Posted on 12/20/2020 10:04:36 PM PST by nickcarraway
We know our dogs have extraordinary senses…but can they sense the presence of a ghost? The answer depends, first, on whether you believe in ghosts.
Dogs are extraordinary beings, in part because humans have been breeding them that way for the last 20,000 to 40,000 years. Among their many superpowers, they can sense the presence of actual things that humans cannot, such as impending weather and or the presence of cancer. But can dogs see ghosts?
Lots of people believe they can, including psychic crime solver Kristy Robinett, who shared with Reader’s Digest a tale that may make even non-believers believe. (More on that below). We also posed the question to a number of dog experts, including doctoral-level dog behaviorists and veterinarians. Here’s what we learned.
The question is more about you than your dog
When trauma therapist and spiritual expert Audrey Hope sees her own dog behaving as if he’s seen a ghost, she believes that he has. However, underlying that is Hope’s own belief in the paranormal. Before you get to the question about whether dogs can see ghosts, you first have to address whether you believe that ghosts even exist.
“There is plenty of documentation that could support the notion that dogs can sense paranormal activity,” according to Jesus Aramendi, DVM, a senior veterinarian for Chewy, but it’s only meaningful to the extent you actually believe that paranormal activity exists and is capable of being sensed by the living. After all, there aren’t any scientific studies that prove the existence of the paranormal or dogs’ relation to it. That said, while science loves to spoil ghost stories, a good 45 percent of Americans believe in ghosts. In other words, for slightly under half of Americans, the question “Can dogs see ghosts?” isn’t about whether ghosts exist but simply whether dogs are capable of seeing them.
What can dogs see that humans can’t?
Humans are much better than dogs at sensing colors and clarity. However, dogs can see movement far better than humans can—something that’s especially true in low light conditions, says Jill Villarreal, PhD, head animal behaviorist for the pet food company Open Farm. (Here’s the truth about whether dogs can actually see in the dark.) So, if you believe in ghosts and subscribe to the notion that ghosts tend to make their appearance under the cover of darkness, then dogs would be in a far better position to see them than humans. If you believe in ghosts and you’re hoping to see one, consider visiting one of these 12 most haunted places in America.
The doggy version of “ESP”
“Dogs are naturally equipped with one of the best senses of smell in the animal kingdom,” Dr. Aramendi tells Reader’s Digest. “A dog’s sense of smell can be 10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than a human’s.” So, in that sense, dogs have “ESP”—as in “Extra Smell Perception.” And if you believe in ghosts, then Dr. Aramendi doesn’t think it’s a stretch to imagine that dogs would be able to perceive them via scent.
But if it appears a dog is “smelling” a ghost, there is likely also a logical scientific explanation for it. “After my husband passed, our dog would often sit in my husband’s favorite chair as if he could sense my husband’s presence,” Villarreal recalls. “And it’s likely he could—just not necessarily in a paranormal way, but rather in the sense that my husband’s scent still lingered on the chair’s fabric.”
When your dog’s hair stands on end
“Next time your dog’s hair seems to stand on end for no reason, take a look around and see if you can perceive the cause,” suggests Villarreal. Scientists have been investigating how dogs sense the world around them through their skin (and by extension, the movements of their hair), and it’s well known that dogs can detect movement as well as temperature changes in ways humans cannot.
In addition, dogs can hear twice as many frequencies as humans, according to Dr. Aramendi, and they can pick up sounds that are four times farther away than humans would be able to detect. So, if ghosts exist, dogs could very well have such a powerful sense of hearing that they could recognize them by sound. Check out another 60 things that make your pet tick.
Dogs and humans: The ultimate feedback loop
Over the course of thousands of years, dogs have become not only astute observers of human behavior but also skilled impressionists, veterinarian Matthew McCarthy, DVM, tells Reader’s Digest. So, if you believe in ghosts and you start to sense that something paranormal is afoot, your dog might sense your energy and pick up on the fact that you’re feeling something.
If your reaction is fear, your dog may tuck his tail between his hind legs or growl. If your reaction is excitement, your dog may spontaneously come down with a case of the zoomies. In turn, you may be inclined to react to your dog’s reaction with positive attention (for example, petting and reassuring him). Your dog will then be inclined to continue and repeat his behavior.
Or…it could be that your dog has, in fact, seen a ghost, according to Robinett, who relays the tale of a widow whose dog, Elmer, seemed to be in contact with her deceased husband. In the days following the funeral, Elmer would sleep on her late husband’s side of the bed, laying his head on the pillow in an almost human-like way. As time went on, Elmer took to running to the front door in the evenings and playfully greeting an unseen visitor. To the widow, it was as if her deceased husband were returning home. According to Robinett, that is precisely what it may have been. Whether or not you’re a believer, you won’t want to miss the spookiest ghost story from every state.
You are thinking of Hamlet?
Yes! God has already said that animals can see angels and demons.
They can see the spirit world.
I've encountered demented beings in the dark, and embedded behind hateful eyes. None of them were ever human I'm quite confident. So yes I agree.
That is not to say there aren't fetches, aka spirit walkers, aka interactive remote viewers, but those are humans living in the flesh.
This world is very old and very haunted, but not by us sapiens. We do our thing and then we go elsewhere.
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dogs and cats can see and hear things that we cannot. watch them in the still of the night outside (especially dogs)...inside or outside (cats)...watch a hawk in a tree...listen to owls communicating in the middle of the night...as you’re walking down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
1 yap dog in the middle of the night on your bed? grab your gun.
low growl dog in the middle of the night on your bed? wake up quietly to see/hear what’s up.
(2 personal experiences)
Could it be possible that your neighbor told her dog when she will be home and the dog watched the clock?
I don’t know about ghosts, but dogs are remarkably good at sensing food!
It sat there for a few days, but one afternoon my dog started barking at it with alarm and wouldn't quiet down. We finally had to take it down.
I believe a ghost or demon saw this as an occult object and as an invitation to haunt us, and the dog sensed something bad was there.
Since that time I try to avoid anything that could be seen as an occult object.
I know cats can. Many instances of focus on nothing moving through the room. Our cat Tiger would routinely come back to visit his sister and play like they used to.
Only if the ghost is moving. My dog can’t see any critter if it sits still....
Dogs and other animals see, hear or sense things that are quite outside the range of human capabilities, so the notion that they could "see" or otherwise sense angelic or demonic presences or energies that humans can not readily perceive is to me, quite believable, and indeed, quite "natural."
If there were such a thing as ghost, then dogs would see them.... But there aren’t such things, so they don’t see them.
Cats do. I know of a family that had “guests” that would show up and disappear every now and then for a couple of years. When the apparition entered, the cat would alert the people by trying to chase it.
My in-laws have two dogs that are never allowed in the main house. They stay in the mud room, the room you go into before you enter the rest of the house. It’s enclosed and heated. It’s where you take off your boots if it has been raining.
My father in-law was very sick and was dying. The three daughters were there taking care of him and watching in shifts. It was my wife’s shift while everyone else got some sleep when daddy began describing things. She texted me that he was hallucinating, but when she told me what he was saying I zeroed in. A beautiful River. And a tree. But the tree was on both sides of the river. I told her to wake everyone and to get their Bibles. That’s a description from Revelation. As they gathered everything he said was a depiction of heaven.
Then my wife said a sweet perfume filled the air and her daddy said,” He’s here. Right over there.” He was gazing to a corner of the room.
The dogs came running in. Remember, they never enter the house. They sat staring at that corner wagging their tails.
In a few minutes daddy was gone.
They talk about that night as the night Jesus came and brought daddy home.
Where is that in the Bible?
This article belongs to the Department of Redundancy Department. The same sentence was repeated several times and the article itself was poorly constructed. I guess that’s Reader’s Digest for you.
“Cats do. Ever see your cat sitting staring at nothing?
One of our cats would do that in one house we lived in, and especially in one room. She would stop short and stare into the distance out into the hall area, her eyes would bug out, and they would “follow” something. It creeped me out.
She passed a couple weeks ago.
My ex husband had a parrot — I think it’s called a Brazilian Grey — since he was a small boy. When he went to college the parrot stayed at home with his parents. After we were married we’d drive the four hours to visit his parents to surprise them. After about three visits they knew how to read the “signs” Pedro gave them. As soon as we started the trip, he would sit in the corner of his cage, get agitated in a good way, and start saying, “David. David.” After that, they were ready for us when we got there; no surprise.
Right. Demons.
Very similar thing happened to me when my grandmother passed. Even stranger that night it happened to my brother on the other side of town. The next morning we both told our mom at different times without talking to each other. Granny told me it was going to be ok and she was fine. As when we both called her that night her phone was busy all that following day. On the third day we got word she had a heart attack and had the phone receiver in her hand.
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