Explain what evidence there is that the house deliberately causes the dog's death.

The house is "aware" that the family is gone, and it is "aware" that the dog belongs in the house. And yet the reader would assume that the house does not have free will or form ideas of its own--that it cannot take pity on the starving dog and feed it. And yet, as soon as the dog is in the house, at a time when no humans are scheduled to be home, the house begins making food that the dying dog desperately needs. This drives the dog into a frenzy trying to get at the food. With full control over the house's doors, the house keeps the kitchen door closed against the starving animal, and it dies.