• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five

Martin, I'm quietly contemplating taking this mirror down off the wall and trying to put the dog on it.
Click to expand...
I still quite sure that a cat's reaction would be more intense - the dog will just look down, look down again, and step off of it. The cat would teach itself how to fly within seconds.

Cheers
 
Well unfortunately for today's scientific experiment, I have no cat. As it is, the dog was plonked on the mirror several times, gave her reflection a cursory glance and skipped off. The experiment was repeated, results the same. Researcher now covered in dog hair, and think I've put my back out trying to lift the dog. Dog now back outside basking in the sunshine.
 
Motokid said:
I believe animals as pets goes back many 1000's of years. Isn't there records of Egyptian Pharohs with pet dogs and cats and such? Hyroglyphics (spelling) that depict such things?
Click to expand...

Dogs have been around since ancient history, and have been bred for specific tasks. The exact origins of domestication are, I believe, unknown. Cats were held by the Ancient Egyptians to be sacred, and were spread around the world as trade expanded.
 
My results may be viewed at the below links. (Not sure how to post a pic...)

Lucifer vs. the mirror

Shmoo meets his twin.

These photographs show 2 of the 6 test subjects. All six reacted in a similar fashion. The subjects varied in gender. Five are approximately 7 years old, give or take an hour. The sixth subject is 10.

Findings show that my cats are vain little screwballs.
 
First of all, I do not think that to set all the cats & dogs free to roam the forests at will is too good an idea. They will seriously damage the ecology, as all the minor forest beasts and birds could easily be eaten by our domesticated marvels. So...

My own cat (he is draped across my shoulders in my photo) left us for good last winter. Before that he used to went away several times a year for a week or so, and always returned - he could not hunt too well, so our forest was more a slaughterhouse for him than a kitchen with all the loose dogs our neighbors do not care much to feed. Each time the cat returned with wounds and hungry as three cats, but it was not possible to keep him inside our fence (he had not been castrated, but too old to be a father, I think). I do not know now if we should have kept him on a leash, as he was surely eaten at last.

So... I think there are many things that could be discussed about pets. And I would have even liked to participate in some of possible discussions.
 
"The exact origins of domestication are, I believe, unknown."

Which pretty much translates to dogs have been a part of man's extended family for a bitchin' long-ass time I believe. Stone-age like time maybe? Who knows. Dog is "man's best friend" remember. No better companion for a pet. You cat people can have the snobbery of the feline, and don't be fooled Wolhay, cats are manipulative as all get out.

A dog that is loved will return that love by factors you can't imagine until you have one of your own.

But have your cats if you will. I'm glad somebody has them. They make me sneeze, and my eyes itch and water. Only thing I like about cats is that internal motor of theirs when you rub 'em the right way.
 
So, when exactly did this turn from a discussion of a harmless 'experiment' to a discussion about the unrightful domesticating of animals?

I'd still like to see someone putting a cat on a mirror. The dog on the mirror wasn't all that spectacular (only hairy).

Cheers
 
Yeh I thought Krys did it with cats... And the topic changed when Wolhay said he didn't believe in pets and then Moto asked why.
 
Martin said:
I'd still like to see someone putting a cat on a mirror. The dog on the mirror wasn't all that spectacular (only hairy).
Click to expand...

(gets her g-funk attitude head shakin' groove thang twang something or other - on...)

Awww, hellz no - you did not just call my CAT a dog and then "not spectacular" to boot!!! And cats are supposed to be hairy.

Mind you, Lucifer can sit on command, walk on a leash, and carry on an almost completely understandable conversation with humans. He has also been accepted into the academy for cat training, in which he will be taught how to use a commode, drive a car, and shoot a 9mm handgun. (ahh, if only such a thing existed).

I am one of those crazy cat people who treat them like children... so pfh!
 
I was refering to Freya's attempt with her dog.

I'm still awaiting results about your effort with Lucifer (wicked name for a cat, by the way).

So, results?

Nice attitude, by the way. :)

Cheers
 
Kookamoor said:
Dogs have been around since ancient history, and have been bred for specific tasks. The exact origins of domestication are, I believe, unknown.
Click to expand...
I know you guys have heard about it before, but if any of you are interested, animal domestication is actually one of the things covered by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs and Steel. From his point of view, animal domestication played a large part in determining history's course.
 
Martin said:
I was refering to Freya's attempt with her dog.

I'm still awaiting results about your effort with Lucifer (wicked name for a cat, by the way).

So, results?

Nice attitude, by the way. :)

Cheers
Click to expand...
(I hope(d) my obscene <<GRIN>> could come through in text without having to resort to the smilies.)

Any opportunity I have to brag about my kitties, I definitely take it. You should be able to see the photo of Lucifer. He just flopped onto the mirror like it was a big blanket.
 
If only RaVeN was here - but that's a long story.

He just went to sleep on top of the mirror, you say? That right there is the ultimate proof that cats are eternally cooler than dogs.

Cheers
 
"So, when exactly did this turn from a discussion of a harmless 'experiment' to a discussion about the unrightful domesticating of animals?"

Hey Martin,

Start with the very first post. The one that started the thread to begin with. Read it. Maybe three sentences in or so. About towards the end of Wolhay's statements.

Now...

go back and read post #2 Martin. The very first responce to the thread. I believe it was by some guy named....M...a....r....t....i....n....

Then read post #3....then continue

It's really very clear where this thread went from my side of the computer screen.

Are you smokin' somethin' over there....oh wait, that's a different thread....

:D
 
Motokid said:
should humans breed to please humans?
Click to expand...
Bred humans will eventually have the chance to be free and usually aren't castrated. Though some cultures mutilate their children I think they are a minority.

Motokid said:
You cat people can have the snobbery of the feline, and don't be fooled Wolhay, cats are manipulative as all get out.
Click to expand...
I'm quite fond of the evil nature of cats. I draw the line at parrots however, they're just vicous. I worked at a pet store once and there was a parrot that stood on a rack in front of the entrance to the staff rooms and sometimes the parrot would lunge itself forwards to try to get a bite out of me when I squeezed through the tight spot. I think it was meant to keep trespassers away. It wasn't even friendly when I filled his food bowl.

Kookamoor said:
given that you're concerned about the happiness of the dogs, do you think they'd be happier fighting for survival?
Click to expand...
I think natural life would be ideal, hardships included. "Happiness" wouldn't be a criteria if they lived outside the realms of human civilization.

Kookamoor said:
keeping a dog is not keeping a slave. Dogs have a pack mentality - adopting a dog is allowing it to become part of your pack. Hence, by keeping a dog and looking after it well, it will see itself as being accepted within the pack.
Click to expand...
There are those that would claim that humans have pack mentality as well.

Thanks to Freya and Krys for your contribution to science. The results were interesting though I'm disappointed that the book lied about the subject.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top