"Most explanations say dogs aren’t predicting death so much as detecting subtle physiological or emotional changes: stress hormones, scent changes, something altered beneath the surface. That makes sense."
Having worked detection K9s they are capable of mind boggling feats of olfactory discrimination, but detecting premonitions of an untimely demise is not one of them. Unless you count the criminal who decides he is going to attack the patrol K9 or enemy who decides the same of a war K9' team. Then yes they can predict an untimely demise.
But, as a previous comment stated they can detect a myriad of medical ailments when properly conditioned.
I breed Golden Retrievers. I will tell you that several of my pups have become amazing service animals. One family came to choose their boy with a lot of confidence as to whom they were choosing before coming over. Their daughter suffered from POTS and had a seizure disorder. It was bad enough that she refused to go to school anymore because the seizures gave no warning. She had fallen several times, was embarrassed of the spectacle and usually had no memory of them afterwards. They were getting her the pup in hopes to train him as her therapy dog. Turns out, Max knew. He was only 6 weeks old. She had a seizure while she was here that day. And he chose her. During her seizure he went to her and laid with her. She came to with him in her lap. By the time he was a year old, he knew when the seizures were coming before she did. He would stick his nose in her hand to alert her to sit down. He would then wrap his entire body around her as pressure therapy during the seizure. It changed her life. He now goes to school with her everyday. He’s an amazing animal. I am forever inspired by the capabilities of these dogs.
For sure they can. My cat is very independent will sleep where I can’t find her most of time. But if I’m having an off day she is always within watching distance of me. She will sleep where she can see me. Follow me everywhere like my shadow. Then she is back to brat mode.
If a major health condition was the cause of his motorcycle accident then Zee could have potentially smelled it.
My dad's dog wasn't trained for it but she would alert him when his sugar crashed. She may have saved his lives when she woke him up in time for him to call me.
They can smell tumors and unnatural things in the body, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But probably coincidence, like one other person suggested.
Wow, thank you for sharing that beautiful and deeply touching story. My Husky tends to do something similar. At my parents' house, Lobo, my dog, is afraid to go through the front door. I wonder what he sees that makes him run away? RIP, Zee! ♥️🙏🏻
What they know exactly may always be a mystery, but I fully believe that animals, not just dogs know… things… they sense stuff that we mere humans simply lack the equipment to perceive.
I think that I've always thought they did know when a person was dying, who was actively dying... Or, if they had an undiagnosed illness or disease or something. I've never thought about it in this context though. Like the psychic sense almost. What you described is very unsettling but also intriguing af.
"Most explanations say dogs aren’t predicting death so much as detecting subtle physiological or emotional changes: stress hormones, scent changes, something altered beneath the surface. That makes sense."
Having worked detection K9s they are capable of mind boggling feats of olfactory discrimination, but detecting premonitions of an untimely demise is not one of them. Unless you count the criminal who decides he is going to attack the patrol K9 or enemy who decides the same of a war K9' team. Then yes they can predict an untimely demise.
But, as a previous comment stated they can detect a myriad of medical ailments when properly conditioned.
I remember one of the first times I got stoned and my dogs were with me, we learned how to communicate without words.
They knew me and I knew them.
And for that evening…we were the same souls.
I think science can explain a lot.
But I also think there are things science can't explain, and probably never will.
This is one of those things. I've seen this happen myself with animals. It's always creepy and more than a little freaky, but it definitely happens.
Dogs have senses we humans can’t begin to comprehend.
I breed Golden Retrievers. I will tell you that several of my pups have become amazing service animals. One family came to choose their boy with a lot of confidence as to whom they were choosing before coming over. Their daughter suffered from POTS and had a seizure disorder. It was bad enough that she refused to go to school anymore because the seizures gave no warning. She had fallen several times, was embarrassed of the spectacle and usually had no memory of them afterwards. They were getting her the pup in hopes to train him as her therapy dog. Turns out, Max knew. He was only 6 weeks old. She had a seizure while she was here that day. And he chose her. During her seizure he went to her and laid with her. She came to with him in her lap. By the time he was a year old, he knew when the seizures were coming before she did. He would stick his nose in her hand to alert her to sit down. He would then wrap his entire body around her as pressure therapy during the seizure. It changed her life. He now goes to school with her everyday. He’s an amazing animal. I am forever inspired by the capabilities of these dogs.
For sure they can. My cat is very independent will sleep where I can’t find her most of time. But if I’m having an off day she is always within watching distance of me. She will sleep where she can see me. Follow me everywhere like my shadow. Then she is back to brat mode.
Animals know and understand so much more than we do!
If a major health condition was the cause of his motorcycle accident then Zee could have potentially smelled it.
My dad's dog wasn't trained for it but she would alert him when his sugar crashed. She may have saved his lives when she woke him up in time for him to call me.
They can smell tumors and unnatural things in the body, so it's not out of the realm of possibility. But probably coincidence, like one other person suggested.
Wow! That's crazy! Very, very possible!
Great episode on telepathy podcast on this
Please share?!
Wow, thank you for sharing that beautiful and deeply touching story. My Husky tends to do something similar. At my parents' house, Lobo, my dog, is afraid to go through the front door. I wonder what he sees that makes him run away? RIP, Zee! ♥️🙏🏻
What they know exactly may always be a mystery, but I fully believe that animals, not just dogs know… things… they sense stuff that we mere humans simply lack the equipment to perceive.
I was thinking of that movie Meet Joe Black where death was an actual presence that followed you before taking you... did anyone ever see it?
That makes sense and I could see that. Something real that people don't see that's there for a person's final moments.
I think that I've always thought they did know when a person was dying, who was actively dying... Or, if they had an undiagnosed illness or disease or something. I've never thought about it in this context though. Like the psychic sense almost. What you described is very unsettling but also intriguing af.
I've never been able to get my head around it. A yipe is usually a serious wound. There was no explainable reason.
Pets know more than we do.. it's absolutely fascinating
There is a cat that at a hospital that famously used to lie with patients within hours before they died to comfort them..
I know they actually train dogs for that too. The weird thing is there was nothing wrong with him. It was a bike accident.