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Nothing's safer than a goldfish - though you don't get much interaction with them (I've never had one, though we've had a hamster once or twice. The cats seemed more interested in the little beasties than any of us people )

It's true that dogs can be dangerous, but they are absolutely only vessels. A pit bull has all the equipment, and maybe even an innate tendency, to be an absolute killer - but one raised correctly can be one of the most affectionate pets you can think of. My own dog, which I mentioned to be strong enough and large enough to kill a man, used to lay under my daughter's crib or swing when she was an infant and would come running to my wife and I barking if Carolyn woke up.

Tsu - that story reminds of the middle-aged man in Georgia a couple of years ago who killed a stag that entered his house and couldn't get out. That's right, a (mule deer, I think) buck... with his bare hands.

Adrenalined-out humans are pretty damn dangerous. If a seven-year-old girl can lift a car off of her father using adrenaline, it makes sense that a grown man could kill an animal that size.

Oh, and CPH - I don't know about goldfish, but I had a betta (Siamese fighting fish) that reacted very strongly to people's presence. He caught insects, too.

Mikey wrote:Oh, and CPH - I don't know about goldfish, but I had a betta (Siamese fighting fish) that reacted very strongly to people's presence. He caught insects, too.

Some friends of mine bought those specifically to fight; sure enough, they'll kill each other if you put them in the same bowl.

Tsukiyumi wrote:

Mikey wrote:Oh, and CPH - I don't know about goldfish, but I had a betta (Siamese fighting fish) that reacted very strongly to people's presence. He caught insects, too.

Some friends of mine bought those specifically to fight; sure enough, they'll kill each other if you put them in the same bowl.

Pretty sure that's just males though.

I believe you're right. Still...

Right - two male bettas will kill each other. However, mine is in an aquarium with a couple of tetras and a couple of danios - aside from bullying the other fish away from "his" space a bit, he hasn't been aggressive toward them.

Mikey: Yeah, I'm well aware that I'd be utterly screwed if I was ever attacked by my dog, my point was reffering to creatures that lack millenia of domestication.

True. Another factor is that unlike dogs (or wolves, or coyotes,) who almost invariably shy away from humans, chimps have been known to abduct and eat human infants. So, if I'm deciding between a dog and a chimp for a pet, I think I'd probably go with the one that wasn't known to eat my species on occasion.

I still believe that if I died at home, my dog would try to take a bite out of my corpse.

Aye, perhaps. Though I have heard stories of dogs starving to death after their owner has died, due to not eating the body. Dunno how true the stories are, though.

Rochey wrote:Aye, perhaps. Though I have heard stories of dogs starving to death after their owner has died, due to not eating the body. Dunno how true the stories are, though.

Yeah, it all depends on what dog it is, and how well it's been trained.

Exactly. The actions of a dog would vary, just as with any other creature.