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Originally Posted by DiscoDan  The point I am trying to make in my example is that, even though it appears as if people do terrible things for no valid reason, one always exists if you look deeply enough. It is not that child molesters or any of the various other types of criminals are just "bad people" and that's the way it is. These people become the way that they are because of terrible experiences that have happened to them in the past. Help these people get through those past experiences, and you will stop them from doing terrible things as well.
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I completely missed this part. I *think* that there are actually people who display aberrant behavior with no history of discernable abuse. But I have three German Shepherd dogs (stick with me, this story actually does make a point somewhere along the way). One of them we got from GSD rescue. She had been in four homes and we were told that if she didn't fit into the next home they tried, they were putting her down. They could not understand what the dog's problem was because all of the homes were experienced GSD owners with yards and appeared to be ideal situations. She had never been abused or really abandoned though she had been through several homes. Anyway, we have seventy acres so we said we would take her. They came and dropped that dog off and as soon as they opened the crate, it was gone. The first month she would run around the edges of the pastures. Every once in awhile we would look up and say, "Hey, there goes that dog." We set food out for her and pretty much just left her alone to figure it out for herself. The second month, she edged up near the barn and started to hang out within about thirty feet of me while I was working. One day, I was cleaning stalls and suddenly I realized that the dog was in the stall with me. I just ignored her and kept on working. After that, as soon as I would come up to the barn, she would stick right by me til I went to the house. Eventually, she let me pet her. Long story short...she is now our devoted indoor dog that will not go more than ten feet away from me. EVER. I love her now and she loves me. It is like having a dog-shadow. She is great with our kids and their friends, good with the cats, good with everything as long as she is never closed in and she can stay near me. Come to find out, her first couple of homes were with people who worked full time jobs. Apparently this dog has an unusually strong drive to attach herself to a single person and to 'guard' that person at all times. Her first two homes were not by any means abusive or 'bad' homes, but they drove this particular dog crazy.
Anyway, the moral to that story is that I wonder if some people are the same way. Their childhood circumstances are not by any normal measure 'abusive' or damaging, but for their particular personalities, it is devestating.
I wanted to throw in here that if I go out of town and leave Sasha with the girl that house sits for us, she has to have valium until I get back or she will drive our housesitter nuts with whining and constantly trying to escape out of the yard and is really aggressive to the other dogs. The vet says it is the stress of not being able to 'do her job'. When her life suits her, she goes back to being normal. She is just hyper-sensitive. I don't see why some people couldn't be the same way.