I told my sister about that guy who committed suicide and his two pugs ate him after not having been fed for several days (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34455887/ns/us_news-life/). I mentioned to her that the pugs had been put up for adoption, and she said “That can’t be true. Dogs have to be put down once they’ve eaten human flesh because they develop a taste for it.”
So is it true? Do dogs have to be put down if they eat human meat?
I would assume that these dogs are sort of exempt from that, as they did not attack anyone, and merely ate him for survival after not having been fed dogfood for several days.
I don’t know why it would be true. It might be a little creepy to adopt a pet knowing that Fido had eaten his last owner’s leg, but providing one avoids dying unattended (generally a good idea anyway) I see no reason why the dog would need euthanasia.
It’s not exactly a man-eating tiger. If you fall asleep on the couch, and Rover tries to start snacking, I imagine you would wake up before he could strip you to the bones.
I have to agree with Shodan. In my mind, it even seems silly to consider.
My dogs eat the 100% red mean protein dog food. In their time around cattle, they haven’t shown the slightest inclination to attacking a cow out of some crazed bovine bloodlust. I suspect the same goes for humans.
I’m a little ashamed that I giggled slightly at the thought of two pugs chomping away at someone. I’ve always thought pugs were evil, and now I have evidence.
Generally that concept applies to wild animals - bears, tigers, cougars, wolvs, etc. they are pretty smart, and if they learn that humans are generally easy to catch they will keep doing it. Slower than gazelles, no horns or claws… Yum.
Dogs that have seriously attacked and maimed humans are usually put down on the theory they are vicious and dangerous; no second chance. Often this is sad, because little Jimmy taunted the poor dog until it had enough. But sometimes they ARE vicious and attack for no reason. just because they couldn’t operate a can opener or the fridge is not usuallya reason to put them down.
Absolutely untrue, of course. At a vet hospital where I worked, one of our clients came in a day after his wife’s suicide, white faced and asking to talk to the vet. It turns out the wife had blown her head off and the dog had eating some brain matter and he was worried that it might have some affect on the dog, but it didn’t. The dog was a very sweet dog (I’ll leave out the breed for confidentiality purposes) and they even mentioned him in the obituary as one of the survivors.
