I Took a Wild Guess about Why Some Psycho Fatally Shot an Eight Year Old Girl...AND I WAS RIGHT!

[Atamasama]

You’d think this was a thread about a Roald Dahl book.

[slumtrimpet]

I sincerely hope not.
But it apparently has happened.

[slumtrimpet]

That’s so Canadian.

[carrps]

@Atamasama

My dog talks. It’s rarely verbal, mostly with body language, but she can talk pretty clearly once you figure out how to understand her. I even have arguments with her.

She doesn’t use words and rarely understands any of my words, but I can read her body language and she understands my tone, so we can actually have a very limited conversation. It’s surreal but it’s pretty cool too. She’s a really smart dog.

For example, she might spin in a circle, which tells me she is excited to get something. I’ll ask her, what do you want? She will look up at where a particular bag of treats are. I will tell her no, you don’t get one now. She will spin in a circle again, and look at it again. I’ll say, I told you no, you can’t have them every day. She runs over to me and sticks her head under my hand and then licks it. I tell her that I love her too, but sucking up to me won’t work. She hops onto the recliner, puts her head on the arm, looks at me with a “I am the saddest dog in the world” look, and then gives a loud huff (which is like her way of cursing at me). I tell her tough shit dog, you could have it a lot worse. She then turns her back to me to show me that she’s disappointed and wants nothing to do with me for a while.

This was a real exchange from last week. It’s like having a teenage girl in the house who is tiny and covered in fur.

Holy cow, I have had nearly the exact same conversation with my dogs over the years. And, Max, our last, would sigh in that “huff” kind of way. We used to laugh at him. But he was totally spoiled.

@Tibby

Sure, dogs talk, just like cats, but the tones of their conversations differ:

Dog: woof…eat now, play now, smell stinky things now…woof!

Cat owners who don’t think dogs are sneaky, shifty, little manipulators, but simple creatures, have never lived with a dachshund.

[Gatopescado]

@kayaker

…fell off the tractor and got brush hogged.

I can’t even recall the last time I got brush hogged.

[excavating_for_a_mind]

@Gatopescado

I can’t even recall the last time I got brush hogged.

Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

[Atamasama]

I have a hog brush, does that count?

(It’s a shaving brush made with boar hair.)

[Baal_Houtham]

@Digger11

Is that somehow more tragic than losing both females to car accidents, or losing them to cancer?

I sure think so, and laws against murder are more severe than vehicular manslaughter. Accidents happen, health and highway related, it’s sad but inescapable. Murder, particularly of young people, is deeply repulsive in a way accidents are not.

There are some legitimate uses for guns that might cause fatal accidents that are no more repulsive (or “tragic”) than a death from cancer — but not the gun murder of of this particular girl.

[Tibby]

@carrps

Cat owners who don’t think dogs are sneaky, shifty, little manipulators, but simple creatures, have never lived with a dachshund.

I grew up in a house with 2 dachshunds (Sooky and Pooky), and later an Irish Setter, a Great Dane and a Schnoodle. They certainly had sneaky moments, but their deviousness never reached the level of most of the many cats I’ve had. It’s like the difference between a used car salesman and Lex Luthor.

But, I did have a ferret, named Zeke, who was as diabolical as the cats.

[Kimstu]

@Velocity

Obviously, this situation doesn’t justify murder. But parents are playing a very risky game when they declare, “My kid is going to behave obnoxiously, and we have no intention of making them stop. Deal with it.”

The thing is, though, that what qualifies as unacceptably “obnoxious behavior” in children can be pretty subjective. I think it would take some pretty aggressively antisocial behavior on the part of a bunch of young children playing outdoors in their own neighborhood’s city streets to ping my “behaving obnoxiously” meter.

IMHO, the mere fact that the young children playing outdoors were making noise doesn’t automatically qualify as obnoxious behavior. If you live in a city in a neighborhood with young children, you have to expect the usual children-at-play noise levels.

The little girl’s murderer perhaps should have paused to consider how noisy it’s likely to be in the men’s correctional facility where he’s about to spend at least several years. I expect it was fairly quiet in the hospital where he was taken to treat his injuries, though.

[DesertDog]

@Atamasama

I’ll ask her, what do you want? She will look up at where a particular bag of treats are. I will tell her no, you don’t get one now.

I’ll just leave this here.
I has a sweet potato.

[Beckdawrek]

Yeah you gotta quit those. She’ll stop eating her regular food.
Bear knew they came in the Walmart bag and would nearly jump in the bag when it came in the kitchen.

We went cold turkey on the cats. They were frantic for a day or two begging for them. But the withdrawals ended and now we’re much happier.
Boiled chicken livers are the only treat they get.

[WolfpackJeep]

@carrps

And, Max, our last, would sigh in that “huff” kind of way.

Ohhh, the “huff!” I grew up with a golden retriever. Whenever we went on a road trip, she expected to have the third row of the Suburban all to herself. Generally, this wasn’t a problem at all…but on some trips a small bag or two might end up back there. She still had plenty of room on that third seat, but was highly insulted at something being placed on her seat. She would curl herself up into a little ball on the seat, point her nose down in a sulking posture, and huff.

[carrps]

LOL, Max was small, so his huffs were mostly made when we didn’t give him treats he thought he should get.