Dog protected abandoned newborn, doctors say

[RamboLiberal]

A dog sheltered a newborn baby abandoned by its 14-year-old mother in a field in rural Argentina until the boy was rescued, a doctor said Friday.

A resident of a rural area outside La Plata called police late Wednesday night to say that he had heard the baby crying in a field behind his house.

The man went outside and found the infant lying beside the dog and its six newborn puppies, Daniel Salcedo, chief of police of the Province of Buenos Aires, told CNN.

The temperature was a chilly 37 degrees, Salcedo said.

The dog had apparently carried the baby some 50 meters from where his mother had abandoned him to where the puppies were huddled, police said.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/08/22/argentina.dog.tale/index.html


The abandoned infant was found in a field with this dog and her newborn puppies.

Now I hope the dog and her puppies get a good home. Amazing the maternal instinct of many animals.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Good dog! *snausages*

[Fridays Child]

4. Snausages for life!

Cool dog!

[KittyWampus]

2. sometimes I like animals better than people

[Fridays Child]

7. Dogs often behave better than people.

And they usually forgive people for behaving like assholes, too. Talk about living in the moment. Dogs have that down pat.

[Riktor]

24. You've obviously never been a mail carrier...

:eyes:

[Fridays Child]

28. Dogs defend their territory and their pack members--canine or otherwise.

With that in mind, it remains true that, by human standards, they are exceedingly loyal and forgiving.

:eyes:

[Riktor]

39. My point being...

Dogs behave on instinct. They are not equipped with the mental faculties to weigh out the possible outcomes of their actions before initiating them. Luckily, domestication has weeded out a number of the wolf's "undesirable" traits, making the common dog "loyal and forgiving". On the same token, a number of traits humans deemed beneficial may have adverse effects. For instance, the dog's instinct to protect its pack causes the USPS over 500,000 on-the-job injuries a year.

At any rate, the point I am trying to make here is that you cannot reasonably praise a dog for caring for an abandoned child and then excuse every dog attack as "just defending territory". In both cases, the animals act on instinct, not out of a conscious decision to "do the right thing".

[Fridays Child]

43. We act out of instinct, too.

I vote for the dogs.

[riverdeep]

44. We're finding out dogs are a lot more complicated than previously thought.

The provocative new experiment indicated that dogs can do something that previously only humans, including infants, have been shown capable of doing: decide how to imitate a behavior based on the specific circumstances in which the action takes place.

The findings come amid a flurry of research that is revealing surprisingly complex abilities among dogs, chimps, birds and many other animals long dismissed as having little intellectual or emotional life.

A visual overview of one of the experiments:


Dogs naturally (instinctively?) like to use their mouths to manipulate objects. In the first scenario, the observing dog sees that the first dog has her mouth occupied, and so uses the most natural way. In the second scenario, the observing dog sees (thinks?) that there must be some good reason why she isn't using her mouth, since it's free, and so copies the behavior exactly.

(What Were They Thinking? More Than We Knew.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/03/AR2007060300960.html

Now, in comparing the two scenarios of dogs biting mail carriers and a dog taking care of an infant, it is not unusual for a dog to respond to uninvited strangers with aggression, while it is considered unusual for the animal to care for a helpless member not of its own kin, much less its own species, hence, the praise for this individual dog.

Personally, I think one of the faults we make in assessing animal cognition is in scoring points according to how similar they are to us. The more similar, the better. But some animals and people may have overlap, and they also may have worlds that are open only to them. Dolphins 'see' the world in a way we don't even have the sensory equipment for, through soundwaves. How does this affect their general cognition? Animals can be considered having cognitive abilities, and not be like us.

Decades ago, animals were thought to possess no emotions whatsoever- they were considered incapable of it. Before that, prominent members of the intelligentsia even considered them like machines. Probably the most famous being Descartes (a proponent of ghastly animal experiments). Here is Voltaire's response to that assumption in his Dictionnaire philosophique:

Judge this dog who has lost his master, who has searched for him with mournful cries in every path, who comes home agitated, restless, who runs up and down the stairs, who goes from room to room, who at last finds his beloved master in his study, and shows him his joy by the tenderness of cries, by his leaps, by his caresses. Barbarians seize this dog who so prodigiously surpasses man in friendship. They nail him to a table and dissect him alive to show you the mesenteric veins. You discover in him all the same organs of feeling that you possess. Answer me, mechanist, has nature arranged all the springs of feeling in this animal in order that he should not feel? Does he have nerves to be impassive?

[hfojvt]

29. or a paper carrier

or a bicyclist.

[ConsAreLiars]

33. mail carriers with a bit more brains than the average mouse

carry treats. Funny how that works. Whooda thunk and all that.

[Riktor]

38. Except

Carrying treats is explicitly forbidden by USPS policy, as it has actually contributed to an increase in attacks.

[dflprincess]

40. The fault does not lie with the mail carrier

and it's not the dog's fault either. The jerk in the mail carrier/dog scenario is the pet owner who doesn't keep his animal in the house or a part of the yard where it can't get to the mail carrier or other delivery person.

[Miss Chybil]

16. People are animals.

Mammals.

[LVjinx]

26. Shhh. don't let the fundies know!

[Miss Chybil]

41. They know.

And it scares the shit out of them.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. !

:thumbsup:

[Triana]

3. Awww! Good dog! I hope they find the sweet pup a home - AND her babies too!

Animals are amazing.

[Kadie]

5. Wow.

What a beautiful dog.

[valerief]

6. It's a shame a 14-year-old got pregnant, too. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. And was in circumstances that led her to do what she did. She must have been panic-stricken :^(

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Maternal instincts of the dog--Yeah.

My first reaction was to say "A helluva lot better than the human mother."

Then I stopped to reflect. I have a hundred stories like this in my head from a career of working with the twisted, damaged people on the bottom of society, and in each case there was a tragic and terrible story about the little mother as well as the one about the child.

[FloridaJudy]

9. Snausages? Hell, I'll buy her

All the bacon she can eat for the rest of her life. Somehow I don't think those puppies are going to lack homes now. I'd take mama, myself.

[northernlights]

11. dogs are the best

look at that face...what a sweet, sweet doggie! I hope they give her and her puppies wonderful homes. (now I have to go give mine an extra hug).

[1]

12. you rock, puppy!

what an amazing story!



puppy, you have all of my love.

[Naturyl]

13. Dogs do rule sometimes. Nice. (n/t)

[hisownpetard]

14. Sweet, sweet creature! Wish I could take her.

[roody]

15. Dog is god!

[KT2000]

17. What a sweet dog

her face is just precious and I hope she gets a good home.

[Booster]

18. Man, I hope the dog and her puppies get a good home too. She

deserves it. Good dog.

[LisaL]

30. I think the guy who heard the baby is the dog's owner.

[Hav]

19. .

That's what I love about animals. They surprise us with behaviour that we regard as humane and in a form that we don't expect from them.
I wonder what went on in her head when she found the baby and what made her carry it to the other puppies. Taking care of the helpless and sharing the little ressources one has with those who need it. A beautiful mind indeed ;).

[renate]

20. who's a good doggie? who's a good doggie?

You are! You're a good doggie!

What a sweet, sweet face. :loveya:

[arthritisR_US]

21. that makes me weep it's so sweet...nt

[emilyg]

22. I got a little misty.

Great dog.

[lpbk2713]

23. Amazing story.

From La Nación, Buenos Aires: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1042183

[Hidden Stillness]

25. Wonderful Dogs Teach Us the Way

"Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all (humankind)." Job 12:7-10.

Remember the male who was the father abandoned the newborn, before the abandoned mother did. I hope they will not track her down and prosecute her now. Sometimes, when you are desperate, and have no resources or hope, all you can do is something disastrous, because it seems the alternative is even worse. Then the dog teaches you that it was your mind stretching far into the future and imagining more and more suffering, no prospects, worse and worse, longer and longer, that paralyzed you here. Dogs, open-hearted, try to help here, will do what they can, and whatever will happen, will happen. There is nothing other than the present, to them, and a cry cannot be ignored, even when you actually have no plan.

Anybody who loves dogs know that they teach you a lot, and can correct some of your problems and faults, such as getting so carried away with worries of future events that probably won't even happen, not appreciating what you actually have here, by feeling bad for what you don't have and keep dreaming about. Have you ever seen the look of total bliss--like this is the greatest place in the world--when you are just outside with your dog, mowing the lawn, or inside making dinner? They are so happy... You already are the greatest, to them, just by being good and kind; buying things is not even the interest, if you aren't kind. The most important thing in the world is stress-reduction and enjoyment of the littlest moments of happiness, at home. They teach you how to live. All these things they do show their own conscience and sympathy; you have to love dogs and spend a life with them before you realize how much of all these things there is.

[TahitiNut]

27. DOGS RULE! (cats drool)

:rofl:

:hide:

[Oldtimeralso]

32. I would rather be dogmatic than catatonic. n/t

[lonestarnot]

31. Nice lil doggie! May you get a good home with food!

[barbtries]

34. not nearly as amazing

as whatever impulse allowed the baby's natural mother to abandon him. it's a sad day when dogs are more civilized than humans.

[OnionPatch]

36. Just goes to show

that the cry for "MAMA" is universally recognized.

[BlueIris]

37. Awwww. That's a GREAT story. nt

[Swamp Rat]

42. Good doggie!!

:hug:

[alphafemale]

45. Bless the Beasts and the Children

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhR36gV6vW4