When you imagine a man’s best friend, it is fairly easy to imagine a Dog. Historically, Dogs have been with humans for many generations because they help make daily tasks easier, such as hunting, retrieving, and tracking.
However, as the world progressed, Dogs were eventually tasked to do more complex things: guiding the blind, detecting contraband, and discovering explosives. But can you think about a Dog who was once a hero but then turned into a villain?
WONDERFUL HERO
In Paris during the year 1908, Dogs were deployed to enhance patrol efficiency. During that time, the performance of a Newfoundland Dog stood out, because he was able to save a child from potentially drowning in the river.
The Newfoundland heard the splashing and cries of the child, so he ran and jumped over the hedge in an attempt to save the drowning child. This act of bravery was truly remarkable, so the father of the child and the locals decided to reward the Dog with a pat and a savory meal of steak.
Little did they know that they were teaching the Dog to do something unexpected.
The article published in The New York Times in 1908 tells the story of how the Dog was “saving” children to get treats. (Reddit)
SUS BEHAVIOR
In this Dog’s case, the beefsteak was a minor reward for saving the life of a drowning child. But because Dogs are very intelligent, reinforcing a specific behavior by using a reward can backfire.
Days later, another child fell into the river and was rescued by the same Dog. Then, as expected, the Newfoundland was given another slab of meat as a reward.
Perhaps the Dog noticed the pattern: Whenever he rescued a child, he would get a tasty meal. Eventually, several kids fell into the river over a brief period of time, only to be rescued by the same Dog. It started to raise suspicion among the locals. Because of lack of monitoring technology back in 1908, they had to rely on eyewitness accounts.
Eventually, they put the pieces together and, with the help of a special watch that was assigned to the area, they discovered that the Newfoundland was pushing kids into the river for him to rescue them and get his reward.
NO SUCH THING AS A BAD DOG
In this story, the hero Dog became a “villain” after finding a way to get his reward more frequently. He just wanted his steak and worked very hard to earn it.
While we cheekily refer to this Dog as a villain, no Dog is truly evil. Dogs don’t have the same sense of morality as humans do, after all. But perhaps we should all be careful about how good behaviors are rewarded — it’s up to us to make sure no child gets pushed into the river again, figuratively speaking.
