# The classic 'Who would you save, your drowning dog or a stranger?' question **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 12, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541 "2003-08-12T00:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![basset\_hound](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/basset_hound/32/1432_2.png) [@basset\_hound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/basset_hound)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/281 "2012-12-17T19:57:08Z")
I’d save my dog. No second thoughts. I’ve spent many thousands of dollars on basic supplies, not to mention the five surgeries and recuperation time to keep her alive. I welcomed that dog as a member of our family and she has reciprocated my love many times over. I have no doubt that she would give her life for mine (I know she’s not capable of that high-level of thought, but you get the idea). My dog is more than 14 years old. I value every single day I have with her. Sacrifice her for a stranger? Not a chance in anyone’s idea of hell. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/282 "2012-12-17T20:44:38Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I still doubt that all but a tiny minority of people could be that callous in RL. Can you imagine listening to someone drown? Each time they get their head out of the water they use what little air they have to beg you to help them…getting increasingly panicked… Drowning [doesn’t look or sound like that](http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/). If you’re going to try to guilt-trip people into picking some random human every time, at least get the signs right so you can craft an accurate tear-jerker - or so that anyone here can figure out when they should really be giving aid. There’s no begging, no waving, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/283 "2012-12-17T21:08:31Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Drowning [doesn’t look or sound like that](http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/). If you’re going to try to guilt-trip people into picking some random human every time, at least get the signs right so you can craft an accurate tear-jerker - or so that anyone here can figure out when they should really be giving aid. There’s no begging, no waving, etc. I didn’t claim that drowning was always like my description. You are however claiming that it is always devoid of cries for help etc. Well, a single example [refutes that](http://duke1.tbo.com/video/2012/nov/03/drowning-mans-cries-for-help-unanswered-91350/video-news/). As for a “guilt trip”, the whole hypothetical is a guilt trip. And normal human beings with empathy would choose to save a drowning human knowing that that person has hopes, dreams, opinions, maybe dependents, maybe he does some vital work like a doctor etc. Outside of the Pit I can’t say what I think of people who’d rather save their pet. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/284 "2012-12-17T21:29:35Z")
I have a dog that I quite like. But it’s just a dog. I’d kill it with my own hands if it were. I’d probably kick the dog into the water and tell it to fetch the drowning stranger. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/285 "2012-12-17T21:54:44Z")
from the OP of nine years ago: > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > … I’d save my dog over a stranger, for reasons I shall explain tomorrow. OK, laddo, you have **not** been back. Promise breaker. I think you gots some ‘splainin’ to do. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/286 "2012-12-17T22:35:26Z")
I have no life-saving training and I’m not a very strong swimmer. If I went out to get the person drowning the most likely scenario is that they would end up grabbing on to me and taking me under with them\*. Unless I can throw them something that floats I’ll be going after my dog. 1 live person and one live dog is a better result than 2 dead people and 1 dead dog. \*This was the answer my 1st aid instructor gave during a course I was taking when drowning scenarios were being discussed. The first rule is to not become a casualty yourself. I also know a few people with lifesaving training and a big part of that is how to disengage from a person who is panicking. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/287 "2012-12-17T23:01:52Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I didn’t claim that drowning was always like my description. You are however claiming that it is always devoid of cries for help etc. Well, a single example [refutes that](http://duke1.tbo.com/video/2012/nov/03/drowning-mans-cries-for-help-unanswered-91350/video-news/). So, did the people who heard the cries of help choose their dog over the man? Or did they just to what the typical human does when something unusual happens - Nothing (or running away like herd animals trampling other humans to death…or taking a video of the event for later profit). Frankly, if you have enough energy to yell for help, then you should be using it paddling for shore. Don’t expect me to allow my dog to die because after 80 years you didn’t bother to learn to swim. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/288 "2012-12-17T23:11:45Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I didn’t claim that drowning was always like my description. You are however claiming that it is always devoid of cries for help etc. Well, a single example [refutes that](http://duke1.tbo.com/video/2012/nov/03/drowning-mans-cries-for-help-unanswered-91350/video-news/). The cite I posted says that it is extremely rare for anyone in the process of drowning to be able to be able to cry out, not that it never ever happens. I brought a cite at least, to show why it’s probably not gonna go down like the zombie hypothetical, and your post, suggest. So I’m claiming the moral high ground here because my cite might actually save lives. 😃 Most people assuming gasping pitiful cries for help would overlook the vast majority of actually-drowning people and go save the paddling dog. (How’s **that** for a guilt trip? 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![manila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@manila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manila)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/289 "2012-12-18T01:07:12Z")
After reading this thread I have a powerful urge to throw the next five mutts I see into the Pasig River. Cholera would get them before they drowned but what the hell! ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/290 "2012-12-18T07:14:57Z")
I’d save my dog. The human should have known better. If it were a kid that would be different. I’d save a kid. The adults are on their own. I think humans are animals just like everything else. No different, no better. I don’t know if we have “souls”, but if we do, so do dogs. I do not feel any loyalty to the human species, greedy, selfish, violent apes that we are. If I feel loyalty to any species it would be to dogs, who love and trust us unconditionally, certainly more than we deserve. Letting the dog drown would be violating that trust. As for the human? Hey, you have that big brain. If you’re so damn special why are you drowning in a lake just like the dog? In forty years you never learned to swim and then you jumped in a fucking lake? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/291 "2012-12-18T15:36:34Z")
> [@manila](#): > > After reading this thread I have a powerful urge to throw the next five mutts I see into the Pasig River. Throw in the next five strangers you see, too. Might as well piss off _both_ sides of this debate! ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/292 "2012-12-19T12:34:33Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > No… there is a right answer unless you’re a Sociopath. > > I have a great lab who has been with the family since birth and is loved. However, while we often refer to her as a “member of the family” she is - in fact - a dog and I am a human. As a human… who I might add does not generally find strangers likeable, it would be inhuman to let another person die while saving a dog. > > Easy answer for any normally adjusted and sane person and I would be wary around anyone who thinks otherwise. I agree whole heartedly. I almost burst out laughing when I saw the “there is not right or wrong answer” It doesn’t matter how much you love your dog, you save the human being. End of story. Hell, I’d still save the human being even if only moments before he had killed my mother and threatened to kill me. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/293 "2012-12-19T14:58:51Z")
I’d pick the dog…if you saved the stranger, chances are good that you would be sued a few weeks later, because you “injured” the stranger in the course of rescuing him. You would have to hire your own lawyer to defend against this, and wind up broke.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/294 "2012-12-19T18:05:41Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Hell, I’d still save the human being even if only moments before he had killed my mother and threatened to kill me. I don’t much care which way someone answers this question but this is nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/295 "2012-12-19T18:21:03Z")
A person placed in the sole position to save a human life but chooses an alternative because they say the loss of that life doesn’t directly affect them is the action of a sociopath. When they say it doesn’t matter to them, I believe them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/296 "2012-12-19T18:26:45Z")
I love dogs, but it’d be an easy choice- save the person. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/297 "2012-12-19T18:31:52Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > A person placed in the sole position to save a human life but chooses an alternative because they say the loss of that life doesn’t directly affect them is the action of a sociopath. > > When they say it doesn’t matter to them, I believe them. Ah, so you’re not a sociopath if you can say “Fuck it, someone else will take care of it?” Convenient for you that this excuses you for not donating your entire disposable income to charity. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/298 "2012-12-19T18:41:07Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Ah, so you’re not a sociopath if you can say “Fuck it, someone else will take care of it?” > > Convenient for you that this excuses you for not donating your entire disposable income to charity. False equivalency. The question as stated is: You are presented with this choice, therefore it is your responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/299 "2012-12-19T18:49:23Z")
So, if you are faced with the choice of saving your 60 y/o mother or a 35 y/o stranger, do you pick the stranger because they are more likely to live longer and contribute to society? ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541/300 "2012-12-19T18:50:23Z")
> [@For You](#): > > So, if you are faced with the choice of saving your 60 y/o mother or a 35 y/o stranger, do you pick the stranger because they are more likely to live longer and contribute to society? You can start a new thread topic about that one if you like. In this one the choices are: a human stranger **or** your dog. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-classic-who-would-you-save-your-drowning-dog-or-a-stranger-question/194541.md?page=16)