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Dexter, a spaniel long-haired chihuahua mix who was severely injured by explosives that were strapped to his body and detonated, was reunited with his owner, Shukriyyah Albaaqee, after she saw reports of the dog on the news.



Police in Stockton, Calif. responded to reports on Wednesday that an explosive device had detonated and discovered an injured dog at the scene. They then discovered that someone had strapped the device to the dog and set it off.

The dog was rushed to a local animal hospital, where he was given the nickname “Rocket.” According to ABC’s Sacramento affiliate, KXTV, the dog was injured but in stable condition. He had a large, deep wound, roughly 10 inches long.

“It’s quite a miracle that he’s still alive right now,” a veterinary worker told KXTV. “He’s a trouper. He’s a tough little guy.”

Employees at the animal hospital did not believe Dexter was a stray.

Reports of the incident on the news led Shukriyyah Albaaqee to the animal hospital where she provided pictures and home video as proof that Dexter indeed belonged to her.

Dexter will stay at the animal hospital until at least next Tuesday while he heals.

RedRover, a national nonprofit animal protection organization based on Sacramento, is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever strapped the explosive to Dexter and detonated the device. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/05/california-dog-burned-b
y-explosives-reunited-with-owner/

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Originally posted by ANTHONYT:
I'd rather use a dog than a human.

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Originally posted by Wishimay:

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Originally posted by ANTHONYT:
I'd rather use a dog than a human.

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They both feel pain, but I'm pretty sure a dog doen't ever do ANYTHING to ever deserve it. Humans, though...

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Dogs never fight and kill each other or eat other animals.

Look, I agree blowing up a dog is pretty much awful. But there is nothing in life that is innocent. If you object to blowing up a dog, object to blowing up a human too. Neither one "deserves" it.

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Riona, I beg to differ

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They just don't do either one for FUN...that's where our species differs, in my opinion.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Sometimes, in some cases, we are an amazingly sick species...

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Originally posted by AURaptor:
Going off topic as to who 'deserves' such a fate... no dog ever volunteered for a bomb vest. And while most humans have been duped into it, there are more than a few , I suspect, who did do against their own will. Do this, and we'll give your family some money, and take care of them. Refuse, you and your family will be killed. What'll it be ?

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Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Makes my blood boil too Niki.

People who hurt animals for amusement will often do the same to humans. They lack basic empathy skills. you can see it in kids sometimes. Scary.

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If I keep projecting human values, feelings and motives onto animals (plants,
objects), that's called anthropomorphism. This would be a lapse in reasoning.
But thank you for teaching it so well, Walt Disney!

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

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If I keep projecting human values, feelings and motives onto animals (plants,
objects), that's called anthropomorphism. This would be a lapse in reasoning.
But thank you for teaching it so well, Walt Disney!

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Is greed a higher brain function? No? Does a lion feel satisfaction on chowing down on a fresh kill? After the frustrations of failed attempts, there must be SOMETHING to encourage the animal to keep hunting. Do they also understand mortality? They would have to.

None of the specific examples I mentioned are anything beyond the realm of science nor fact, nor are they anthromorphized beyond HUMANS ARE ANIMALS and as such animalistic behaviours, mental states, and understandings are shared in common.

There is good and evil tendencies in all things.

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"A few years ago if you asked a scientist to discuss animal emotions they might laugh at you," said Robert Defranco, director of the Animal Behavior Center in Queens, N.Y., and author of several research papers on animal emotions.

Defranco says animals definitely have primary emotions like fear. They can also feel anger. And now there is growing evidence that they have secondary emotions like love, jealousy and greed. The proof may rest in the part of the brain called the amygdala. It's believed that fear and possibly other emotions are linked to neurons in the amygdala.

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I have heard of predators wasting their food before. I'd chalk it up to a bad instinct.
I don't call it evil.

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Cats big and small teach their young how to hunt that way.

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When it comes to dolphins--and ducks, by the way--it's not "gang rape" or even "rape"...it's the instinct of the males to be the one who mates, and who mates depends on who "gets the gal". It's the ANCILLARY result that females die, not the intent.

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I happen to think there is a vast difference between humans and animals--we've been through this discussion before. I see humans as having choice, animals for the most part being ruled by instincts. People do good and bad things, and often, if not most of the time, do them for psychological reasons. They also do amazingly compassionate things sometimes. To ascribe "jealousy" to a wild species doesn't work for me...the urge to procreate causes many things and is strong in all species (including our own). I can't view anything animals do as "greed"; hoarding food, protecting it from others, is survival mechanism. We are just so much more complex that, in my mind, it's harder to find the reasons for some things. But they're there.

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While anthropomorphism has generally taken on a negative connotation in science, there is also the risk of science assuming that only humans possess any degree of certain traits. This is called anthropocentrism, whose practitioners either believe in or unintentionally form an outlook of human exceptionalism. Darwin dismissed these ideas of human exceptionalism in his book The Descent of Man, to the chagrin of many religious philosophers, by saying that our differences are "only in degree, and not in kind."

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

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I have heard of predators wasting their food before. I'd chalk it up to a bad instinct.
I don't call it evil.

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Well, perhaps calling it evil was over the top on my part. I was merely trying to illustrate that humans and animals aren't so different, and the implication in this thread was that "humans are evil."

I think it's more like "some humans and animals do some uncool things to other humans or animals sometimes."

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Six, that's fantastic, I'm envious! As to snakes, I've had them for decades, and some even have personalities, as I've mentioned before. Yeah, I move spiders carefully, too, especially our Daddy Long Legs, as I respect them for keeping other insects in check. There are only two species I will kill: flies and earwigs. Flies because I can't let them live in the house, earwigs because I just have a "thing" about them; they give me the creeps and always have, so if one is near me, I don't want ANY chances it will get nearer! I "rescue" worms after a heavy storm too; mostly I like to respect all life.

Byte, we'll have to agree to disagree I'm afraid. In the instance of a cat "playing" with a mouse, as mentioned, that's instinct. Cats big and small teach their young how to hunt that way. As for other species hunting "for fun", I would say they do so out of instinct, rather than for fun. Certainly animals play...again in the case of cats, it's a learning skill, whereas dolphins, river otters, crows and ravens play just for the enjoyment, as has been documented many times. But killing for fun? I find it hard to believe; in the wild, hunting puts an animal in the way of potential injury, and injury is death, so why a species would hunt for any reason other than sustenance or training the young is beyond me. Whatever instincts make animals kill "for fun" is, in my opinion, just beyond our understanding; to attribute causes to things we don't fully understand IS anthropomorphizing, to me. I don't see any species as "vicious, cruel, brutal"; there's always a reason for their actions. I don't see humans that way either, actually, as there's always a reason they behave that way, if one looks closely enough. But as Cav said, we are the only ones who behave SO maladaptively and not have it affect the others of our species, and the only ones who pass these things on to our young.

You also didn't read the title of the thread, or you would have noted the word "sometimes". I happen to think there is a vast difference between humans and animals--we've been through this discussion before. I see humans as having choice, animals for the most part being ruled by instincts. People do good and bad things, and often, if not most of the time, do them for psychological reasons. They also do amazingly compassionate things sometimes. To ascribe "jealousy" to a wild species doesn't work for me...the urge to procreate causes many things and is strong in all species (including our own). I can't view anything animals do as "greed"; hoarding food, protecting it from others, is survival mechanism. We are just so much more complex that, in my mind, it's harder to find the reasons for some things. But they're there.

Now DOMESTICATED animals, that's different. They HAVE taken on a lot of our own qualities, dogs in particular, because we've molded them that way. But I don't see wild species having human traits.

And yes, it's often the case that humans who go on to be killers, abusers, etc., start with animals. Also that youngsters don't fully understand empathy, something it should be up to their parents to teach them.

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Good tendencies in an animal are those that help him & his species to survive.

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That about says it all for me.

As to male lions killing cubs, that's instinct too and for me doesn't make them "evil". I hate it, but it's nature's way; generally it is a new pride leader who will kill the cubs of previous leaders, so that the female can be impregnated again with his own progeny. Numerous species do this. Nature usually has good reasons for everything; there are exceptions, of course, but again, it is my opinion that we don't understand enough to give them "good" or "evil" designations. Because there are no observable reasons that we don't understand, to leap to the conclusion of good or evil IS anthropomorphizing in it's perfect form.

When it comes to dolphins--and ducks, by the way--it's not "gang rape" or even "rape"...it's the instinct of the males to be the one who mates, and who mates depends on who "gets the gal". It's the ANCILLARY result that females die, not the intent.

Cav, you pretty much summed up the whole debate, in my opinion. While there are instances of animals protecting others or trying to help others, they are rare and I'm not sure why it happens, but obviously it does. The hippo could be confusing the antelope with one of its species young or something--we just don't know.

Predators "wasting" food is part of Nature's plan. They sometimes walk away when they're full, and that leaves the rest for the predators further down the chain. Some predators, like leopards, pull the remainder of their prey up into trees for the next meal, others don't.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
I can't watch those SPCA shows--and there are several here, with different names. I watch Dog Whisperer and especially my favorite, Dogtown, about Best Friends animal sanctuary, which broke my heart to discover it was cancelled after only four years. It obviously didn't garner enough of an audience...while the damned Kardashians and this new "Black Out" and other stupid (but cheap!) reality shows have people hanging on their every word.

But the Animal Cops shows I can't bear to watch...too much suffering and too much anger at being reminded of just HOW horrible some of our species can be.

As to the activities of domesticated cats, yes, tho' many instincts (now unnecessary) remain, we have definitely screwed up domesticated species like dogs and cats in many ways. Not to mention what we bred them for and how it's screwed them up physically and mentally! One of the reasons I'm into huskies is they're not that far removed from wolves, and until recently...sigh...weren't overbred (yet). If you spend any time around huskies, you can see all the traits of wolves in them. My remarks were about domesticated pets in general taking on aspects we've encouraged, not taking on the owner's--tho' there is no doubt in my mind that there are actually no "bad" dogs, only bad owners. And how owners relate to their dogs definitely helps mold the dog; if one were to watch Dog Whisperer for say five episodes, it would be disgustingly obvious that many humans treat dogs like "babies", having not a clue about being alpha, let them get away with things they wouldn't take for a second from humans, never bothering with training then wondering why they act out so badly, etc. Virtually every episode has at least one segment I watch while shaking my head at the idiocy of some humans.

One that stuck with me was a woman who spent a lot of time cooking just the right thing for her dog every day, while she served her family TV dinners! Seriously...poor Cesar was hard pressed to keep a straight face when he saw that. I think he's amazing in many respects, one of which is the patience he shows the stupid owners...like the one who was obsessed with pink, so had her dog died pink all the time and considered him a fashion accessory! Some of us are truly weird...

I don't know so much about taking on the traits of individual owners, but we have definitely changed dogs. Saw a thing on the difference between wolves and dogs; trying to figure out how to get to food, the wolves kept trying on their own, the dogs sat down and looked to the person. Just one example of many.

I'm still envious of your baby bunnies! One of the things I never knew about rabbits until I had them is that they show pleasure by "grinding" their teeth! It's their equivalent of wagging their tails or purring, and it's quite a compliment when they do it for you when you stroke them.

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Originally posted by RionaEire:
Jack, so there was a semi feral girl on the SPCA show?

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Is there any physical pleasure derived from a human Mother feeding her children?

I'm not asking if there is any mental pleasure, or any other form of conscious acknowledgement of this, because that could very well turn out to be a "Norman Bates" situation 30 years down the road.....

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Originally posted by Oonjerah:

Humans are Animals who have Choices.

Please show me where a Lion (male) with a full belly goes hunting.
I think he takes a nap.

Good tendencies in an animal are those that help him & his species to survive.
Bad tendencies would be those that are counter to his species' survival.
Evil is a human concept. One most of us learn at an early age. Even without
a basic but light religious education, I'd be able to see evil in people.
But it's not always simple. From one culture to another, what is held to be
evil differs a great deal.

Whose concept of evil do you want to impose on the Lion? Or any animal?


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I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. ~Charles R Swindoll

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Sorry Riona, yes, I do that sometimes.

Jack, my rabbits were pets, if you didn't know. Midi in particular LOVED to be stroked, I got lots of "tooth grinding" AND KISSES, which none of the other bunnies gave me. She was my baby, I will always miss her. But even with her, I had to get down on the ground to stroke her--dwarf bunnies aren't that hot on being held. But all of them liked being stroked and gave tooth grinds in their different ways. Mouse was the hardest--as she'd been in the pet shop so long, she'd been picked up by tons of people--it always made me angry to see kids pick them up and the way they handled them (thank goodness Elvis--the pet store owner--finally put up signs). Her personality was probably skittish to begin with, as she was a Dwarf Jack, and that made it worse. So it took a while for her to come to me to get stroked, and even then, she'd scuttle away periodically, especially if I moved or there was a noise, but always come back within a few seconds. Bunnies are GREAT!

So we go back to me envying you; being anywhere close to WILD bunnies, especially a nest of babies, would be a dream come true for me.

They all especially liked it when I covered their head with my palm, or stroked with the palm from nose on...made them feel safe, I think. Bunnies don't often feel safe, being prey for just about everything! ;o) Yes, it's quite possible that's what you were hearing...you said "clicking" and I've never been around baby rabbits, so I didn't make the connection. She could also be expressing happiness at finding her wee ones still there and unhurt, who knows?

Corgies and beagles are the only two "small" dogs I like--oh, and Shiba Inu, ever since Raptor put up the video of them. Too many small dogs have "Napoleon complexes", but those two (dunno about Shibas) are the only ones I've met who actually don't seem to realize they're small...hence no need for trying to make everyone else think they're big and fierce. The corgies and beagles I've known WANT to play with the big dogs, rather than be afraid of them or put up a bold front. I admire that.

Shit, I could go on forever about Cesar. What amuses me most is he gets called in to fix the dog, and virtually always it's the HUMAN who needs the help. Even if he has to "fix" the dog's behavior, he usually does it fairly quickly, then has to teach the humans how to stop doing what they've been doing. Often, it ends up with the humans saying he's changed THEIR lives, too, which always makes me smile.

It's too bad that dog doesn't get walked more. That breed NEEDS regular exercise, and I'd guess part of why he's so unmanageable is he doesn't get enough. I do, however, FULLY sympathize with you about his running away--I DO have huskies, you know. Sometimes even after we've taken them out, Kochak will get a bug up her ass and take off when we let them out of the car at home. She's just playing, like your guy, but the very WORST thing you can do then is chase them. In our case, I just have to wait, or follow her from a distance, just to be sure she doesn't get hit by a car (ours is a quiet neighborhood, thank goodness) until she gets bored of the game and comes. Bitch! But in most cases, the smart thing to do is go the other way, making excited noises and ignoring the dog...they usually run after you. Certainly with huskies, the LAST thing you do is try to chase them...that's the best game of all! Tho' with your guy, he might have heard or smelled the other dog, who knows?

You missed something about Cesar, too. How many times have you seen him have to deal with a runaway dog? Rarely; he takes dogs out on leashes, and the only time they're off leash is at dog parks, almost exclusively. I thought about buying his books or discs, but when I realized that, I wondered if he'd ever chosen to deal with that problem. I DID see him once, in a huge enclosed pasture, deal with the dog not coming, and he did exactly what we do, sound excited and go the other way. But, given that's our biggest problem with the huskies, I figured he didn't have any answers we don't already know. ;o) They always come back, but when I walk them up at the Divide they've kept me waiting for as long as an hour and a half, and once chased a deer all the way to the bottom of a canyon--I know, because they came back wet and the only stream is down there. But they always come back...eventually!

Huskies aren't for the faint of heart, trust me. But they're magnificent and I love them dearly. Besides, I always liked animals that challenged me somewhat, especially horses. Nonetheless, even tho' Jim admits they're the funniest and most interesting dogs we've ever had, he adds "AND the most frustrating!" He won't even GO to the Divide with them anymore. Only dog park, beach and with the sulky...and even then, they've gotten in trouble at the dog park, running right across the bike path to the marsh beyond, and up into the dunes on the beach after some dead thing--both places they're not supposed to go. We've only gotten one ticket, thankfully, at one of the beaches we go to where Tashi just WOULDN'T stay out of the lagoon because there was a dead raccoon in there!

And of course, many dogs have their "favorites". Kochak goes absolutely NUTS over three people we hardly know, two at one dog park and one at another. The one at Red Hill dog park also happens to bring Kochak's favorite "boyfriend", but the other two are just "favorites". The Red Hill lady also has a little black pug named Talulah who I adore and who adores me, and I'm pretty popular with a number of dogs (at least half of them because they remember I always bring treats!). It's funny to see how animals get attracted to certain people, and it never seems to change, even if they haven't seen them for a long time.

Ramble, ramble, ramble...

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:Well... TECHNICALLY the nipple IS erectile tissue. Oxytocin, a pleasure and anxiety reducing hormone, is released via stimulation of the tissue, as in breast feeding, and also during orgasm, child-birth, and so on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxytocin

I'm going to go curl up in the brain bleach stockpile now. I'll be in there for a WHILE, there will be some mad guzzling. Those of you who were breastfed may want to take some sort of shower and lament the eldritch horrors of the world.

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Originally posted by RionaEire:
Sorry I misunderstood Jack, but such things are of interest to me so it was the most interesting thing in your post to me, since I don't find pets interesting at all. I do like wild animals though.

I assume you're my pal until you let me know otherwise.

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
I don't understand. People WANT to go to their proms?

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Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
I had to be dragged to one of mine. They're a travesty of sappy sentimentalism and gender warfare is what they are. I had to wear a goddamn rhodamine dress.

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Originally posted by Niki2:
Jack, just for the fun of it, here's a piece of useless trivia for you: Despite all the hooplah about rabbits and carrots, they are NOT bunnies' favorite foods. Believe it or not, BANANAS are! Drop a little chunk of banana near mom once the kiddies are eating solid food, and you'll make their day!

Apples, too, rate above carrots. I don't know how carrots began became known as their "favorite" food, but there's the truth for you. Not that they don't love 'em, along with so many other green things, but bananas send them...bananas (pardon the pun). Maybe because bananas aren't grown much (or at all?) in the states, and rabbits ARE famous for getting into vegetable gardens and making off with carrots, that's how it started. Mine have enjoyed strawberries and even melons--they had a tough life, obviously--but I found out about bananas by my "rabbit vet" (yes, I had a special one just for the bunnies, their medical requirements are pretty specialized), then read up on it.

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Bananna's, huh? good to know. One of the cheapest foods, and one that I ALWAYS buy more than I ever eat.

I'm not too fond of carrots unless they're in a mix, so I'd just be buying them for the rabbits.


I checked out the hole a little bit today. It's amazing how much changes in just a few days. Where they looked like slimy, hairless creatures resembling baby rats in the pics I took on the first day, you can actually see about 1/2" droopy ears on them now and quite a bit of hair growing in. Their tiny feet are still pink and hairless though.

I think they'll be okay.

Mama Rabbit probably doesn't realize it, but even though the weeds have all been pulled around the hole, I still thing she picked the best spot for her babies. Of my nearly 1/2 Acre yard, her babies are sitting in the middle of the only 800 sq foot part of my yard getting watered 1/2 hour every day. On a day like today when it was only 70 degrees, that probably doesn't matter much, but I'm sure they appreciated the moisture on Saturday when it was almost 100 degrees.