Unusual canine behaviour

Source

Southland Times photographer Doug Field captured these images at the weekend of his dog, burying another dog.

Field, who was at Oreti Beach, near Invercargill, was walking his dog June when they came across dead hares and a dead dog.

What happened next was unusual, Field said.

June, ignored the hares, but spent the next 10 minutes using her nose, to flick sand up to bury the dead dog.

''There was quite a reverence in what she did. I've never seen another dog do that before.

''I'd love to hear from an animal behaviour expert to find out if this is common,'' Field said.

Well, ain't this amazing?

The fact that a dog buries his own is a revelation in and of itself.

To think of the amount of consciousness it takes to bury the dead, and then how some people treat these animals is insane.

It a beautiful thing, nature.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Many animals do something to respect the dead.
Look at Magpies
www.dailymail.co.uk...
We are much closer to all the animals than we think.

This is just a weird thought from different articles and ATS threads . Humans domesticated wolves 1000s of years ago to what dogs are now and maybe some of the habits and customs we have we have learned from wolves ? Like living in packs , wolf packs have a hierarchy ,

reply to post by boymonkey74


That's exactly my thinking too. That's why I wanted to share this, it's beautiful.

Pred...

Originally posted by rick004
This is just a weird thought from different articles and ATS threads . Humans domesticated wolves 1000s of years ago to what dogs are now and maybe some of the habits and customs we have we have learned from wolves ? Like living in packs , wolf packs have a hierarchy ,

Also humans and dogs share many of the same illnesses.

My own dog (he's gone now ) loved other dogs and animals. One of my friends dogs once caught a rabbit while we were out walking, my own dog put his ears down and his tail between his legs and stood behind me, it was like he wanted no part of what was happening.

Dogs are fantastic creatures and deserve much respect.

reply to post by VoidHawk


There are many things that are interesting with dogs like the fact they are the only animals that understands to follow our finger when we point to something. No other animals, that has been tested so far, understand this

Pred.

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

There are many things that are interesting with dogs like the fact they are the only animals that understands to follow our finger when we point to something. No other animals, that has been tested so far, understand this

Pred.

I watched a docu a while back, in it they presented a dog that you could show a picture of a toy, he would then go to another room and return with that toy. I know of no other animal that uses symbols like that dog was doing.
I'll see if I can find the docu, if I can I'll post it here.

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

There are many things that are interesting with dogs like the fact they are the only animals that understands to follow our finger when we point to something. No other animals, that has been tested so far, understand this

Pred.

Found a clip from the docu I mentioned.
Watch and be amazed!!
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Dogs are the only species that will love YOU more than they love their self.

God bless them.

reply to post by riverwild


Agreed. They will die for their families well-being.

What really gets me, is that they trust us 100% no matter what happens. Someone can physically hurt a dog and they will still be happy when they see that person.

That is why, I believe people who hurt animals should have harsher crimes than people who hurt other people.

Animals are innocent and akin to children in my books.

Pred...

We had a runt rabbit and her big sister used to look after her. This runt really should have died at a week old but she was a survivor.
Just over a year old, the big sis buried the lil sis. We found the lil sis had virtually no movemant in her back legs.
We rescued the lil sis and looked after her for a week and then she died. The big sis we felt, was admitting she could no more for her lil sis. She died in my arms.

Even rabbits have this ability to care for their own and know when death is close. A week later their half brother who was disabled, stopped eating and died. We had promised him if he could get well and have the 'snip' we would put him with her. He knew that was never going to happen after lil sis died and he refused to go on anymore.

That wasn't the first time a rabbit had died of grief in our house.

So it's not just dogs.

reply to post by predator0187


Thank you for reminding me of just how fortunate I am......My dog "Lucky" is as true friend today as she was when I took her in as a stray 10 years ago.

Absolute definition of Unconditional love..
thnx

dX

On the other hand, a dog will bury excess food to be eaten later.

reply to post by predator0187

Dogs are the only species that will love YOU more than they love their self.

This is nothing short of so true.
Dogs are the definition of loyal and loving..couldn't ask for better companions.
This article and picture are so sweet, shows the dogs heart! I love articles like this and it only adds to my long list of reasons I love dogs.
S&F!

Dogs are wonderful I agree.
But I'd like to remind everybody that
their sense of SMELL is 400x ours.

Isn't it common to bury the dead to prevent from disease? I suggest the dog was acting on instinct... and whilst it seems nice to project our feeling of respect for the dead - it seems little more than projection - although to fence sit, I do believe animals are very capable of empathy.

In the wild some animals bury their pry to preserve and hide their food for later use. Sometimes you'll find a bone that you gave your dog weeks before, in the odes places. He is keeping it for a reserve.

Elephants are the only other species other than humans and Neanderthals known to have a ritual around death. They show a keen interest in the bones of their own kind (even unrelated elephants that have died long ago). They are often seen gently investigating the bones with their trunks and feet, and remaining very quiet. They also bury their dead. Sometimes elephants that are completely unrelated to the deceased will still visit their graves

Dogs are truly amazing creatures, more noble than any man could wish to be.

And to think that some Asian cultures still consume these patently emotively sentient animals as if they were battery hens...

It doesn't take a Darwin-level genius to understand that millennia of domestication and close association with human beings has evolved the canine species to something more than mere 'dumb' animals.

I've had dogs my whole life. Stupid ones. Horrid ones.

My one great dog did something I had never seen. We were outside in our own yard and from the other side of the house came the most ear damaging sound I'd ever heard a dog make. I ran over there fully expecting to see my dog being ripped apart by a grizzly.

He was sitting head way back, "howling". The dog seldom barked, this sound was just painful to hear coming from him. I walked slowly around to the front of him. The howl continued as though ignoring my presence. There was a long dead mole between his feet. My dog was mourning a dead mole. Weirdest thing I'd ever seen.

I scratched his head when he was done (told you "my best dog")Instead of tossing the disgusting thing in the trash, as was my first instinct. Once the deceased was in the shovel, my dog smiled and stayed very close to it.

We walked down the road to an empty lot, and I buried it. My boy sat quietly for interment. As soon as Mr. Mole was buried, I looked at the dog and said if he wanted to have service, he was welcome to. And started back home. He sat another 4-5 seconds and then found a tree to pee on.

Life returned to normal.

This dog was notorious for eating the most foul things. For some reason this mole deserved respect. It's still, and always will be a mystery to me.