Small Dog Privilege

So, my mother has a very small, very old, yappy dog (Maltese) that is the obvious victim of decades of aggressive aesthetic (in)breeding and my sister has a gorgeous blue heeler/lab mix thats maybe a year old...

The two interact, the smaller one goes to bite the bigger one because it's f##ing dumb, and the bigger one pins it to the ground and is looking at its owners for behavioral cues (almost looking prideful of his own actions as if it caught a rat.) The bigger one gets a swift kick to the ribs and the smaller instigator gets coddled, which is obviously going to prevent this next time... Don't get me wrong, neither was harmed and that was the ideal outcome, but it still felt unjust.

I explained the entire situation de facto and my mother agrees to keep her rodent... excuse me.... dog... locked up when the other dog is present. Frankly, any strangers or commotion and this thing was verging on a stroke so not a bad call.

The thing that made me wonder though, do people instinctively apply this 'underdog is blameless' mentality to other situations. Is there some human tendency to assume the least able is the the least culpable, and could one exploit this psychological phenomena? If the 'underdog' knew it could attack and have the authoritative entity swoop down like a guardian angle, would it not be tempted to use this as an offensive tactic? In this case, I wouldn't put it past the little B#####d.

While I typically enjoy rooting for the underdog, if said 'underdog' acts in such a way as to warrants retaliation, I'll root for retaliation.

a reply to: chronfucius

Where do you think PC and victim class mentality come from?

My angel, Moüssë, the chocolate lab, just walks by those little idiots. We love cats, but heck if we see a little dog. That is evolution at the bottom level. .... pay no mind

a reply to: [post=21187091]ketsuko[/post

Now now, lets not be heretical here...

a reply to: mousse7714

I generally try to do the same with my own pets... however, one is a bird and we just avoid canines all together. WHY DO THEY PUT FEATHERS ON DOG TOYS!!! is his primary political issue.

My roommate had a dog that would cower around small dogs, she somehow understood human social hierarchy and would probably have let a Chihuahua chew off her foot before fighting back. That was a 'good' dag.

i feel you.

Most little dogs annoy the hell out of me. A dog should be 30+pounds. Anything else is a ratdog.

Growing up i had this one akita named bear. She was awesome. But whenever id walk her around the neighborhood this one tiny sh!tzu would always be loose. It'd come tearing out its side yard and run down the street and literally attack my dog. Biting her ankles.

Being a akita she would just look back at this nuisance with a wth look on her face but never fight back.

Then one day a pair of boxers got loose and pounced on my dog. Lets put it this way. Two boxers vs 1 akita. It wasnt a fair fight she made quick work of them. As the boxers are scurrying away i look over and notice the punk sh!tzu just frozen in mid stride rethinking the wisdom of her penpending assault on my dog. She never tried chasing or biting my poor akita again.

These little dogs attacking big dogs is the litetal equivalent of a chicken attacking a tolerant t-rex. But one day that chicken will see the business end of that same now fed up t rex and go. Wow thats scary i cant believe i used to antagonize that big guy.

Small dogs suck