It is specially heartbreaking when I hear stories about abused children,... or dogs!
There was an experiment I once read about chimps. The scientists made a real-sized mother chimp stuffy and buried a electric shock trigger inside. When the baby chimp saw this stuffy, it was not intelligent enough to know this was a fake and naturally, would try to get back to her arms and cuddle. The little chimp would get electric shock when it touched the mother and jump back a few steps, looked confused, maybe wondering "what had I done wrong and upset mom". After a few seconds, little chimp would attempt it again until little chimp learnt its lesson that mom did not want it to get close. Although the little chimp had given up snuggling into mom's arms, it would stay close to mom, wherever the stuffy mom was relocated to.
The little chimp, although were electric shocked when touching the stuffy mom, would not run away, still followed where mom went and maybe thinking this is its own fault that had upset mom. I wonder would this be a good analogy when a child was abused by the parents especially when the parents say "don't make me hit you". The kid would probably think it was their own fault and deserve the punishment. This kid would probably not fight back or run away, like the little chimp in the experiment. It is heart-breaking just to think about it.
Same as in dogs. When dogs are mistreated by their owners, the dogs would not fight back or run way. it would still come back to their owners.
