IRL I've heard people criticize using dogs as weapons of war with the specific criticism "Do you think the dog actually likes jumping out of a plane?"
And my immediate answer is "There's plenty of valid criticism you can levy at that use case, but this ain't it. Because the answer is 'yes.' Lots of dogs do. The ones that don't, wash out of military dog training. By-and-large, a dog's default is to go with the pack, so if its handler is chill with the jump so's the dog."
Dogs aren't human beings and don't experience the world like human beings. The empathy circuitry they engage so effectively in us can make us forget that sometimes.
IRL I've heard people criticize using dogs as weapons of war with the specific criticism "Do you think the dog actually likes jumping out of a plane?"
And my immediate answer is "There's plenty of valid criticism you can levy at that use case, but this ain't it. Because the answer is 'yes.' Lots of dogs do. The ones that don't, wash out of military dog training. By-and-large, a dog's default is to go with the pack, so if its handler is chill with the jump so's the dog."
Dogs aren't human beings and don't experience the world like human beings. The empathy circuitry they engage so effectively in us can make us forget that sometimes.