thought that the best thing for the cat would be to return to his normal life, living on the streets, but as James tried to release him, the cat literally followed James into the bus, when James was on his way to work, where he sold Big Issue magazine and played guitar. Then the cat followed him back home.

The story proves that sometimes, animals chose their guardian.
...Or then, Bob wasn't going to let his food source to run off... But I don't believe that and don't want to think about it. What I believe, is that they met so that they both could start healing, and that they developed a real friendship.
 
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So you guys don't think dogs make good witnesses? In that first article, the reporter also injected some doubt if Justice had been served.
Nah - I trust my dog 100% At the end of the day, if I called him, he'd come to me. Oddly, he listens to me when both of us are together. ...He's a great dog. I honestly trust his judgement when it comes to people. There have only been 2 people he didn't like. Both times they were people that also felt a bit "off" to me as well.

(And side note: IF he did choose my son over me, he'd be in pretty good hands. ;) )
 
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So you guys don't think dogs make good witnesses? In that first article, the reporter also injected some doubt if Justice had been served.
I think there might be certain benefits in bringing animal victim to the court: when people in the court see the animal for themselves, they can start to understand more deeper level, that this is about living, breathing, sentient being, not just some stupid animal, who will forget everything eventually.