Yes, Your Lovable Lab Might Eat You

Folklore tells us that a cat will gladly dine upon its deceased owner - but a dog would sooner starve.  Not so, your dog may be perfectly willing to consume a human corpse and there is ample evidence to support this.

Just ask the 78-year-old Austrian woman who was found without a face with her German shepherd in 2002, or the 66-year-old man from Moscow whose German shepherd ate most of him over the course of two weeks in 2008, or the octogenarian German shepherd owners whose gruesome remains were discovered in 2006. You could also ask the Canadian couple eaten in 2011 by their five Shetland sheepdogs and two mutts.

In 2009, a small pair of pugs in Nebraska survived for two weeks on the corpse of their owner after he shot himself.  After being found, the dogs were subsequently put up for adoption. A Humane Society spokesman said the animals were unlikely to suffer any lasting psychological damage because:  they don't have memories like people.   

I dunno.  I asked my dogs about this and they returned my questions with a quizzical look of their own.  Sort of:  Would you dine on us if you were starving?   

Good question.  I guess is cuts both ways and depends upon who dies first and who’s hungry enough.  National Geographic has an excellent piece on this topic which might make you sleep from now on with one eye open.