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Not sure if “Oh no it was really all a dream/ hallucination/ psychotic fantasy” is considered an over used trope by now but I think the important thing to take away from this is wether or not Nerd is actually capable of building such a device…or others like it… He’s certainly capable of using it :)
I forgot to tell you guys this ‘wonderful’ and ‘heartwarming’ baby and dog story from a few weeks ago. I’m curious if anyone has experienced anything similar. We were at a family gathering at an uncle’s house a few hours from where we live so it had been a long day and a long drive with a strange environment and lots of strangers playing pass the baby so I was really surprised at how well they were handling it, just a little fussiness at first and then they were all over the place. As they got tired they started to mostly just crawl around and as it was a small house and they’re pretty fast, the adults had to kind of watch were they stepped. I heard a squawk from Evan and turned around to find my cousin’s Havanese (a medium sized dog perhaps a little bigger than the 15 month twins) had mounted the baby and was impeding his forward progress. I scooped him up and cuddled him with tears streaming down my face from laughter. My cousin was horrified and my uncle rather disappointed that we didn’t let him take a picture first. It looked like some typical America’s Funniest Home Video or something. The weirdest part is the dog went after Evan again but left Owen alone. The second time was a bit more… vigorous, and the baby was a little more upset. Considering the twins are identical the only difference that could account for the dog’s taste was the one piece jammies they were wearing: Owen had blue with monkeys and Evan was sporting blue/green/teal stripes with cars. My poor cousin seemed a bit scandalized; I suggested they get the dog trained before they start having kids :) Is that a common behavior that dog trainers have to break? lol
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October 15th, 2012 at 12:33 am
Ah, the power of the imagination! Enjoy it, little Nerd. Enjoy it. :)
And poor wee Evan!
October 15th, 2012 at 12:37 am
I find it the most disgusting thing when dogs do that – no humor in it what-so-ever. Have the damn thing desexed.
As for the comic – yay, I’m actually quite happy that we got to see Nerds gun work, even if only in a fantasy. Still worth it. Lech the squid – perfect … but I’m sure he’ll turn that into a ‘gifted’ joke some how.
October 15th, 2012 at 12:46 am
I <3 BEAR NUTS
October 15th, 2012 at 12:47 am
Shruikan – Dogs will do that anyway, it’s a dominance behavior more than sexy times. Female dogs will do it to other dogs, even. While it might be “disgusting” to us, it was really just the dog saying “You’re in my house!”
October 15th, 2012 at 1:19 am
Shruikan, Humping is sadly a Normal dog behavior & may not go away when altered. =(
here’s two funny links for y’all ;)
http://theoatmeal.com/comics/dog_paradox
http://dog-shaming.com/
October 15th, 2012 at 2:18 am
It is common, you can train it away easily enough.
October 15th, 2012 at 3:21 am
That’s how dogs show dominance. High ranking pack members mount low ranking members to show them who’s boss, and the way to go up in the ranks is to mount mount someone that outranks them. They tend to go after the youngest child first because they are, from the dog’s perspective, the lowest ranking member of the pack apart from the dog. The Havanese kept going after Evan and ignoring Owen because it somehow came to the conclusion Owen out-ranked Evan.
October 15th, 2012 at 5:19 am
It’s most likely not sexual, so “desexing” the dog will have no effect whatsoever. It’s a way dogs have of showing dominance, and males and females will both do it. If the dog gets away with asserting dominance over the baby, they could actually be a danger if that status climbing is not quashed.
October 15th, 2012 at 6:12 am
they will definatly need to have the dog trained ether not to do that, or get him fixed. One of the scary things is, that it only takes one second for something horrible to happen.
My grand mother always had a dog that she named King. When one would die, she would adopt another one and name it King. She would tell us that King didn’t like kids. Why? well, my brother was about 18 months old and he was eye level with Kings tail and King was wagging it (smacking my brother in the face by accident) My brother reached out, grabbed the tail and bit it.
King was not a happy dog after that.
Ah, Nerd in his glory. Yes, the prime directive says, We come in peace and shoot to stun, mame or dismember…
October 15th, 2012 at 6:42 am
It is common, my two females will mount our only male dog as a show of dominance. I would never let them or any dog do it to a human because it’s their way of establishing their place on the hierarchy, it’s something that should be addressed if it happens again.
October 15th, 2012 at 8:55 am
See, Alison? It’s not just Lech who’s not particularly discriminating when it comes to the species of his dance partners. :)
Panel one is one of the coolest ever. Go ahead. Make my day.
@Shruikan — Lech would have adapted, I’m sure. Some sort of Japanese tentacle situation, I expect. :)
October 15th, 2012 at 10:05 am
Fixing the dog might not help. My Collie is fixed and his favorite game is “Hump the KItteh”. Also most of the Havanese I’ve met are neurotic lil’ fools, so there you are. Just nudge him off with your foot and give him a chewy stick.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:28 am
This happened to me the first time I took my 3 yr old daughter to my boyfriends house. We were in the kitchen talking and she was laying in front of the tv watching cartoons and the next thing I know she’s yelling for me to help her cause the dog was trying to go to town. I was horrified and disgusted and yelled at my BF to get his nasty dog off my kid. We can laugh about it now and I use it when I want to embarass my now 13 yr old. :D
October 15th, 2012 at 11:26 am
Fixing the dog has no bearing on that kind of behaviour, actually, Shruikan. Dogs, male AND female, hump things to put it in it’s place. Basically, the dog doesn’t know it’s position in the family. The owners need to basically break its bad habits by putting themselves in the position of alpha dog. Breaking a dog of these habits is NOT hard, and there’s no necessity for cruelty in it. Generally it’s actually the owners who need the training in how to be a top dog. Dogs are always happier when they know the status quo.
October 15th, 2012 at 11:58 am
Hehe, alas, ’tis only a dream for him! And yeah, that stare would creep me out too a little! Hehe… wiener. X3
Also, last panel, SO EAGER. XD
October 15th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Alas, it was only a dream. I did not see that coming!
October 15th, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Even though i feel sympathy towards nerd quite a lot I find a majority of the time he is a total wiener…and kind of dislikeable…
October 15th, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Awww, I was hoping that it would’ve been for reals! Okay, as real as these bears get, at least …
On another note, congrats to Alison for having her first print at Threadless! And it involves bears!
http://www.threadless.com/product/4146/The_Teddy_Bear_Picnic/
October 15th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
“I have the Powa!!!”
October 15th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Spaying or neutering (as others have said, both sexes exhibit this behavior) will not fix (pun intended) this situation at all. I mean, if you’re not planning to breed a dog, you should absolutely have it spayed or neutered – but don’t expect that to be a magical cure for anything other than conception. Everything else – humping for dominance, peeing to mark territory, etc. – requires good behavioral training to control.
And contrary to popular belief, obedience training is at least as much for teaching dog owners how to handle their dogs as it is for teaching acceptable behaviors to dogs.
:)
October 15th, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Most pet owners are lazy morons who would rather surgically alter their animals and remove claws, tails or teeth rather than have to put some effort into discipline.
October 15th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
The dog needs training. Havanese are notorious ‘alphas’. He thought he was the boss of the house and the new little ‘pups’ needed to be taught that. I’d suggest you NOT bring the babies to the house until their dog has been put through proper obedience training and understands that the two-legged people are the alphas, NOT HIM. If the babies had bothered the dog after he ‘showed them who was boss’, the next step would have been biting…
October 15th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Unfortunately the dog was a visiter too, so I wonder what the behavior would have been like if we’d invaded HIS house? But no harm done and it was really rather funny, even if my cousin and her husband were the only ones not laughing.
@Chris: Interesting observation on the Owen dominance thing. Evan is the older (by a minute) and slightly bigger one but Owen’s always been more adventuresome/fearless/shit disturber so that may very well be what the dog was picking up on.
@Narf: Ha, I hadn’t even gotten an email about that and you knew before I did!
October 16th, 2012 at 4:31 am
Wonderful comic, I love the trope so full speed ahead!
As to the dog business, yes, that is territoriality. It can be trained out, often simply by the owner(s) asserting that they are the alpha(s) in the family.
My personal experience with my dogs was that tresspassers (bunnies coming under the fence et al) were fair game but anyone or anything (including bunnies) we introduced into the home (including the back yard) was ‘family’ or ‘friend’ and to be respected, as long as it respected them… Annie, a siamese learned that the boys would defend themselves if attacked.
Also, most pets (this includes cats), if raised properly with love, will accept the explorations of babies with good nature.
October 16th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Make sure you never let Evan know about the older by a minute thing, twin siblings will lord that shit over the other for the rest of their days.
October 17th, 2012 at 11:18 pm
Nerd is giving Lech the Rape face:P
October 21st, 2012 at 12:12 am
I’m curious as to what that is in NErd’s mouth in the last Panel… is it foam, has he truely gone rabbid?
October 21st, 2012 at 9:14 am
IF the dog is not fixed now then getting him fixed will likely take the dog’s drive to dominate out of him. He’ll mark territory less and shouldnt hump anyones leg or baby for that matter.
August 28th, 2014 at 10:41 am
If you take away the panels showing Nerds thoughts it makes nerd look like
a pervert.