The Truth about Cats and Dogs

[andrewducker]

Pausing briefly only to mention that I love the film, except for not understanding why anyone would think that Uma Thurman is cuter than Janeane Garofalo. Except for that aside, the following has nothing to do with films.

I had a brief discussion this morning with Erin about keeping cats off of tables. It's my opinion that attempting to do so is pointless, as the cat merely waits for us to be out of the room before getting back on it.

And this is a vital difference between cats and dogs.

Cats are not tribal animals. If you repeatedly punish a cat for it's crimes it will think "Getting on the table when Andy is about pisses Andy off, I'd better wait for him to be out of the room."

Dogs, on the other hand, are tribal animals. They are more suited to dealing with rules and mores which are socially originated. If you punish a dog for doing certain things, it will start to think that doing those things is Wrong. If it then performs those actions, it will actually look guilty.

You will never, ever see a cat look guilty, because cat's don't feel guilty about doing things you don't want them to. They might avoid doing them so as to not get in trouble, but they would never think "That's wrong." because right and wrong are concepts you only need to make societies run smoothly. If you're always on your own, all you need to know is what causes problems and what doesn't.

This, of course, also applies to Libertarians (who tend to be loners and don't want social rules) and Socialists (who exist only in large societies and want to regulate peoples lives to make society work better). You can't train a libertarian, you can only show him danger. Similarly, socialists will generalise from individual points to create rules that cover all of society protecting us from 'wrongs'.

I think I'm stretching things here, but I don't think I'm stretching them very far. But that's probably because I'm far too tired to be typing this...

Comments

[ex-digitalis869.livejournal.com]

You can't train a libertarian, you can only show him danger.

Ahhh! That was wonderful. And i didn't see it coming. Brain foggy this morning, and now my computer screen must be wiped.

[tisme.livejournal.com]

You're not crediting cats with enough intelligence. They are much more intelligent than dogs, mainly because they don't do the whole, yes, yes, I'll obey your stupid tricks things, just as you point out. And thus you are forgetting that cats can and do develop healthy respects for people, and won't do things because they know it upsets people. Even when they are out of the room. I don't murder people that you like even when you are out of the room, because I know you wouldn't like it. Plus, hello! Who said cats weren't tribal. They are VERY good at protecting each other in the wild, and I've seen a lot more prides of lions etc, on tv, then I've ever seen wild dogs or anything. Cats seem loners because they are able to look after themselves. They just get on with it. Plus, dogs and cats are usually kept alone, in houses, so where do you get this tribal/non tribal thing from?

Strange boy.

HouseCats are loners

[andrewducker]

House Cats are loners. If you keep several of them, you have to make sure they have enough space to be in. Dogs are much better at working in groups. Certainly the big cats are more pack oriented, but domestic cats aren't.

And I don't see the willingness to obey as a mark of stupidity. The fact that dogs have been bred for their obedience doesn't mean that the smartness has been bred out of them.

Certainly you can teach cats tricks, but it's a lot harder than dogs, because they simply aren't interested. Cats are interested in doing what they want to do, whether it's playing games, being stroked or whatever, while Dogs are interested in what you want to do.

When I used to go into the garden and play with my brothers, the dog would want to come and play too, anything we did he'd wante to be involved with us. Cats aren't like that. If they want company, they'll come find you, but they aren't interested in group play in the same way.