posted
Well, terming it "suicide" is a little over the top. It presumes intent on the part of the dogs.
The real question, I think, is this:
What is there that is either drawing dogs to run off the bridge or driving them there?
Dogs can and do disregard things they know are dangerous when the stimulus is strong enough. Is there something naturally occurring - an odor or sound? Or something intentional? (Yeah, there are plenty of people sick enough to think this would be fun to do.)
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posted
I was just thinking it might be some kind of supersonic pitch or undetectable to the human nose odor that's doing it. I think some people need to bring some serious equipment out there.
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And I dislike dogs. Just today a dog owner asked my daughter (who was walking home alone from her piano lesson 1 block away) to get off the sidewalk and walk on the road in case the dog freaked out at her backpack.
posted
Haven't seen a picture of the bridge. But can't help but think that the guardrails are walled rather than open-fenced or barred. ie Can't see what's on the other side from the height of a dog's head. Then I think of squirrels and birds, and how some dogs will reflexively take off after them. And of squirrels skittering or birds chattering on the ledge outside of those guardrails...
posted
That's true, aspectre, but dogs have depth perception too, and don't generally leap to their death. I'm going with the ultra- or infra-sonic noise theory. Morbo
posted
A dog can't have depth perception of what's on the other side of a wall that a dog is too short to see over.
My thinking is in terms of a dog hearing something around the corner of the house, then bolting after it, even though the dog can't see what's on the other side. Even if it sees a garbage can immediately after its head rounds the corner, the dog's momentum would crash it into the garbage can. Similarly, a dog hops a guardrail wall chasing after something it hears, and its momentum continues to carry it off the bridge even after the dog realizes its mistake.
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