I entered a home in Riverwood and Stump was the only living thing inside. I read a book and chose "E" to take it, but it seems that it was an owned item, so the action was in fact "steal." Nobody was home but the happily barking dog, Stump. I was surprised that the moment I took the book, I was notified of a brand new 40 gold Whiterun bounty.

I read the pre-release interview with Todd Howard where he amusedly pointed out the bug that they had recently identified and fixed where chickens were reporting crimes. Didn't this prompt them to also look at other domesticated animals, at the very least?

In summary, DOGS SHOULDN'T REPORT CRIMES.

Chickens still report crimes as well. You can kill them to remove witnesses xD

As do horses... sigh

Laughable isn't it. How does a dev' overlook something like that?

Telepathy is well established in Elder Scrolls. Pick one pocket in the Imperial city and every guard in the entire empire immediately knew about it. This just takes it to the next logical step.

Wouldn't be the first instance of a talking dog in Skyrim.

I don't really mind animals reporting crimes... they probably left this in the game intentionally as it's funny

Not funny for anyone trying to truly RP (or in any other regard) be a real Thief. Having to hunt down and slaughter all wild-life in the area because they might go bark / chirp / take a dump on the street in the shape of an arrow pointing your direction is annoying and stupid. Might as well have the Trees do it too.

Hmm, trees.....What a GREAT idea!!! Let's make it happen!

Hist

^

Since sneaking is broken at the moment anyway, and with stealing not following any logical sense (Look Lassy, a Theif! Go report it boy! Go on!)

I guess I'll take some frustration out and good investigate the Dark Brotherhood, and then rampage across the world like a serial murderer the likes of which rarely seen. Yeah... yeah now that is a good idea I think I'll make it happen...

it seems everything with a pulse reports crimes, even mudcrabs.

Everyone knows dogs always report crime - Lassie and The Littlest Hobo made careers out of it - not to mention Hong Kong Phooey.

What we really have to be worried about is that the dog might be a Stormcloak spy - or a dragon in disguise or the secret leader of The Blades.

I'm a main thief and i never had a problem with witnesses... the point is that you shouldn't be seen... not even by the animals

Then we disagree, because to me the point is clear. It's a bug. They appear to have been tied to an AI trait that shouldn't apply.

I expect a dog to bark, defend itself or its master when attacked, and take a dump in the street. I don't expect a dog to run and report theft of stuff in the world that has no relation to them at all.

I expect a guard to complain, defend itself or it's friends when attacked, and to try and arrest criminals they actually detect. I don't expect a guard to take a dump in the street.

At-least the guards are acting more appropriate to what I would expect (haven't seen them squat yet....)

Edited:
Fixed typo

Well, the dog can go to it's owner and bark, alerting him/her that something is wrong in that house, he tells the guards and the guards come and investigate then catch you.

Oh and there are probably some smart chickens as well who got taught how alert guards... who knows... maybe once some chickens might get nominated into honorable city guards...

Actually, wasn't this particular bug actually mentioned by Todd some time back as one of the ones they spotted during testing? I believe they (interviewer) were asking him about particular funny bugs they'd encountered during their own in-house testing.

It's a silly bug, doesn't really affect me cos I'm "good" and a reload fixes my mad moments of homicidal rage...lol

Scoob.

I just resurrected a chicken to fight a blood dragon with me. I hope it doesn't report any crimes on our adventure.

Sad thing is it wasn't even overlooked. They knew that animals reported crimes and didn't fix it; Todd talked about it in an interview before release.

Here is some more realism...

I just bagged a thief exiting a house... With the help of the guards...

Once he died, I took his possessions. The guards didn't even attempt to return the items, and my possession of the items wasn't theft.

I bet the thief and the dog have a thing going-on... Seemed like an inside job to me. I'll have to ask the chicken, as soon as he crosses the ... Damn... didn't make it... Another potential witness lost. THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN SKYRIM! (Shakes fist in the air at the Nine, and the Eight.)

Bet you let the chicken do all the work too...

Scoob.

I couldn't recreate this with a chicken, but I confirmed it with other tame dogs. I couldn't get it to happen with theft, but did several times with lockpicking. It's definitely real.

I notice that animals are now under the NPC_ tree with humanoids. In Oblivion, there were separate NPC and CREA trees which is probably why weirdness like this was avoided.

If you really want to RP, then the dog should attack you when you enter the house. Just kill the dog and be done with it.

So, I gather this is not going to be fixed by Bethesda because it's a "funny" bug, and Bethesda don't fix funny bugs.

For those of us who don't still find it funny after the 200th time, is this going to be fixed in the USKP? Can it be?