Do you think dogs have a sixth sense?

[JustCallMeFish]

Our dog is just over a year old and she hardly ever barks.

She has never, ever barked at anyone.

Today a neighbour walked past our house and pup went mental barking and howling at him!!

He wasn't doing anything, was on his own with no other dog etc

What could have made her do that?

She was inside btw. She was going mad when she saw him through the window.

Could she have seen him over the fence from your back garden in the past?

Just wondering if he's done something to offend her!

Fwiw, I do think my dogs have a sixth sense, they both get up from their beds at the exact time dh gets in the car to come home from work, despite the fact that he works a half hour drive away and has recently changed jobs.

We've tested the theory and even if he varies his routine and comes home earlier or later they always seem to know.

It can be a real pita if he's not coming straight home from work though, because if he's not back within the normal length of time it takes for his journey they sit and whinge constantly until he does get in. It's a nightmare when he goes to conferences or meetings after work and doesn't come home till really late.

No. Neither does anything else. But they have better hearing than we can possibly imagine, and some have a very good time sense.

I reckon she's seen him over the fence and either fell in love with him or hated him. on sight. Dogs do this too,

I do think they 'know' things, yes.

All of a sudden my dog stopped jumping on me when I came home, 4 years old and had always had an enthusiastic jumpy greeting for me, she still jumped on DH, I thought I had done something to offend her, turns out I was pg. she started jumping on me again as soon as I came home from hospital after having DD.

MIL's dog, a Weimaraner, went absolutely nuts when a man came to her door claiming he had broken down just outside the house and could he come in to use the phone, the dog would not let him in. MIL told the man to come around to the other door and she would lock the dog in the kitchen.
She gets round to the other door to see the fella running to and driving away in his allegedly broken down car
That dog definitely had a sixth sense.

We have a beagle that lives a few doors up from us. The beagle and gymdog have never met face to face or been in their respective gardens at the same time.

But, every single time gymdog and I go past their house the beagle goes mad at the window, barking and scrabbling at the blinds.

What makes this so impressive is that the house is double glazed and the beagle cannot see Gymdog at any point as he's out of sight behind a wall. And we don't walk past at any particular time.

By contrast, Gymdog has no idea this beagle goes mad every time we pass and I'm not entirely sure he even knows a dog lives at that house - the house doesn't seem to get any special attention from him.

I don't know if the beagle is using scent or hearing or what, but he's got a lot more of it than Gymdog has!

I think some dogs are more aware if their surroundings/in tune with their owners.

When pg with DD, my parents Standard Poodle stopped playing rough with me, became protective and would lay his head on my bump (he was the size of a pony too lol!)

I am pg with DC2 and my dog still jumps up at me, tries to lie on me and seems very unhappy that this bump gets in her way.

OTOH, the ginger cat thinks bump is his new toasty-warm cat bed!

Dogs that know when their owners are coming home is a good read if you're interested in this sort of thing.

Or, terranotsofirmer, your MIL remembered this incident because the man was a wrong 'un. If he hadn't been it just would have been the dog having a funny five minutes.

they don't have a sixth sense but they are masters of body language and can pick up on the slightest thing, mine know the difference between my dad texting me for a chat and texting me to tell me he's on his way round to take them to the beach before i have even moved. it's not a sixth sense, it's something to do with the way i respond, a slight change in my body language that i don't even know i do, but they do, they can also distinguish his car engine from next doors.

dogs also have a wicked sense of smell that enables them to pick up on hormonal changes and illnesses.

Hmm, but often my first indication that dh is on his way home is the dogs suddenly starting to get all excited, so I don't change my behaviour until after they've already reacted. They've even done it when he's been sent home ill and I wasn't expecting him. I've been here wondering why the dogs are waiting at the gate getting all excited and sure enough, roughly half an hour later in he walks.

Actually I think it's only one of our dogs that picks up on it, the other just gets excited because he does.

I agree about the sense of smell with pregnancy and illness though. My old dog could always predict my migraines, although I never learned to listen to her and take evasive action and of course there are now have cancer detection and epilepsy alert dogs.

That should say 'of course there are now cancer detection dogs ...'

No no seeker sorry I should have mentioned that this dog rarely so much as barked, normally very mild mannered and he was going positively mental, teeth bared properly trying to get at this bloke. The glass panelled door still has a crack he made by throwing his full weight at it when MIL shut him in the kitchen.