Dogs are babylike
Adults are not babylike
We make a bigger emotion deal out of dogs than adult humans because it triggers a parental instinct since dogs are babylike.
Jairo's point is that if a dog dies in a horror movie, we care more than if a human dies. Well if it's an adult human, we wouldn't care as much. But if it's a dog or baby we would actually care even if we know the movie is fake due to parental instincts.
What am I missing here?
Babies never die in movies. Seriously. It's all off screen. Children too. And in video games.
So dogs are the next thing.
The reason people go batstuff in animal abuse topics is because dogs are cute, because they are babylike, which triggers a paternal instinct. Technically, it is the sanest reaction.
I was sort of wrong here. Pulling the reins back on your paternal instinct (since the dog is not actually a baby) is probably better, but you should still acknowledge the richardiness of killing that's not self-defense or hunting.