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do animals understand human age differences? Anonymous
How is it possible that pets don't bite kids if they lift them up by their tail or are clumsy and heavy handed? Somehow it seems that pets understand human ages and that the smaller sized humans are not expected to behave correctly.

If some unfamiliar adult would approach your dog and pet it wrong, it might get pissed off. But if it's some kid doing it dogs usually seem to ignore the problem, and somehow realize the situation.

Is that really possible? Or is it all pure luck they don't bite more often?
>> Anonymous
Kids are small and thus less of a threat.

By the way I've seen plenty of animals lash out at dumb kids.
>> Anonymous
>>99504
Those are the best kind of animals, fuck kids.
>> Anonymous
>fuck kids

V&
>> Anonymous
THis is just an uneducated guess, but could it have something to do with smell? I mean, mature animals smell different from baby animals, and do do humans.

Just a thought tho...
>> Anonymous
well i know one this is for sure, that black kid is getting his eyes scooped out. you can tell because the cat is smelling greasy head that black people dont wash, and thus it will identify that it is a black baby and kill it.
>> Anonymous
The dog we had years back wouls take pretty much anything from children he knew. I once saw a toddler of two years yank him by the tail WHEN HE WAS EATING. Think about it, a hunting dog weighing at least twice as much as the kid, is unsucpectingly eating his only meal of the day (nad believe me he was snappy over his food, only my dad could order him away from it) and somebody comes from behind and yanks his tail. We barely saw it happen and practically everyone saw a shitstorm coming that would leave with plus one mauled child, minus one dog. My dad and my uncle (who was the child's dad) both took a horrified jumping start at them and ...froze. The dog just glanced back, wagged his tail to free it and continued eating. Several jaws hit the floor.
The dog wasn't nearly as benevolent towards strange children, though. He would bark and even growl at them but still, he was way grumpier to strange adults.
>> Anonymous
>>99516Think about it, a hunting dog weighing at least twice as much as the kid, is unsucpectingly eating his only meal of the day (nad believe me he was snappy over his food, only my dad could order him away from it) and somebody comes from behind and yanks his tail.

Your dad's presence kept the dog in line, most likely.
>> Anonymous
My old female cat is usually agressive with my dogs and will attack them if they try to smell her or aproach too much, but she does not do that to puppies.
She actually lets them eat from her dish sometimes.
>> Anonymous
>>99520
I suppose it is possible but I doubt it. The dog just had a soft spot for "pack puppies". He was a good babysitter for keeping the smallest munchkins busy... :D
>> Anonymous
>>99513
No.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>> Anonymous
Horses are notorious for being better behaved with children than any rider. In fact, there's cases where a kid can ride on a horse that isn't broke, but if anybody else tries to ride it, they'll try to throw them.
>> Anonymous
>>100548

wonder if animals that behave different against kids would show similar difference with smaller sized adults? asians and dwarfs? or really thin people versus obese people?
>> Anonymous
Not all animals I tried to give a dog cookie to a neighbour’s dog when I was little and it bit me on the nose and I had to get stitches. (I had a dog too so I knew the correct way to approach them and stuff)
>> Anonymous
I think they do. I fostered a dog who knew it was okay to play rough with adults, but to be gentle around kids. My parent's dog tries to eat the skulls of children but is fine with everyone else.
>> Anonymous
>>99503


How is it possible that people like you still exist?

An animal doesn't give a fuck about age.
A rottweiler will rip someone's throat out, regardless of age.

Now, with that said:

ITT Pics of animals killing little kids
GO!
>> Anonymous
I remember being chased by street dogs when I was a kid, and not 16 years later.

Animals can't know your age. They just see you as small or big.
>> Anonymous
Animals might know age who knows, here's my opinion.

Now this isn't scientifically proven (that I know of) it's just a guess, but if you swap it around, an adult human, and a baby animal (eg. kitten/puppy), the adult (unless it's some abusive asshole) isn't going to start attacking it if it starts doing something inappropriate, because the person knows that it's just a baby, and is still learning.
But if the animal was an adult, the person would have less tolerance towards it's behavour, as to expect it to be more "mature", so they would punish the animal more severely than if it was a baby.
>> Moonbarker Osbourne
When I was a very small pup, my family's siamese, Ming-Ming would get grabbed, pinched, squeezed, pulled by her legs or tail and she never once tried to scratch or bite me. When she got loose, she would go to my parents and put a claw in them for not stopping me fast enough
>> Anonymous
>>100852
You were never a pup you fucking furfag.
>> Anonymous
i think they know young and aged.
>> Anonymous
>>100859
There are dialects of english other than american, xenophobe.
>> Anonymous
I think they can tell a difference, it's pretty imaginable that through smell they could. Dogs are gently more gentle with children (some aren't, I have a great dane that is always antsy around strangers but scared to hell by strange kids). Dogs definitely treat puppies differently. Strange puppies are growled at but rarely attacked, familiar ones are treated easily. I'm guessing, since humans can get dogs to think of them as their "alpha" it is also possible that the dogs just think of the kids as puppies of the pack or strange puppies.
>> Anonymous
My dogs pretty good natured (doesn't like strange men, but who does?) but theres a marked difference in how he treats adults and children.
My nieces and nephews will annoy him, but he'll never do anything but growl in the most extreme cases.

Whether thats because he realises their position relative to others in the pack, I don't know.
>> Anonymous
>>100919
This is interesting I used to have a great dane and he was also terrified of children he didn't know.
>> Anonymous
I have a cat that will bite or scratch adults for petting his belly, but i watched my 3 year old niece go up and pull his fur and he licked her. I know they can tell the difference
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
the main question is then how intelligent animals really are, and possibly if they have some sort of self concience, or is all they do simple genetic reflexes just like hunting for food
>> Anonymous
Also, has anyone else experienced dogs reacting differently to human men and women? My great dane (the one who is scared of kids) is standoffish with all strangers, and will often bark at them. However, if they stranger is a man, she might go even farther, going from a warning bark to a "I'm gonna rip your throat out!" bark. She'll sometime even charge, just cutting to the side at the last moment. Has anyone else experienced a dog who discriminated in humans based on sex?
>> Anonymous
The only reason that cat is sniffing that kid is cause he smells like KFC.

Other wise the kitty would be clawing his face...
>> Anonymous
when i was about 4 i bit my alsatian in the ear. jsut climbed on her back and bit ehr. she didnt do anything.

then the next day, my mother was pushing me along in the buggy, and taking the dog with us on a walk. someone bent down and looked at me, some old lady. my dog growled and snarled at her until the woman got away from me. i always thoguht that was wierd.
>> Anonymous
>>100972
My parents have a small dog (some kind of weird papillon mix or something) that is terrified of men but rather easy going around men. Even when the size difference is rather small, she's bothered by men. It took her about a couple months to be alright with my presence, whereas it only took a couple of weeks for her to feel comfortable around my mother and sister.

She now actually likes me more than either of my sisters, who even live at home with her and obviously spend more time with her, but dogs tend to like me for whatever reason.
>> Anonymous
I've noticed some similar qualities for babies of all mammals. Wide eyes, large foreheads, etc. Babies seem readily identifiable. Probably because all these examples of domestic animals (IE, around people a lot)they can spot the telltale signs of what a baby is vs what an adult appears like.

In addition, children seem to be a lot less coordinated. Perhaps their behavior is another clue for animals.
>> Anonymous
my parent's dog actually hated old ladies for some reason, more then any other kind of person. he's a weird dog.

i have a cat too at my house, and he's friendly to everybody. complete strangers. he's the biggest attention whore. i don't really know if he's ever even seen a baby or toddler, although.
>> Bitter Anon !!WJLRQ1cwCyZ
Lots of animals are prejudiced aginst races, genders, ages, sizes, etc. I had a dog that hated black people. I mean, wanted to tear them apart, kill all negros kind of hate. He did so love kittens though!

My current dog will growl and lunge at men wearing a hat.. but if they take off the hat, he's a-okay with them and tries to cuddle. He also gets upset if a man with a beard is around.
>> Anonymous
Whether your animal will like/hate kids is a socialization issue.

If you properly socialize your puppy or kitten, you can have an animal that is used to people of all ages and races. If you don't expose your animal to the world when it's young, it can learn to be afraid of new situations/people/etc.

Many animal bites are fear bites, and due to poor socialization. If you socialize your young animal and it still bites/is afraid of people, then your pet has some kind of other problem (usually genetic).
>> Anonymous
>>100548

I don't know about that. I've been around horses for many years now and I've known that a stubborn pony will drag an unexperienced child wherever he wants to go. Of course most of the time they aren't dangerous.

About riding though, maybe the child is lighter-weight? Knows how to ride? Doesn't kick the horse in the ribs like an adult who doesn't know what they're doing? Lots of factors go into why a horse takes a dislike to somebody
>> Anonymous
I used to ride on my doggie's back when I was little and he didn't do anything to me. I think some animals do realize that a human child isn't a threat.
>> Anonymous
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Cocker Spaniels are nervous around children. They will nip at them; but they don't mind adults.