Children know best

[MIST]

http://www.care2.com/causes/1000-mile-kiss-project-a-dog-rescue.html

This

"I started talking to my five-year-old daughter Sabrina about all the things we’d need to do to transition a puppy into our home. I said, we’ll need to teach her to go potty outside, to walk on a leash and not to chase our cats and bunny. But Sabrina knew I had it all wrong. ”That’s not right Mommy,” she said confidently. ”The first thing we need to teach her is to love.”

 

[Severus Snape]

I dunno. I don't believe in love--there is always some sort of self-beneficial motive behind affectionate/seemingly altruistic actions. Human emotions are complex, and the definition of "love" is so wishy-washy that it doesn't begin to encompass the range of positive reactions to external stimuli we have, or the reasons behind them. So, I would say, no...children most certainly do not know best.

However, it is refreshing to be reminded of the innocent, rose-tinted world-view every once in a while.

With that said, I'm happy to know the dogs are going to good homes. Dogs have some very admirable qualities, above all, loyalty.

As Mark Twain once said:

"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

 

[MIST]

I think teach to love in this case is to teach to trust people.
Many abandoned animals have no reason to trust people-although some of them can be very friendly despite all things they have been through.

 

[Severus Snape]

^Then, that'd be "teaching" loyalty, which dogs already have, so it's not really teaching him anything.

Unfortunately, dogs are so noble that they don't entirely learn to mistrust even after having the cruelest owners. They're not exactly made to fend for themselves like other animals are (i.e. most cats), so a predisposition towards what we recognize as "trust" is already ingrained in their brains. Being domesticated, of course, they look for leadership in humans rather than other dogs, like their wild counterparts would.

 

[Daryll748]

ah thats so sweet... Kids say the darnest cute things :upside_down: