[user104658]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Do agree with a lot of what TS is saying (particularly in how people can get more emotional over a pet than a fellow human), but I do think it takes a certain sort of person to physically hold a dog's dead under water until it drowns and then make concerted efforts going to great lengths to cover his tracks. That takes it beyond a mere moment of madness imo. I'm not sure prison would be that inappropriate, he probably wouldn't be surrounded by violent criminals in a maximum security unit for something like this. But a few months in an open prison would be a fair sentence and might even do him some good.

Acute transient psychotic episodes (colloquially, "rage blackouts") are actually more common than you would think under certain conditions and can be triggered specifically by things like repeated irritating noise, because the noise repeatedly interrupts normal thought process and doesn't give the mind time to rationalise. It's often compounded by things like drawn out periods of stress / lack of sleep, etc.

Not so common for them to result in something so drastically violent but it doesn't necessarily say anything at all about the "sort of person" involved.

As for the cover-up, I would call that entirely natural and actually psychologically positive. It means that in all likelihood he instantly realised what he had done and how awful it was, so set about covering it up. The truth is, the vast majority of people would do just that if they realised they had done something shameful like that. A lot of people would do it even if what had happened was an accident like hitting a pet with a car, even people who would insist before the fact "Oh I definitely wouldn't I would find the owners and tell them!". Guilt is a strange and unpredictable motivator.

It would be much MORE worrying if he had started bellowing over the fence at the house about what he had done, or simply left the dog there and gone on about his day. That would, for me, demonstrate that he didn't understand at all the gravity of his actions. He didn't do a very good job of covering it up at all, which suggests a panic after it was already done rather than any premeditated action.

I guess it sounds like I'm trying to make excuses... I'm not, I think he definitely needs help on some level. I just, as always, don't believe in "folks who are just plain evil" and think it's important to understand why things like this happen in the first place rather than simply wringing hands in the aftermath.

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Acute transient psychotic episodes (colloquially, "rage blackouts") are actually more common than you would think under certain conditions and can be triggered specifically by things like repeated irritating noise, because the noise repeatedly interrupts normal thought process and doesn't give the mind time to rationalise. It's often compounded by things like drawn out periods of stress / lack of sleep, etc.

Not so common for them to result in something so drastically violent but it doesn't necessarily say anything at all about the "sort of person" involved.

As for the cover-up, I would call that entirely natural and actually psychologically positive. It means that in all likelihood he instantly realised what he had done and how awful it was, so set about covering it up. The truth is, the vast majority of people would do just that if they realised they had done something shameful like that. A lot of people would do it even if what had happened was an accident like hitting a pet with a car, even people who would insist before the fact "Oh I definitely wouldn't I would find the owners and tell them!". Guilt is a strange and unpredictable motivator.

It would be much MORE worrying if he had started bellowing over the fence at the house about what he had done, or simply left the dog there and gone on about his day. That would, for me, demonstrate that he didn't understand at all the gravity of his actions. He didn't do a very good job of covering it up at all, which suggests a panic after it was already done rather than any premeditated action.

I guess it sounds like I'm trying to make excuses... I'm not, I think he definitely needs help on some level. I just, as always, don't believe in "folks who are just plain evil" and think it's important to understand why things like this happen in the first place rather than simply wringing hands in the aftermath.

I get what you are saying TS and as much as I don't agree, it makes some sense. However, I massively disagree with the sentiment that most people would have done the cover up part. Some MAY have put the body somwhere or hidden it etc but I cannot see MOST people digging around under the skin of a dog they have just killed to remove a microchip that may or may not have been there. The main reaction would surely be panic if the had a "black rage" and came to realising what they had done my be running to hide the body etc. His cover up is very calculated and as worrying as the act itself IMO

[MTVN]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

I get what you are saying TS and as much as I don't agree, it makes some sense. However, I massively disagree with the sentiment that most people would have done the cover up part. Some MAY have put the body somwhere or hidden it etc but I cannot see MOST people digging around under the skin of a dog they have just killed to remove a microchip that may or may not have been there. The main reaction would surely be panic if the had a "black rage" and came to realising what they had done my be running to hide the body etc. His cover up is very calculated and as worrying as the act itself IMO

I agree, it seems far from 'psychologically positive' to me