Do dogs feel remorse ?

Quote: Fleastiff

No one knows if the dog feels remorse or not. Or even if the dog understands what he is responsible for.

In the future, pretend you are talking to Sheldon.

Dogs think in a linear fashion, they don't
compare thoughts to other thoughts. They
are capable of about 30 minor emotions,
remorse is way too complicated for them.

Quote: Pacomartin

In the future, pretend you are talking to Sheldon.

Will try, though I lack his social and communicative skills.

Quote: Fleastiff

Will try, though I lack his social and communicative skills.

I knew you were being sarcastic. But "sarcasm" isn't the correct word. You were focusing on a ludicrous proposition as to magnify the actual ridiculousness of the true story. There must be a correct word for that technique.


The trial is the longest of a single accused in Scottish legal history.

It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that a 14 year old kid would brutally murder his girlfriend with a knife, and hid her body successfully, and then be the first one to discover the body. The fact that he discovered the body so quickly seems to be the primary evidence used against him.

Also, how does a 14 year old murder someone with a knife, and then destroy all physical evidence including blood samples. sound pretty sophisticated to me.

Quote: Pacomartin

I knew you were being sarcastic. But "sarcasm" isn't the correct word. You were focusing on a ludicrous proposition as to magnify the actual ridiculousness of the true story. There must be a correct word for that technique.

>The trial is the longest of a single accused in Scottish legal history.
But it was not his trial. It was his lawyer's trial. The lawyer is supposed to consult with his client and take direction from his client. None of that happened. And the lawyer flatly refused to attack the victim's family which meant he refused to attack the prime suspect.

>It doesn't make a whole lot of sense that a 14 year old kid would brutally murder his girlfriend with a knife, and hid her body
>successfully, and then be the first one to discover the body. The fact that he discovered the body so quickly seems to be the
>primary evidence used against him.
Why stage the scene and then be the first person on the scene. Even when the police eventually showed up they wanted the fourteen year old boy who had just discovered his girl friend brutally murdered to climb over the wall again and take the police to her.
It is alleged, despite factual impossibility, that Luke ran home, changed his clothes, and instantly convinced his mother to burn them.
The police even alleging neighbors smelled burning that night. In fact, the mother was not home. The backyard burner was tiny and inadequate to such a task, nor did its ashed contain any buttons or zippers or leather patches. Nor did any neighbors report smoke or odors of any sort.

The area was known as an outdoor drug market, an area for those 'living rough'. Considerable traffic was along paths other than Dyke's paths and it is thought that Jodi had already been on the homicide side of the wall, the "vee" being a place where two passerby heard a "party" taking place and joined in, thus contributing to the dna of four males being "on, in or near" the corpse. Two of the males immediately and radically altered their physical appearance and left the area, but police had already "solved" the crime by taking Luke away and leaving the girls corpse exposed to the rain for several additional hours.

Quote: Fleastiff

Yes, I know its technically 20 years than life, but he is so hated by the cops and prison personnel that he will obviously do forty years minimum.

There's -nothing- obvious about that at all. If he's that hated, he'll probably never get out. At least give the sentence correctly if you are sharing the facts for us to ascertain the details. As he's under Scottish law, it's odd that a verdict of 'Not Proven' wasn't offered under the evidence I've read.

For those interested in the details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Jodi_Jones

and

http://luke-mitchell-is-innocent.wronglyaccusedperson.org.uk/

For two sides to the case.

Remorse is too complicated an emotion for a dog to have because remorse means knowing your action was wrong or regretting the action based on the consequences. I think it's beyond the brain of a dog. Mourning would not be the same as remorse because it doesn't require understanding of cause and effect.

Quote: 1nickelmiracle

Remorse is too complicated an emotion for a dog to have because remorse means knowing your action was wrong or regretting the action based on the consequences. I think it's beyond the brain of a dog. Mourning would not be the same as remorse because it doesn't require understanding of cause and effect.

I quoted all of this because it's true. Dogs
are capable of mourning, that's a fact.
Remorse takes comparing thoughts and they
aren't capable of that. But they are man's
best friend because they are the only animal
capable of feeling real emotion. Every
dog owner knows this.

Okay folks. I had attempted to perform some sort of literary conceit by framing this as a question about the dog's emotions. Indeed, if I recall correctly, the oft-arrested Corrine Mitchell did announce that the dog had died. PacoMartin, as ever, was quite correct that sarcasm is not the proper name for the literary technique I had attempted to use.

The Scottish Review Commission has now determined that instead of four mens dna being present at the scene of the crime, there were five men who left dna on, in or near the corpse in what the prosecutor told the jury was not a sex crime. However, the conviction stands.

Quote: Fleastiff

The poor dog just probably doesn't understand the Scottish courts. Neither do I.

Quote: Fleastiff

However, the conviction stands.

And the dog is still remorseful.