We have no way of knowing whether dogs feel love, or anger, or fear that is the same as human emotions, because dogs have zero ability to engage in human conversation. We can assume that the mind of a dog works completely different from the human mind.

You clearly have not spent much time with a dog. Or any other animal. Let me tell you something I know: we are all the same, all animals share the same life force and operating principles. What varies is complexity. Sure, we are more complex than a dog, with the exception of a couple of senses, but do not for a moment assume they do not think, feel and even, to a degree, reason. What they do not do is talk in our monkey language because they do not have monkey vocalisations. But even here, if you get off your high horse, you will realise they can understand and, in their own way, reply.

Seriously, get a dog and you'll see just how similar to us they are. Get a few dogs and you'll realise that they even have very individual personalities.

Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures.
His Holiness The Dalai Lama


Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude towards those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

I don't believe in the concept of hell, but if I did I would think of it as filled with people who were cruel to animals.
Gary Larson

The indifference, callousness and contempt that so many people exhibit toward animals is evil first because it results in great suffering in animals, and second because it results in an incalculably great impoverishment of the human spirit.

Ashley Montagu

Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to man. Just as one wants happiness and fears pain, just as one wants to live and not die, so do other creatures.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama

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YOU HAVE NEVER LIVED WITH AN ENGLISH POINTER

My dog may not be able to talk (he has tried), but he communicates exactly what he needs and wants. One day we went into PetSmart and it was two weeks before Christmas, and cold outside. Odie ran right up to the "dog coats" and pointed and pantomimed that he absolutely wanted a coat..................he is a English Pointer with short hair. When I got the coat he danced and dance joyously and stuck his neck out to help me get it on him. Now when he has to go out (and he clearly tells you this too) it's cold he goes to the drawer where his coats (yes he now has 3) are kept and points and pantomimes that it's too cold outside and he needs a coat. Our beloved dog has clearly communicated his "needs" to us over the years. He prefers the big bed. Can tell time exactly (5:00 pm is dinner time and he knows 5:00 on the dot). Say the word vet or even spell it and he runs and tries to hide. At the vets he shakes which means he worries just like you or I would. If I watch another animal on tv and say, "oh what a cute...." he runs over and wants me to hug and kiss him and say, "oh but you're the cutest". Our dog actually hugs, he lays against you and well hugs you. I could go on and on. What's more, unlike the majority of humanity, a dog will love you with no regard for your age, financial status or the other stupid things we humans seem to judge each other by. Dogs have got to be the most incredible creatures on our planet, they love man even though some men are so incredibly cruel.......DOGS RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zepherian - Excellent reply!!!!

The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for white, or women created for men.

Alice Walker

Of all the creatures, man is the most detestable. Of the entire brood, he is the only one that possesses malice. He is the only creature that inflicts pain for sport, knowing it to be pain. The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot. Mark Twain

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The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's.

Mark Twain Letter to W.D. Howells, 2 April 1899

This really does make me sick, I mean its not the fact that it was a puppy that makes it wrong its the laughter and the fact he tries to scare it before doing it. This guy really does deserve the same.

Sorry, but I still say this was an obvious hoax. Fake dog and fake yelping. Someone even found a place you can buy a fake dog that looked exactly like the one in the video. The Marines probably kicked the guy out because he made them look bad, and rightly so.

Originally posted by phl0gist0n
Sorry, but I still say this was an obvious hoax. Fake dog and fake yelping. Someone even found a place you can buy a fake dog that looked exactly like the one in the video. The Marines probably kicked the guy out because he made them look bad, and rightly so.

I suspect this as well, when I first watched the video the fact that it yelped when flying through the air puzzled me ? wouldnt it be in shock or something ?

Originally posted by The Sensei
I suspect this as well, when I first watched the video the fact that it yelped when flying through the air puzzled me ? wouldnt it be in shock or something ?

Good point. I've never seen a real dog flung thru the air, but repeated yelping seems like more of a pain response than a fear response.

Maybe I was even too hasty to say the guy deserved to be discharged since we don't know that he was the one who added the audio. Anybody in the world could have added the audio and posted it on YouTube. People should try turning the audio off and then watch the video to get a better idea of what these Marines intended. People do all kinds of infantile stuff when they think only their closest friends and family will see it.

This video is just a misdirection. A sweet little puppy? Child rapes have been committed in order to force watching insurgent-parents to squeal... The soldiers who did this probably hasn't been punished to keep this story lidded up as much as possible. If you didn't hear about it... It never existed.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Originally posted by star in a jar
This video is just a misdirection. A sweet little puppy? Child rapes have been committed in order to force watching insurgent-parents to squeal... The soldiers who did this probably hasn't been punished to keep this story lidded up as much as possible. If you didn't hear about it... It never existed.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

I dont really understand what you are saying ?

i think it's natural for any compasiionate human to be appalled by this situation, but let's not forget that modern societies such as ours routinely slaughter hundreds of thousands of animals a day to feed our society that is "on average" overweight, our concerns should lie with these animals too.

Originally posted by bitbeam
i think it's natural for any compasiionate human to be appalled by this situation, but let's not forget that modern societies such as ours routinely slaughter hundreds of thousands of animals a day to feed our society that is "on average" overweight, our concerns should lie with these animals too.

This is something I never understand, something happens small like a child is murdered and its plastered on the news and its the most important thing for a few days, we forget that there are children being murdered all over the world. And this if real is the exact same. Its all to do with the way the media gives the public the news, if we were constantly reminded of cats and dogs being slaghtered in Korea then this wouldnt be such a big deal, and those dogs are murdered in a much more horrific and brutal way .... Ill never forget seeing some of those pictures

He is the MAN!, the finest of American's army! The best of the best of the best SIR!


What a hero

I live in UTAH and this state passed a law that hurting ANY animal is a FELONY.
The least the guy should be charged with is a FELONY.

[edit on 13-6-2008 by theRiverGoddess]

If only the whole world was the same, it is really upsetting to think we are capable of such barbaric things yet we are capable of so muhc good. I worry that we will never mature as a species.

Originally posted by mOOmOO
He is the MAN!, the finest of American's army! The best of the best of the best SIR!


What a hero

I really hope that is sarcasm.