do animals prefer you?

IntenseWorld said:

[quote]No dog - or human - turns without warning. Or provocation.[/quote]

I would strongly disagree with this.  What about the unwell animal that has a fever or infection or an injury, and someone innocent goes near it and in defending itself (as it would perceive) it attacks before it gets attacked?

Or what about a mentally ill person who attacks someone randomly without provokation?

Or the shy, timid, put-upon person who is regularly goaded and made a target of by their work-mates, who remains submissive or passive without show of their unhappiness and who suddenly and without warning, snaps?

Or the person who has a psychotic break?

Or the high-functioning autistic, who bottles everything in and one thing too far makes them have a massive meltdown which ended up hurting someone else?  Everyday things can be piling on the stress for someone on the spectrum, that doesn't mean someone deliberately provoked them.

I could go on.  There are cases of dog attacks where people have said the dog acted 'out of character', and people have been quick to conclude witout knowing the facts, that either a child was annoying the dog or the owner wasn't a responsible owner (quite possibly true in some cases) and it was none of those things.  And in one of those articles it was a toddler on a roundabout who had nothing to do with the dog, when it jumped into the play park and went for the toddler.

IntenseWorld said:

[quote]No dog - or human - turns without warning. Or provocation.[/quote]

I would strongly disagree with this.  What about the unwell animal that has a fever or infection or an injury, and someone innocent goes near it and in defending itself (as it would perceive) it attacks before it gets attacked?

Or what about a mentally ill person who attacks someone randomly without provokation?

Or the shy, timid, put-upon person who is regularly goaded and made a target of by their work-mates, who remains submissive or passive without show of their unhappiness and who suddenly and without warning, snaps?

Or the person who has a psychotic break?

Or the high-functioning autistic, who bottles everything in and one thing too far makes them have a massive meltdown which ended up hurting someone else?  Everyday things can be piling on the stress for someone on the spectrum, that doesn't mean someone deliberately provoked them.

I could go on.  There are cases of dog attacks where people have said the dog acted 'out of character', and people have been quick to conclude witout knowing the facts, that either a child was annoying the dog or the owner wasn't a responsible owner (quite possibly true in some cases) and it was none of those things.  And in one of those articles it was a toddler on a roundabout who had nothing to do with the dog, when it jumped into the play park and went for the toddler.