Oceania The Great Debate Thread

Yes, dogs don't hurt you cos you feed them. You shelter them. Yes, dogs lick you cos they like the salty taste (and perhaps they are even just having a taste test). Yes, dogs are only in it for themselves.

What's love anyway? A mutual relationship, something in for both of you, affection, a friendly face when you come home...?

How is this not what you get from a dog?

Dogs rock.

Love is an illusion we project on them. Doesn't make it any less real. Doesn't mean, in their own way, they don't love us.

EDIT: BTW - I know the case whereof you speak. Pair of Rotties. You'll notice they ate the neighbour, not the owners. And yes, I have been bitten by dogs. Yes, I have even been bitten by my own dog. You can't reason with them. But you can't reason with kids either.

 

Gecko, you make a few interesting points, but might I make a something clear to you:

"One has only to compare the sophisticated social makeup of a pack of wolves or jackals to the violent survival-of-the-fittest structure of a pride of Lions."

Firstly, that's like comparing grapes to jackfruit. Wolves and Jackals are considered "dogs", lions as "big cats". There are no "big dogs" that exist today. This would suggest that those that did exist are now extinct. However, there is nothing in the fossil records to suggest the existence of "big dogs". In anycase, this debate revolves around cats and dogs, not similar species.

If, however, people wish to extend the debate to include such other animals, let me just make my second point:

1 x Pack of Wolves.
+
1 x Pride of Lions.

Pitted against each other, I sincerely do not think that the wolves would be walking away. Which, in terms of pure show of strength, proves that cats are better than dogs.

And for the record, I do value one form of life over another.

 

Dogs look up to you.


Cats look down on you.


But a pig will look you in the eye.

 

And for the record, I do value one form of life over another.

You would see entire species lost for the convenience of the right to own a pet?

 

If anything, playing Diablo 2 has taught me that Dire Wolves can take down any lion that happen to cross their path.

 

Well, that settles it then, doesn't it?

EDIT: I was wittily referring to OzHaggis' post. You guys are too quick.

 

Are you talking about the human species?
We are definitely over due for a mass culling.

 

Try telling that to the bleeding hearts.

Ever heard of Natural Selection?


(by natural selection, I do not mean the deliberate concentration of introduced predatory animals obliterating other species - this is not natural)

 

anyway, on the original topic,

A dog comes when it's called,
A cat takes a message and may, or may not, get back to you.

 

No, that's artificial selection.


Like introducing a small number of Trekkers into a SW convention...

 

I love it! Anyone game to try?

 

Isn't that the new demonstration event at the next olympics?

 

Cats have been a key reason for the near extinction of many species, such as Leadbeater's Possum, the Broad-headed Snake, the gouldian Finch and many, many others in Australia alone. Cats have a natural predatorial instinct that drives then to hunt for pleasure. Feral cats can grow to massive sizes, and carry many diseases. They are aggressive, unpredictable, and are exactky like normal cats would be if not for their human captivators (I shall not use the term "owner" in the context of a cat, as I have never known anyone to truly "own" a cat).
Dogs, however, cause minor damage to native wildlife in comparison to cats, as they do not hunt unless driven to do so as a food source, or trained to do so as hunting animals.

Dogs who bite their owners are usually proven to have been badly bred, and vicious individuals. They are a severe minority, and not to be used as examples to judge an entire species. I have bee attacked by a german shepherd on a beach that gave me a scar on my toe and on my buttox, and forced me under the water, however that is the extent of my negative experience, and the positive experiences with dogs that I have had far outnumber the sole negative case. All properly-bred, well looked after dogs will be loyal, happy, content animals both as pets and in the workplace. A cat, however, is never content with an owner, thus making it a difficult pet, and is completely useless in the workplace.

As far as the cases of using wolves and lions - lions are exactly that. Big cats. It has been scientifically proven that even domestic cats felis catus possess the natural survival-of-the-fittest hunting instinct. This is why kittens quarrell and fight over a mother's teats when newly born, and why male cats grow extremely volatile and aggressive when competing for a mate. the violence of a dog, however, is much lesser so - a fight may precede a mating ritual, but seldom with dogs does it end with serious injury or death, whereas with cats there are often fatalities - many a time have I awoken the morning after hearing a cat fight outside to find the body of the loser mangled and lifeless on the grass.

 

Dogs can be contained, controlled. If they are harming native creatures, you can change their surroundings to limit this. Lizards, possums, whatever will soon learn to stay clear of the places the dog can go. Cats, however, cannot be contained. (or rather they can, but their owners see no need to do this). They scale heights, they sneak under tiny gaps. While a dog can be fenced, a cat is free. Yay for the cat, this is part of their appeal. But the cat is there cos you want it to be. And in the great chinese tradition you are responsible for it. Cats are great, yay for cats, cats have been worshipped as gods. But good pets they do not make. Partly because of their nature, partly because of their owners.

(yes, dogs can be contained and kept from harming others. Just ask dad, who has spent the last three years building fences to keep his beloved yet poorly-bred and sometimes bitey pooch from hurting anyone and being destroyed, or escaping the yard) (she never has - escaped or hurt anyone, BTW)

we love her to death but she just aint all there

Perhaps this debate should have been who is better dog-people or cat-people?

 

Actually, Cat-Gods are fairly rare. The two core egyptian cat-headed Goddesses were Bastet and Sekhmet, Bastet being the protector or pregnant women, and Sekhmet being the Goddess of the sun's heat. Apart from in Ancient Egyptian religion, cats were not heavily worshipped by any other cultures.
Just as cats are worshipped as gods in Egypt, so have dogs been revered as gods and godlike entities throughout the ancient world, in areas varying from Dog idols commonly found amongst ancient Chineese artifacts, to the Hawaaian Dog Gods of the Ko'olau Mountains, to even mentions of Dog gods in the Necronomicon.
Dogs have been widely used as religious and superstitious icons throughout the ages, which can only prove further the idolisation of dogs by human beings throughout the years, and in fact enforce the point that, in human eyes, the dog is far better than the cat.

 

I actually don't know all that much about cat gods and dog gods - I do know however that whenever challenged on this subject - cats v dogs, cat-people will invariably invoke the cats as gods excuse for letting their felines rome free.

 

We have a cat, and believe me, we're working on that little mongrels deity complex.

 

That excuse is no more valid than letting someone kill people with the excuse of "Well, the Egyptians had gods that look like people ..."

EDIT: SM, yeah. And we don't let ours roam the wild like he wants to.

 

I saw the film Cats and Dogs the other night. I need no more convincing. Dogs have it.

 

"Stay here."
"Why?"
"Because I hate you."

 

Actually, I don't like cats either.

Which means the little buggers just LOVE me. Can NOT keep away from me.

The same as kids. It's a natural law of physics. Their interest in you is inversely proportional to your interest in them.


So, I think the outcome of this debate is pretty clear...


CATS AND DOGS ARE EVIL!!!!

 

They both suck. I hate them both.

 

I second that motion.

Next topic...?



Btw, good that "cats are better than dogs" isn't such a controversial topic...

 

Cats and dogs? bah. Go the pig.
Pigs rule.

They sing!
(see sig.)

 

If we want a new topic, how about Widescreen Vs Pan & Scan?

EDIT: Um, Maes? you may want to clarify which part of your sig is in reference to a singing pig