Many dogs get antsy just before their owner is due to come home. How do they know?
Do they hear your car?
Do they notice how long you are usually gone and have a way to count the hours? Maybe observe the movement of sun and shadows?
Do they have a sixth sense about it?
Here's an interesting theory: smell. Your scent lingers after you leave. It fades with the hours. Your dog notices how much it had faded concurrent with your reappearance. Thus, when your scent has diminished to a certain level, your dog knows you'll be back soon.
That's more likely than the dog reading the clock on the microwave, isn't it?
Wait just a darn minute! Check this out! Maybe it's ESP. Go to 6:39 here=> When everything else is ruled out....
I used to think that our Fuzzy Pomeranian could hear our car when my husband was within about a 2 or 3 miles of the house. We have a very busy 4 lane road near by and a highway within 3 miles of here. I didn't know exactly how he picked up the particular sound of our car but thought that he did.
ReplyDeleteFor the past year or so Fuzzy has been deaf. He still gets up and starts getting antsy, but now he obviously sniffs and snuffs at the front door. I don't know how he can smell our car or my husband inside of it, but I now believe it is his sense of smell that lets him know when my husband is coming home. It is not a matter of time gone, because the length of time varies depending on where my husband has gone, work, store, doctor, haircut, etc. It seems to be within a certain distance from home. It is almost always 5 to 10 minutes of sniffing and snuffing until my husband walks in the door.
Aren't dogs amazing!
The smell fade theory is limited. If the dog is using it for various trips- how does he know? Even if we behave differently before we leave for work vs before we leave for the doctor or a haircut- can the dog really estimate our ETA for all of them? It seems unlikely.
DeleteI never considered the possibility that a dog can smell his owner from a distance. Fuzzy Pomeranian seems like he might be pulling it off!
Dogs are amazing indeed!
I love dogs and we do not deserve them.
ReplyDeleteI live on a quiet street so they can hear the car come up the gravel driveway and are waiting on by the door. They also can hear the garbage men and mailmen, so two dogs can sound like 10 !
parsnip
When I was a dog walker, there was a couple times that I used a different car to do my rounds. Some of the dogs barked when I arrived. When I came in my car they didn't bark.
DeleteDogs don't miss much!
They are quite gifted!
ReplyDeleteNice to see your post.
ReplyDeleteparsnip
Thanks parsnip! I have been absent lately. You know how it is sometimes when stuff happens and all.
ReplyDelete