# Cat saves small boy from dog **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469 "2014-05-14T21:28:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/101 "2014-05-16T14:13:12Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > This is almost certainly the case. Tolerance of human activity must have gone hand in hand with the adaptation to feeding on the rodents human habitation attracted. > > However, while this is probably true to some degree, it appears that the modern wild population of wildcats that appears to have given rise to the domestic cat are far more tolerant of taming than more northern populations. Apparently a Scottish wildcat will usually not tame at all as you suggest. But African wildcats purportedly often will if raised from young kittens. > > Which raises a chicken and egg question. Did African/Near Eastern wildcats give rise to the modern domestic cat ( as indeed it appears they did ) because they were already more tameable than their northern cousins? Or have those modern African/Near Eastern populations become more tameable after thousands of years of ooccasional crossing with domestic cats? Given how nasty those more northern populations of wildcats still are after generations of interbreeding with housecats I’d assume the former, but it is awful hard to say. I suspect it is a bit of both - that the subspecies of wild cats from which domestic cats were bred were inherently more susceptible to domestication; and of course there was a constrant interbreeding anyway - “domestic” cats often being really no more than “barn cats”, free to interbreed with their completely-wild cousins. In the beginning there would not have been much distinction between them. I know that there are modern breeders who attempt to make “exotic” pets, and what they typically do is attempt to create hybrids of various wild species of cat with domestic cats - because the purebread wild cats are a lot less tame-able (excluding the African/Near Easern wildcat), even when hand-reared from kittens. This indicates that there is a genetic component to tame-ability, and it would make sense that this genetic component, if not inculcated by humans, has been enhanced by millennia of human selection. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/102 "2014-05-16T15:44:44Z")
[Tara has been invited to throw out the first pitch](http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/16/tara-the-hero-cat-to-throw-out-the-first-pitch-for-the-bakersfield-blaze/) for the Bakersfield Blaze(minor league baseball). > [@](#): > > Update: Tara the Hero Cat and family will throw out the first pitch on Tuesday, May 20th, and BOGO offer for fans donating animal food/toy! Of course, being a cat, she’ll probably just swat it around until it rolls under the dugout bench. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/103 "2014-05-17T07:36:21Z")
I just came to post about this. Awesome cat! > [@Dogzilla](#): > > Sure it is. I’ve had dogs for 15 years. Not once has one ever gotten out/loose. Because, you know, I’m responsible and pay attention to where the damn dog is before I open the door. And I regularly walk my fence line to make sure I don’t have a digger on my hands. I’ve had dogs that climbed fences. My dad’s lab would be perfectly content unless a thunderstorm approached, and then would do miraculous things to get away. Like mangling a chainlink fence trying to chew through it. I’ve had dogs that could unlatch the gate. So you get a lock on the gate, right? Except someone forgets the lock and leaves the gate unlatched, and the dog gets out. > [@starwarsfreek42](#): > > One incident does not a vicious dog make. I would hope that whoever has the dog in custody will evaluate its behavior and its prospects for rehabilitation before putting it down. The dog did not chase a fast-moving child, it stalked up behind a toddler who was practically stationary and then mauled him from behind. And then bit the mother. > [@](#): > > No. If my dog is running loose for any reason, that is my fault. Period. End of story. It doesn’t matter how he got away, or why, or what precautions I did or did not take. True. You are responsible for the actions of your pet. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/104 "2014-05-17T11:40:34Z")
I love starting my weekend with by exercising my eye-rolly muscles… I just got this email from one of those internet petition sites: > [@](#): > > Dear Saje Lipshitz, > > Thank you for supporting: “Don’t euthanize Bakersfield dog that attacked 4-year-old child!” at [YouSign.org](http://YouSign.org) > > Your signature is valuable and thanks to it, the cause you support has just taken a step forward towards victory. > Share your petition so friends and colleagues can join you in supporting this important cause. > > Click here to share on Facebook! > To make sure all your friends see this, share your petition today and once again tomorrow. > > --------------------- Message to send your friends: --------------------- > > Hi! > > I have just signed for Don’t euthanize Bakersfield dog that attacked 4-year-old child! at [YouSign.org](http://YouSign.org) > It’s very important to get a lot of signatures for this one. > > Help me and sign this yourself: > > http:// www yousign org/en/bakersfield.dog > > Thanks! > Saje Lipshitz And no, I am not Saje Lipshitz (which sounds like the punchline to a bad joke). Folks, how’s about trying to save one of the thousands of sweet dogs in shelters that have done NOTHING wrong?? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/105 "2014-05-17T12:10:57Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Tara has been invited to throw out the first pitch](http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/16/tara-the-hero-cat-to-throw-out-the-first-pitch-for-the-bakersfield-blaze/) for the Bakersfield Blaze(minor league baseball). > > Of course, being a cat, she’ll probably just swat it around until it rolls under the dugout bench. 😃 I’m sorry but this is just fucking retarded. I’m sure this wont traumatize the cat at all. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/106 "2014-05-17T12:26:04Z")
I HATE when they do that crap :mad: Leave the poor cat at home, she’ll have no clue why she’s there, she doesn’t care about accolades, all she wants is her territory and her people. Idiots. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/107 "2014-05-17T14:18:55Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I HATE when they do that crap :mad: Leave the poor cat at home, she’ll have no clue why she’s there, she doesn’t care about accolades, all she wants is her territory and her people. > > Idiots. I agree, but money is involved; people will come to the game just to see the poor cat. They said “The cat and her owner”, so I suspect the kid will be throwing the ball anyway. Leave the cat at home. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/108 "2014-05-17T14:21:59Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I love starting my weekend with by exercising my eye-rolly muscles… > > I just got this email from one of those internet petition sites: I got it, too. Did the “Save the Internet” bastards share my name with every other petition on the web, or did someone get our names from the SDMB? I only use this email account for the 'Dope, so I suspect the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/109 "2014-05-17T14:24:07Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I love starting my weekend with by exercising my eye-rolly muscles… > > I just got this email from one of those internet petition sites: > And no, I am not Saje Lipshitz (which sounds like the punchline to a bad joke). > > Folks, how’s about trying to save one of the thousands of sweet dogs in shelters that have done NOTHING wrong?? I got that stupid email, too, and I totally agree - help out a dog that deserves it, not this one. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/110 "2014-05-17T14:34:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I agree, but money is involved; people will come to the game just to see the poor cat. > They said “The cat and her owner”, so I suspect the kid will be throwing the ball anyway. Leave the cat at home. I think a local MMA event would have been better. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/111 "2014-05-17T15:00:39Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I love starting my weekend with by exercising my eye-rolly muscles… > > I just got this email from one of those internet petition sites: > And no, I am not Saje Lipshitz (which sounds like the punchline to a bad joke). > > Folks, how’s about trying to save one of the thousands of sweet dogs in shelters that have done NOTHING wrong?? > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I got it, too. > Did the “Save the Internet” bastards share my name with every other petition on the web, or did someone get our names from the SDMB? I only use this email account for the 'Dope, so I suspect the latter. That turned up in my spam folder this morning. I knew it was spam because it started, ‘Dear Saje Lipshitz…’ Actually, it had my name. I could not remember ‘signing’ a petition, nor even reading one. If **carnivorousplant** ’s email address is only used for this site, it sounds like this site may be the source for the spam. I wonder if it has anything to do with the current malware issue? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/112 "2014-05-17T15:07:52Z")
> [@starwarsfreek42](#): > > Small children move quickly and look like prey. Every year or so I see a kid getting killed in the news. In fact [Victoria Stillwell was on tv not too long ago](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPojwwiZqQA) talking about a dog who shook a toddler to death. Do you think those dogs should be put down, or do they also deserve a second chance? > [@](#): > > According to the article the owners knew that the dog had a problem with bikes and children, and should have consulted a professional trainer or behaviorist in order to address the problem. Clearly they did not. Do you have a cite for that, or is your “clearly” based entirely on the attack? Because training an animal isn’t an instantaneous thing. The dog may very well have been receiving training, or the owners might have planned to, but the attack happened before it started. It’s also not clear from context what behavior the dog had exhibited before. The owners say he “didn’t like kids or bicycles,” but there’s no indication of what that means. I’ve had more than one dog who didn’t like mailmen. They never attacked one. They’d just bark and growl when he was at the front door. If the owners had seen the dog bark at the window every time a bike went by, that’s a far cry from expecting the dog to try to kill someone. > [@](#): > > And yes, I have seen a dog catch a cat. The neighbor’s pit bull caught a cat and grabbed it up and shook it, just like that dog was shaking the kids leg as he backed up. The cat died quickly. You know what that dog was? Vicious. > [@](#): > > No. If my dog is running loose for any reason, that is my fault. Period. End of story. It doesn’t matter how he got away, or why, or what precautions I did or did not take. It \*is \*completely possible to guarantee that the dog will never escape. Have you ever actually owned a dog? I had a dog chew its way through a hollow-core door to get out. My friend has a dog that would build itself steps to get over a fence by dragging around patio furniture - he’d then walk two miles to _my_ parents house, because he knew they shamelessly spoil any dog they get their hands on. And, of course, making sure a dog _never_ escapes requires being on alert every single time you enter or exit your house, everyday, for years. Making one mistake when trying to get in the house with an armful of groceries does not an irresponsible pet make. That said, the dog is still their responsibility, and they’re on the hook for its behavior, even if they’d taken reasonable precautions to keep the dog contained. They should be on the hook for medical expenses at the least, probably some emotional damage, as well. And, of course, it’s completely possible that there was genuine, dangerous negligence going on there. It’s not possible to determine that just from this article. > [@](#): > > It was just out doing what dogs do when untrained and unsupervised. No, it absolutely was not, and dogs that do behave this way need to be destroyed for the safety of the community. There were no existent circumstances here. It was an unprovoked, potentially deadly attack, and there’s no excuse for that sort of behavior in a dog. None whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/113 "2014-05-17T16:52:18Z")
> [@InternetLegend](#): > > I have to admit that my big tabby had much the same look on his face after he trailed a turd out of the litter box and then scraped it off onto the carpet. Now that’s what I call “stinking outside the box.” I Am Not A Cat, but I’m a lifelong cat person. I love cats the way most people love children, but even I have to say the sentimental silliness being spouted all over the news and webs is making me cringe. Tara was defending her property against a trespassing dog. “Rescuing” the child was not her objective. In my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/114 "2014-05-17T17:23:07Z")
She was indeed protecting her property, which in her mind included the kid. Still, GO CAT!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/115 "2014-05-17T20:48:12Z")
> [@saje](#): > > She was indeed protecting her property, which in her mind included the kid. Sure, could be. Or, Jeremy might have been a person who is allowed on her territory, or belongs on it, and was more or less irrelevant to Tara’s police action. Either way, regardless of her motives, she saved the boy from far worse injury than he ended up with. I’m not convinced that a human person (even a mother in full attack mode) would have gotten the dog off that leg so quickly. > [@saje](#): > > Still, GO CAT!! 😃 Yes! My wife and I watched the video half a dozen times, practically cheering Tara’s body blow and follow-up chase to the frontier. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/116 "2014-05-17T21:12:10Z")
The video clip needs a trumpet playing “charge” or the sound of an F-15 in afterburner. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/117 "2014-05-17T21:35:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The video clip needs a trumpet playing “charge” or the sound of an F-15 in afterburner. Some of my favorite youtube clips are the ones where people take a video of cats fighting and edit in light sabers with sound effects. Probably won’t be long before this vid gets edited for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/118 "2014-05-18T00:40:41Z")
Is it normal for a three year old child to be allowed to play close to a footpath and the street? Especially while obscured by a parked vehicle? ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/119 "2014-05-18T00:43:23Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Is it normal for a three year old child to be allowed to play close to a footpath and the street? Especially while obscured by a parked vehicle? In a residential neighborhood with mom right there in the yard? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469/120 "2014-05-18T00:50:20Z")
When I was four my parents were perfectly fine with my visiting my friend three doors down in Clairemont (San Diego). I was told not to go into the street, and I didn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-saves-small-boy-from-dog/688469.md?page=7)