According to this CNN story, an Argentinian dog picked up a newborn infant abandoned by by it’s teenaged mother and carried the baby to be with her pups and sheltered it from the near-freezing temperatures. A person in a nearby house heard the baby and calld the police.
In other news, there was a shed snakeskin in my yard yesterday, and my doberman Jake kept going out to bark ferociously at it, protecting the world from an 18" piece of paper-thin skin.
StG
If it makes you feel better my cat pooped in the bathtub. Not to be helpful or anything, just to poop someplace outside of the box. shakes fist menacingly at my cat
When I was less than 2 years old, I escaped under my yard’s fence. My collie kept me off the road by herding me down into the ditch, barking all the while, until a neighbour came upon me about a block away.
Well, that’s downright helpful considering all the other places poop could be left. Some of them secret. Just sayin’.
The cable guy was in my house a few days ago and I spotted a cat turd on the carpet under the piano. I don’t know if he saw it or not. Tried to be subtle about getting it up, but I don’t know how sucessful I was. Must have been from when Stokie was new - it was fossilized.
pbbth - My sister asked why I didn’t just throw the skin away where he couldn’t find it, but he was having so much fun having something to be protective about. I didn’t have the heart to take away his little pretend-burgler.
StG
Question is, if mama dog wasn’t raising a litter of her own just then, would she have been so protective of this strange-smelling hairless pup?
Probably not quite so much. But I think dogs have much the same reaction to baby humans that humans have to baby dogs: that cute face stimulates nurturing behavior.
Just because you’re falling down on your job to provide Jake with opportunities to show he’s hero material doesn’t absolve him of the need to prove he’s another canine hero. He knows he has a higher destiny, and is really rather frustrated with you for not having provided him the chance to prove it.
Until then that snake will have to do. Suuuure the skin might be all that’s left, now - but you don’t think it got scared out of it’s skin without help from Jake, do you? 
OtakuLoki - Maybe Jake and I should take a walk on the bad side of town so he can protect me? Maybe not.
StG
That’s something I’ve wondered off and on: Humans find babies of many other species to be very appealing. Not all, of course, since few people like baby spiders or insects, (and I find sloth-babies creepy due to how they move) but most baby animals that have 2-4 legs are cute, even the non-furry ones. Do other animals find human babies appealing? I don’t think most have the same sense of aesthetics that we do so they won’t think they’re “cute” but do some animals like them? Assuming we’re not talking about tail-pullers, that is.
When my sister had her daughter, my afghan hound, who never left my side, took to napping beside the crib. And if the baby cried and no one attended her immediately, he’d run from person to person and back to the baby, trying to get someone to [strike]shut her up[/strike] see to her. He had endless patience with babies and toddlers. If he was eating and they stuck their hands in the food bowl to try a bite, he’d just back off and let them in. If they fell asleep with their head on his side, he woldn’t move until they were up again. Learnng to talk - “eye eye eye (polk polk polk)” and he just loved them. He didn’t care about older kids and adults (except me), but he loved babies.
StG
Yes, all animals find human babies appealing, however for some the appeal is “taste”.
My mom’s beagle HATES children. He’s really affectionate with adults, and even with the 12 year old neighbour, but he growls and snaps at the 3 year old neighbour, and will growl and bark at other children when we take him for walks. We have no idea what it is about children that creeps him out. He spent the first 7 years of his life in a kennel, as a training dog for vet students, so never saw anyone younger than maybe 20 years old until this past summer, so we doubt it’s a case of reacting to past tail-pulling or eye poking.
It might be that he’s decided that animals fit into three groups. Bigger than dogs, dog-size, and smaller than dogs. Dog-sized animals might then be treated as rivals.
Depends on the animal. Our girl cat has always watched out for my youngest, although she’s never been crazy about the fur pulling and the tail nibbling. The boy cat is completely intolerant of babies and small children. He won’t let her near him, wouldn’t let my son near him - until his voice changed and he got some facial hair. Once he was hormonally “man” instead of “little boy”, the cat became his best friend and cuddle buddy. Weird cat.
And here I thought Hero Burgers had come out with a new product.
Sorry for the hijack, but are there any Dope threads about the lioness that adopted the gazelle, or whatever it was?
Perhaps she thought she was just bringing home a snack for later. Canines do train their pups with weakened prey…
Perhaps… but the cat is pretty much his size, and he’s never looked at her twice (of course, that cat is queen of the neighbourhood, and looking at her twice can get your eyes scratched out, but she’s never even had to hiss at him once!)
It should be interesting to see how he behaves as the 3 yo neighbour gets older. I wonder if his behaviour will change at some point? He’s a very well behaved dog, and adapted to his new life very quickly, it’s just this one thing that kind of worries my mom, because the neighbour likes to cross the street and come play with mom.
And just because he’s the cutest Beagle in the world, here’s a picture: Photo Storage | Photobucket
