Dogs Mistiness

It hears the door open.

Simple. Dogs can't tell time.

I'll beg to differ. Our mutt knows 4:30 p.m. to within minutes. No, not a bad joke coming. If my wife is out for the day, the thing goes ape at 4:30. It yaps in excitement, expecting it's time to go find to find the overlord. As for the dog*, I'm still trying to figure how it has this internal clock - it matters not what time of year it is (ie daylight time/birds singing etc).

No, it doesn't have a digital watch that bleeps on the hour. I hate to make the comparison, but I'm much the same. If I set an alarm clock for some out of the usual time in the morning, then I'll almost certainly oversleep. On the other hand if I just log it in my head then I can waken at almost any given hour.

There's probably a whole wad of subtle cues that tell us time of day. I'd suggest some more, but I need to go have breakfast.

* calm down folks, I'm already slapping myself for that

You are right, I was joking that dogs can't read clocks.

Dogs pick up on sounds we just do not hear. Cars, engines, the way people walk, etc., with acute uncanniness and remember that information well.

Or more to the point, 'how does the dog know what is unexpected ?'. There's a lot to be said for gerbils.

I think hearing is probably the cue for much animal 'psychic' behaviour.
We all remember Radar Riley in MASH?
Del

As in Radar O'Reilly ? That Klingon was an odd one, and where on earth was BJ's bear ? Maybe with Simon Smith

Oh really? No O'Reilly...
Is this Wembley?
No it's Thursday.
So am I, lets stop and have a drink.

Del

Animals know far more than we assume, confirmed by my wife - a veterinarian. How do salmon, after swimming thousands of miles, locate the very same river where they were spawned many years earlier? How do birds navigate their way during their annual migration from northern climes to southern climes (and vice versa), often returning to exactly the same nesting site? Lost dogs have been known to travel hundreds of miles to get back to their owners. Explain that. I think all of us have some sort of internal clock. Years ago we used to have a competition to estimate the time, after spending hours on the beach. It was amazing how accurate we were in our estimates, often within minutes - certainly far better than random guessing.

It doesn't 'know', but some dogs have acute senses or hearing and/or smell and can hear the sound of your car from away, or the sound of your footstep, or similarly can smell you or your car long before you get to the door.

They also can sense the behavior of other people in the house. If you call your wife and tell her you're on your way home, the dog can sense the change in her behavior as she tells her boyfriend he has to leave and she gets ready for your arrival.

wot about us cats eh? eh?
Cats have travelled hundreds of miles to get back to their old house etc.
But, being more inelligenter than dogs they'll normally jus' get a cab
Del

I don't know about that. If evolution is true, why haven't cats evolved to dogs?

Had a beagle that could pick up Grandmas car 3/4 mile away in the 'burbs. The dog would go crazy, and pretty soon Grandma would show up with the requisite cookie(s).

When I drove the car (without the cookie), the dog still went berserk.

Ok

Point one: Don't bring up evolution!

Point two: Cats evolved into dogs and are now dogs and not cats! You cant see it because you were not there!

Point three: you are lucky that the dog really did like only the cookies otherwise it would have eaten the car and maybe your Grandma!

Point four: Don't answer point one because it deals with evolution!

Nah - they probably just read the signs on the M11, like everyone else. After all, the text is large enough.

I remember years ago, a dog realised that his owner died in another city hundred miles away and was weeping for his death.

A possible suggestion that dogs recognises more that we realize? I think that it is on recorded that dog can recognise their masters moods and react accordingly? So if a family is in grief for a lost one then the dog will react accordingly?

Regards JD.

Absolutely, they are masters of reading the state of others.

After being involved (and I still am) in training our German Shepherd Dog I have learned that dogs know what you know and they also know what you don't know.

GSDs can be very pack and dominate oriented. The handler's moods have a direct impact on training as the dogs read them very well.

Additionally, when someone approaches a dog and is in fear, it sets off a reaction of fear in the dog, which is why dogs may initiate a fight or flight mode. If you are afraid, then the dog assumes there must be something to be afraid of.

Generating moods of anger, fear, despair, or joy are easily picked up by our canine friends. How they react to those moods just depends on the dog.

A significant part of handling a dog is how you carry and present yourself to the dog and others.

Actually the Dog realised that his master died in another city before the family know and ware asking why the Dog is weeping ?