There’s just you and your dog in the house when you die. Say the dog has enough dry food and water to last indefinitely. At what point would the dog stop seeing you as “Master” and start seeing you as “tasty hunk of meat on the floor”? Days? Weeks? Never?
Considering how gluttonous Rommel is, I give him a few hours.
Nah, I hear that your dog will wait at least a couple of days until he is super hungry, but your cat will start eating your eyeballs and genitals as soon as it gets hungry.
Edit: Aw crap, the dog would probably just eat the kibble indefinitely. The question about eating you when confronted without food is a lot more interesting.
If I get within a foot of my dog he will start to lick me and not stop unless I tell him “git!”, so with “git!” not forthcoming, I suspect it’s only a matter of time before he realizes that he can move on to chewing.
Dogs are extremely loyal. There are numerous stories of dogs guarding their dead masters’ bodies. Here and here are a couple, but both happened outdoors. The longest I found indoors was 5 days.
My dog has passed, but she wouldn’t have gnawed on me, esp if kibble was available. In fact, our bond was such that i really doubt she would eat me under any circumstances. I say doubt, `cause who really knows… i saw her roll and play in many a dead carcass!
We might get closer to the truth if we consider whether or not there is any evidence of canabalistic behavior amongst the canine species.
I’ve seen this happen one time. We had a guy who had been dead for about 5 days, locked in the house with three dogs. He had one arm hanging off the bed, and one or more of them ate his hand off at the wrist. We found the bones in another room.
I doubt they would have eaten any more at that point. He was quite well into decomposition (bloated, completely black skin, maggots working under the skin). Only a true carrion eater would have touched him.
There was a reputable staff report on this:
The conclusion was that dogs would only do it when they are absolutely starving. Cats on the other hand secretly hate people in general and only kiss ass because they want to be right there when the lonely owner dies alone and doesn’t have someone to discover the body for a day or two so that they can have some time to snack on the body.
This is pretty much how I feel about it. My dogs would hold off till starvation set in. The cats, on the other hand, would be looking at their little kitty wrist watches, going “Y’know… dinner’s about 15 minutes late, I think it’s time to start gnawing on the fat bitch…”
I came in to add this.
I hope that my Boomer would be so loyal.
I think a big part of it is the respect they felt for the victim while they were still alive… If they were indeed, the pack leader, they’d probably wait until they were absolutely starving and possibly eat the owner as a last resort. If the owner was like most Americans and let their dog walk all over them, it’d probably be chow time within a few days.
Awww… This thread is just adorable!
My darling dog loves to eat both my worn undies and dirty socks (and my boyfriend’s socks too). So, she’d probably wait until I got a bit whiffy and dive in.
(This is the same dog that gets hysterical if food isn’t left out. She won’t eat when I’m not home, but oh hell, should I forget to fill the bowl up with some dry food I get the drama act of “MY GOD! It’s been a MILLION years since you were here!!! I could have STARVED TO DEATH!!!”
Me: “Monkey? I just went to the car and came back for my lunch…”
Her: “I could HAVE DIED!!! Centuries passed!”)
You named your dog Rommel? Who’s your cat? Himmler?
Do wolves attacking and or eating dogs count as canine cannibalism? I know annecdote is not data, but its been a problem here locally.
Story
What do you mean “waiting”, the damn things are like little furry ninjas. Always trying to kill ya!
Forget the myths about the SAS and the like being given dogs and forced to kill them, they’re given cat’s and have to surive owning them!