Is it true that dogs have a sixth sense?
True, but not with the meaning we attribute to the word
There is nothing supernatural about the sensibility of dogs. It can be explained by simple biological mechanisms, although it is true that some of them have been understood only for a few years. To give an example immediately, a dog can find his way home even from great distances by travelling through unknown territories. As with other species, it seems that this is due to the perception of changes occurring in the Earth’s magnetic field. In laboratory, this ability was scientifically proven, with the aid of powerful magnets, while it is not yet clear how the animal can detect such magnetic indications.
Dogs are also able to “predict” the arrival of an earthquake or a thunderstorm. When the event is close, the dog is alarmed, runs around the house, gasps, trembles, and groans as if in a situation of great danger. It is a response of the dog to changes in barometric pressure, or perhaps even to alterations that occur in the level of static electricity. It may seem that such a response is utterly meaningless today, but we must consider that the ancestors of our domestic dogs could save their lives by giving some advance warning of the arrival of a violent weather event.
Ghost presence? Let’s dispel the myth
Some owners then come to argue that their dog, in some situations, is able to perceive the presence of ghosts. It can happen that when you walk with the dog in the middle of a meadow suddenly the animal stops, shudders, stiffens, and raises its hair. It begins to growl and wow, but it refuses to move from where it is. Then, all of a sudden, change of attitude and keeps on walking as nothing happened.
Most likely, in the place where the dog had a strange behaviour, a strong smell was present, not of another dog but of an animal belonging to another species: a fox or a skunk, for example. The strangeness of the smell signal and the very developed olfactory capacity of the dog lead to a frightened reaction.
One of the most astonishing revelations about the alleged canine sixth sense was recently put forward by some researchers who claim to have detected, in the dog’s nose, the presence of infrared detectors. If this were confirmed, some “supernatural” abilities of many races could be explained. St. Bernard’s dogs, for example, can determine if a man is still alive by smelling the layer of snow that covers him. If, in fact, St. Bernard acted on the basis of the identification of a heat source, the hypothesis of the researchers would find concrete confirmation.