normal 6 year old behavior?

[Bev93]

My 6 year old son has alway's enjoyed chasing the dogs a round the house pestering them. I think he likes to get them riled up. He will kick at them head butt them and throw them off of the couch at times. He's never hurt any of them in the process though. Then at other times he will hug on them and give them kisses and talk about how much he loves them.
I've always thought that he was just being a mischievious little boy. We also have 2 rabbits and a parrot and he's always been nice to them. Last week he found a toad and his father told him he couldn't keep it so he threw it across the yard. Today he knocked a robins nest out of a tree, smashed the eggs and then went and hid the nest.
He came and told me that the nest flew across the yard lying to hide the fact that he actually knocked it down. I immediately realized what happened when I found the smashed eggs under the tree. When I asked him why he would do such a thing he said he wanted to look at the nest and the egg was cracked so he went ahead and smashed it although both of the eggs were smashed. So my question is... is it normal for a 6 year old boy to be so reckless with animals and not seem to care if he harms them or even kills them?

[specialmom]

Well, I would say that you absolutely shouldn't have a dog at this time.  Whatever pet he is kicking and throwing, for the safety of that animal, they shouldn't ever be alone together.  

Many breeders of dogs screen families and will not adopt out a dog to families with kids your sons age and younger.  Why?  Because they play too rough, don't have good judgement, don't realize what they are doing at times.  Your son sounds on the extreme end of this.  But a lot of kids your son's age aren't great with young animals.  

I would say that your son has not yet developed a full appreciation of nature---  it is a bird's nest but interesting to him.  So he messed with it.  Same with the toad.  I would think this is not that unusual for his age.  I'd read books about robins, toads, and other animals he may encounter in the backyard to help his appreication level.  
good luck  

[AnnieBrooke]

I don't think it is totally unusual for a child to be reckless, but the concern is (as you say) that he is being reckless when another's life is at stake.  What's going on in his life that would cause him to be so uncaring?  Is he in a place where he is always being handled roughly by someone?  (Sometimes dads are too aggressive with their children, thinking it's all in fun.)  Another possibility is that he has some mild mental issue that makes him unempathetic.  Do you have any feeling that this might be true?