Currently, the only sane law must treat dogs as property. This is because dogs have no sense of personal responsibility, nor can they be held to account for irrational or violent actions. When a strange dog approaches a person, they cannot tell its intentions. It could be deadly.
That being said, this could radically change. Most mammals share a gene sequence called “FOXP2”, but only humans have a unique mutation to that gene. It is associated with several aspects of speech.
Experimentally, it has been put into mice, who were then observed to be “chatty”, and have an enhanced vocal range.
If put into dogs, it is unlikely that they would be able to converse, but they *might* be able to say some words in context. This is very different from the endless videos of dogs supposedly speaking on YouTube. This would be a dog truly communicating an idea.
But if a dog was able to signal hostile intentions, or friendly intentions, only then can the law consider any special value to the life of a dog.
At least in Indiana the law was anyone killing a dog wothout cause,i.e. it wasn’t threatening him or his livestock,but simply wandered onto his property could be fined $50 and I tink,charged with a misdemeanor.Since the law was passed inflation should have pushed the penalty to $100 but I don’t know if it has been revised.
Most dogs signal friendly or hostile intentions through vocalizations, and their body language.
Very few dogs attack without giving warning.