5 ms·

there's also the obvious fact that a cat isn't a credible threat to a human. there's no point in "punishing" a creature that weighs 15-25 times as much as you d

there's also the obvious fact that a cat isn't a credible threat to a human. there's no point in "punishing" a creature that weighs 15-25 times as much as you do. would you try to "punish" an elephant if you were unarmed? conversely, any creature that a cat can credibly deter is not a lethal threat to a human. I imagine a large dog understands, at least on some level, that it can actually win a fight against a human. small dogs seem to believe the same thing, just incorrectly. it would be interesting to study how/if cats defend other cats against roughly cat-sized threats.

gridder 6y ago
The average cat is more of a threat than the average dog. It just won’t bite.
CraneWorm 6y ago
> it would be interesting to study how/if cats defend other cats against roughly cat-sized threats fiercely: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc
- leetcrew 6y ago
  that is an interesting video, thanks for sharing. as much as I want to view it as the cat heroically defending the child, I have to wonder if that was the real motivation. the video seems to take place in the front yard a house that the cat presumably lives in. I wonder if the reaction was more defensive (of the child) or territorial. on the one hand, it seems the cat doesn't react (not in the frame, so hard to say) until the dog actually bites the child. on the other hand, the cat disengages at almost exactly the point where the dog clears the edge of the driveway. then again, who knows if the cat recognizes human customs well enough to align the border of its territory with the property line?
  - CraneWorm 6y ago
    Prolonged engagement would probably not end well for the cat.
K0balt 6y ago
Actually up to a weight for weight match or even more in the case of lighter humans, a single dog is trivial to defeat in combat unless it is properly trained to never fully engage and only to tear and dash. If a person reacts aggressively and not trying to escape, a dog is easily defeated. Just have to protect your throat and keep facing the dog. Allow it to grab you on a limb , preferably a hand or arm, and you have control. Humans have three mouths , dogs only one. Force your hand / arm into the dogs mouth and do not pull away. Use the other hand to control the snout and remove the eyes. Use your mouth to destroy the snout and associated bone structure. If you can get your hand into the mouth reach for the lungs and asphyxiate the animal. Two Dogs gets tricky. Three dogs is deadly.
- edoceo 6y ago
  > Humans have three mouths What?
  - walrus01 6y ago
    I'm picturing some sort of lovecraftian horror of human/dog/multi mouth dog hybrid
  - theonemind 6y ago
    Guessing it's a metaphor indicating that a human hand can accomplish the offensive goals of a dog's mouth, and so can the human's mouth.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- jdking 6y ago
  This is the weirdest comment I’ve ever read on HN!
  - SV_BubbleTime 6y ago
    As poorly conceived as it sounds. It’s not wrong. It’s the same advice for grizzly bears. You need to straight up break the animals instincts from attack to protect, and a non-armed way to go that is to attack eyes or mouth and eyes are hard to go to. Bears specifically have strong gag reflexes, IDK about dogs.
pferdone 6y ago
The video linked by CraneWorm shows a cat (when acting on instinct) doesn‘t care about size differences. The dog probably outweighs the cat 4:1 yet the cat is able to stand its ground.
- CraneWorm 6y ago
  It's also a surprise attack from a full speed charge. I bet that helps a lot.
jrururufuf666 6y ago
a house-cat can easily kill a human.
- WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
  Soul killing doesn't count.
- corobo 6y ago
  Maybe a paralysed human.. really? While I'd never want to try it a swift punt would end a cat attack surely
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  If you don’t get prompt medical attention for the likely infection from the bite, sure. But that’s a bit of a delayed effect.
- leetcrew 6y ago
  maybe via infection, and over a few days at that. unless the cat gets spectacularly lucky, it can't scratch you badly enough that you bleed out on the spot. cats typically kill by severing the neck vertebrae with their jaws. a house cat isn't strong enough to do this to a human.

gridder 6y ago

The average cat is more of a threat than the average dog. It just won’t bite.

CraneWorm 6y ago

> it would be interesting to study how/if cats defend other cats against roughly cat-sized threats fiercely: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EEa6jZv-Khc

leetcrew 6y ago
that is an interesting video, thanks for sharing. as much as I want to view it as the cat heroically defending the child, I have to wonder if that was the real motivation. the video seems to take place in the front yard a house that the cat presumably lives in. I wonder if the reaction was more defensive (of the child) or territorial. on the one hand, it seems the cat doesn't react (not in the frame, so hard to say) until the dog actually bites the child. on the other hand, the cat disengages at almost exactly the point where the dog clears the edge of the driveway. then again, who knows if the cat recognizes human customs well enough to align the border of its territory with the property line?
- CraneWorm 6y ago
  Prolonged engagement would probably not end well for the cat.

K0balt 6y ago

Actually up to a weight for weight match or even more in the case of lighter humans, a single dog is trivial to defeat in combat unless it is properly trained to never fully engage and only to tear and dash. If a person reacts aggressively and not trying to escape, a dog is easily defeated. Just have to protect your throat and keep facing the dog. Allow it to grab you on a limb , preferably a hand or arm, and you have control. Humans have three mouths , dogs only one. Force your hand / arm into the dogs mouth and do not pull away. Use the other hand to control the snout and remove the eyes. Use your mouth to destroy the snout and associated bone structure. If you can get your hand into the mouth reach for the lungs and asphyxiate the animal. Two Dogs gets tricky. Three dogs is deadly.

edoceo 6y ago
> Humans have three mouths What?
- walrus01 6y ago
  I'm picturing some sort of lovecraftian horror of human/dog/multi mouth dog hybrid
- theonemind 6y ago
  Guessing it's a metaphor indicating that a human hand can accomplish the offensive goals of a dog's mouth, and so can the human's mouth.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
jdking 6y ago
This is the weirdest comment I’ve ever read on HN!
- SV_BubbleTime 6y ago
  As poorly conceived as it sounds. It’s not wrong. It’s the same advice for grizzly bears. You need to straight up break the animals instincts from attack to protect, and a non-armed way to go that is to attack eyes or mouth and eyes are hard to go to. Bears specifically have strong gag reflexes, IDK about dogs.

pferdone 6y ago

The video linked by CraneWorm shows a cat (when acting on instinct) doesn‘t care about size differences. The dog probably outweighs the cat 4:1 yet the cat is able to stand its ground.

CraneWorm 6y ago
It's also a surprise attack from a full speed charge. I bet that helps a lot.

jrururufuf666 6y ago

a house-cat can easily kill a human.

WarOnPrivacy 6y ago
Soul killing doesn't count.
corobo 6y ago
Maybe a paralysed human.. really? While I'd never want to try it a swift punt would end a cat attack surely
dragonwriter 6y ago
If you don’t get prompt medical attention for the likely infection from the bite, sure. But that’s a bit of a delayed effect.
leetcrew 6y ago
maybe via infection, and over a few days at that. unless the cat gets spectacularly lucky, it can't scratch you badly enough that you bleed out on the spot. cats typically kill by severing the neck vertebrae with their jaws. a house cat isn't strong enough to do this to a human.