Let's talk about dog's senses

atomic41

atomic41

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
    • Apr 4, 2013
    3,777
    9,085
    #1
    I know a dog has far superior senses than us in just about every way. But sometimes they can do things that I can't figure out. My dog (and I think this is common), knows when deer are walking through my yard even when indoors taking a dog nap with the windows closed and AC on.

    It happened again just now. Dog was upstairs in a front bedroom napping, came running downstairs all wound up ready to fight and went straight to the back door. I walked over to let dog out expecting there was a chase about to happen and when I looked out, sure enough there was a big buck out back. How the heck does this dog always know when they are there? This happens a lot, day and night. It must be scent and it's so strong it wakes them up. Thoughts?

    How about your dog? Do you have any of those "how did they know" experiences?
     
    Last edited:
    • Like
    Reactions: deltawiskey, Gee Kay and animaldoc
    #6
    • Like
    Reactions: Makinchips208, SanPatHogger, greg1147 and 2 others
    #7
    I am amazed at how mine can know stuff going on outside too. What is the hardest to belive is how he can smell though. I can be down in my loading room (basement) and him be upstairs and open a bag of Jerry (quietly) and in leas than 10 seconds he runs down there. You can tell he didn't hear it, though his hearing is excellent. I've done it a few times using scissors to cut open the bag and be silent doing it, so he must smell it. It's incredible.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Makinchips208, Gee Kay, gigamortis and 2 others
    #10
    I'm convinced my dog can understand English.
    She always seems to know when we are about to go out (and always assumes she's coming).

    There's the obvious ques like changing shoes, getting a leash etc, but even when there are none of those and the wife and I are discussing about going out she seems to know.

    I've done a few tests to see what visual and behavioral ques the dog picks up bit sometimes she just knows.
    There are times when she completely misjudged it amd thinks we are going out when we're not, which is even more surprising as I don't know what it is she picked up on (and misjudged).
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay and Bradu
    #13
    beetroot said:
    I'm convinced my dog can understand English.
    She always seems to know when we are about to go out (and always assumes she's coming).

    There's the obvious ques like changing shoes, getting a leash etc, but even when there are none of those and the wife and I are discussing about going out she seems to know.

    I've done a few tests to see what visual and behavioral ques the dog picks up bit sometimes she just knows.
    There are times when she completely misjudged it amd thinks we are going out when we're not, which is even more surprising as I don't know what it is she picked up on (and misjudged).
    Click to expand...
    Its energy. They pick up on our energy and we attribute (no you specifically but people in general) their responses to a variety of things. The more primal the dog breed, the more sensitive they are to our energy in general.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay
    #14
    Deer walk across my range often and our Dane always seems to know. Maybe the others do too and don't care, IDK. They'll be 75-100 yards behind the house and he heads to the back door to bark. They're generally downwind, so I doubt he smells them.

    All 3 know when one of us is leaving, especially my wife. They're momma's boys!
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay and atomic41
    #16
    mi650 said:
    Deer walk across my range often and our Dane always seems to know. Maybe the others do too and don't care, IDK. They'll be 75-100 yards behind the house and he heads to the back door to bark. They're generally downwind, so I doubt he smells them.
    Click to expand...

    That's exactly what I'm talking about, how do they know?! That's so cool.
     
    #17
    BuildingConceptsllc said:
    I am amazed at how mine can know stuff going on outside too. What is the hardest to belive is how he can smell though. I can be down in my loading room (basement) and him be upstairs and open a bag of Jerry (quietly) and in leas than 10 seconds he runs down there. You can tell he didn't hear it, though his hearing is excellent. I've done it a few times using scissors to cut open the bag and be silent doing it, so he must smell it. It's incredible.
    Click to expand...

    Mine too. I have a rule that if I get a snack, I have to give the dog one. This is to reduce my snacking and it works most of the time. So anytime I try to sneak one, it fails. No matter if she's asleep or how quiet I am or where she is in the house. It's almost like the moment I thought about s snack, she got some signal. :ROFLMAO:
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay and BuildingConceptsllc
    #18
    atomic41 said:
    Mine too. I have a rule that if I get a snack, I have to give the dog one. This is to reduce my snacking and it works most of the time. So anytime I try to sneak one, it fails. No matter if she's asleep or how quiet I am or where she is in the house. It's almost like the moment I thought about s snack, she got some signal. :ROFLMAO:
    Click to expand...
    That would be the “Snack Tax” 🤣
     
    • Haha
    Reactions: BuildingConceptsllc
    #19
    They can both be upstairs. If I open the one cupboard out of 31 that has their treats in it they both come running down.

    Like OP said when in our room late evening/early morning they will alert to dear in the woods. This is a 2nd story room with all good double pane windows & 6" well insulated walls. They can't see out any of them. In the winter I can see about 100y into the woods. Sure as shit every time there is indeed something out there. I can tell by their reaction weather its a fox or dear.

    They also know the sound of my or my wife's car 200y out. 150y before they can see it.

    The one that really baffles me is they somehow know if I'm just going out to grab something out of the car vs leaving to go somewhere. The former they don't move. The latter and the little one starts spinning around like a tazmanian devil barking at me.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay
    #21
    atomic41 said:
    I know a dog has far superior senses than us in just about every way. But sometimes they can do things that I can't figure out. My dog (and I think this is common), knows when deer are walking through my yard even when indoors taking a dog nap with the windows closed and AC on.

    It happened again just now. Dog was upstairs in a front bedroom napping, came running downstairs all wound up ready to fight and went straight to the back door. I walked over to let dog out expecting there was a chase about to happen and when I looked out, sure enough there was a big buck out back. How the heck does this dog always know when they are there? This happens a lot, day and night. It must be scent and it's so strong it wakes them up. Thoughts?

    How about your dog? Do you have any of those "how did they know" experiences?
    Click to expand...
    had a similar experience with a friend's mal. were in his liv rm. there was loud rock music playing and a few varieties of smoke in the air and ac running. my rot was outside the fence in my truck in his crate. the mal alerted to an intrusion or something off. i went out the front with a gun my bud out back with a ball bat. no barking or noise from my dog. but,there he was outside the fence trying to get in. he had peeled 4 welds off his crate and got out looking for me. but,the mal knew something was up couldn't have heard or smelt it.
    lived in an area where there were a lot of turtles and tortoises. my rot would know they were there 50 yd from the house from inside with AC running. impossible to know thru any of the senses but......
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Gee Kay and atomic41
    #23
    mi650 said:
    Deer walk across my range often and our Dane always seems to know. Maybe the others do too and don't care, IDK. They'll be 75-100 yards behind the house and he heads to the back door to bark. They're generally downwind, so I doubt he smells them.

    All 3 know when one of us is leaving, especially my wife. They're momma's boys!
    Click to expand...
    Dane was the best dog Ive ever had!
     
    #24
    Bullfrog08 said:
    Dane was the best dog Ive ever had!
    Click to expand...
    He's a doofus!! His nickname is Eeyore.

    09vqhBX.jpg
     
    • Like
    Reactions: Camelfilter, 232593, LeftyJason and 3 others
    #27
    BuildingConceptsllc said:
    Its energy. They pick up on our energy and we attribute (no you specifically but people in general) their responses to a variety of things. The more primal the dog breed, the more sensitive they are to our energy in general.
    Click to expand...
    Mine knows when I’m angry. Even not acting like it. He knows my moods and reacts accordingly. I think dogs are angels God sends to us!
     
    • Like
    Reactions: 232593, oneshot86, Gee Kay and 2 others
    #28
    rlsmith1 said:
    Always been impressed by a dog’s senses too. On the other end of things, I’ve seen bird dogs almost step on dead quail / roosters if we have been looking for a while (scent pollution)

    Click to expand...

    Bird dogs know if a bird Is dead, wounded, or fully healthy. They will pounce on a cripple where they point a non injured bird. They also smell and go right to a dead bird! I’ve had 30 bird dogs in my life. Nothing g like em
     
    • Like
    Reactions: FredBart, Flintdog2011, Baron23 and 3 others
    #33
    It's genetic. Man and dog have been in an interspecies alliance for over 10,000 years. Those that were the most alert and gave the earliest warning survived. There is no telling how many humans have been saved by dogs and vice versa.

    Interestingly wild canines only play as puppies. Once they mature they stop all play activities with the rest of the pack. Only domesticated dogs play with each other and humans as adults. In a way we've infantilized them by providing for them and taking care of them.
     
    #40
    There is a company called J G Wentworth and they will pursue and collect your settlements for cash to get it to you quicker. Minus their fee, of course.

    One of their commercials involved opera singing. Shadow would sing along with them.



    1723997809311.jpeg
     
    #43
    Mate of mine in the 80's was an avid fisherman, he had a lovable Bull Terrier. Dog was quite the character, he could pick out the hottest girls on the beach. Mate would put some fluro zinc cream on the dog's nose as Bullie's prone to sun damage. Back in the 80's a lot of girls sunbaked topless, the dog would go up the them and get their attention, they'd end up standing up but with their hands covering their boobs, you'd run over to grab the dog and without fail the dog would stick his nose in their groin and they'd drop their hands to fend him off. We had to take it in turns to go get the dog lol.

    The dog was a gentle soul and wouldn't hurt a fly apart from one night the mate was fishing at the sand pumping jetty at the spit, Gold Coast Australia. Mate and the dog were walking back to the car and a lone man passed them walking the opposite direction down the track to the beach, the dog went absolutely nuts, mate said he was like Cujo from the 80's movie, he couldn't settle the dog at all and was dragging him backwards with a heavy choke chain lead.

    When he and the dog were nearly back at the car a young couple had parked up and were heading down the same track, mate warned them that the dog had gone nuts at a guy and to be careful.

    Next night on the news he is shocked to see the couple were murdered by that guy on the night the dog went ballistic.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: atomic41 and 232593
    #46
    lots if not most of the pbs programming is filled with propaganda, but Dog Tales and Cat Tales (nova) were decent.
     
    #47
    dino67 said:
    Mate of mine in the 80's was an avid fisherman, he had a lovable Bull Terrier. Dog was quite the character, he could pick out the hottest girls on the beach. Mate would put some fluro zinc cream on the dog's nose as Bullie's prone to sun damage. Back in the 80's a lot of girls sunbaked topless, the dog would go up the them and get their attention, they'd end up standing up but with their hands covering their boobs, you'd run over to grab the dog and without fail the dog would stick his nose in their groin and they'd drop their hands to fend him off. We had to take it in turns to go get the dog lol.

    The dog was a gentle soul and wouldn't hurt a fly apart from one night the mate was fishing at the sand pumping jetty at the spit, Gold Coast Australia. Mate and the dog were walking back to the car and a lone man passed them walking the opposite direction down the track to the beach, the dog went absolutely nuts, mate said he was like Cujo from the 80's movie, he couldn't settle the dog at all and was dragging him backwards with a heavy choke chain lead.

    When he and the dog were nearly back at the car a young couple had parked up and were heading down the same track, mate warned them that the dog had gone nuts at a guy and to be careful.

    Next night on the news he is shocked to see the couple were murdered by that guy on the night the dog went ballistic.
    Click to expand...
    Dogs just......know sometimes.
     
    • Like
    Reactions: mosin46
    #50
    My first Akita, Miko, had a huge vocabulary of English words she understood. She also knew and could use human body language; nod her head for yes, shake it for no, stamp her foot for strong emphasis... etc. People used to stand with their mouths agape watching us have arguments. there was never any doubt that we understood each other perfectly.

    Miko was also of the considered opinion that I need a minder to keep me out of trouble. Especially where women were concerned. She'd drive away the ones she didn't approve ("Oh Lord...you want to stick your dick in that?!") of and pass through the ones she did. (about 1 in 10) Once in a while, she'd find one and bring her to me. ("Here ya go, mate this one!") It didn't take me too long to realize that she was never wrong about women.

    I miss that dog.
     
    • Like
    • Love
    Reactions: atomic41, 232593 and mosin46
    You must log in or register to reply here.

    Similar threads

    AmmoFort
    I think we're going to get a GSD for the family. Not 100% decided yet, but close.
    Replies
    197
    Views
    5K
    Buzzinga
    Buzzinga
    Maggot
    Another Pitbul murder
    Replies
    109
    Views
    3K
    S Sevier
    S
    Lowlight
    Some of you guys are in for a surprise
    Replies
    736
    Views
    28K
    DarnYankeeUSMC
    DarnYankeeUSMC
    higginsworksforme
    Introducing kids to shooting
    Replies
    10
    Views
    413
    fpgt72
    fpgt72
    W
    Let me tell ya about Shoot Straight/Florida...Beware, long rant...
    Replies
    54
    Views
    2K
    Mike Casselton
    Mike Casselton
    Top Bottom
    Back
    Home
    Forums
    Merch
    Alerts