What we see isn’t necessarily what we get

I own four dogs, and often wonder what they think, see, smell, and otherwise feel about things. I was brought up being told that animals don’t have feelings. I have observed over the years, that is not accurate. For example, I can clearly tell that my dogs love me. The old rationale would be that they react to me the way they do because I feed them. I don’t believe that is true. I believe that each dog has his or her own personality and opinions. So, some of my dogs love me more than the others do. Additionally, one of my dogs is clearly madly in love with another one of my other dogs. So, based on my very non-scientific observations, I believe dogs can feel love, and have many other traits that would be considered human in nature.

I remember when I first learned that the human ranges of sound and ability to see light were different than those of animals. Most people’s take on that information was that dogs can’t see in color, only black and white. Instead of looking at the limitations of dog’s vision, I considered the range of things they could see, hear and smell that we couldn’t. For example, a dog’s sense of smell is much more refined than ours, allowing them to not only track prey and find dead bodies; but also detect anxiety, fear and even cancer cells in humans.

Beyond the five senses that we humans have, I often wonder if there are senses that dogs and other animals have that we don’t. For instance, one of my dogs could predict an electrical storm hours before it happened. She’d have a mini seizure. So, clearly, she had the ability to sense electro-magnetic fields, that I as a human could not. Many people believe that dogs (and most cats) can sense or see the spirits of the departed. Although I have never personally experienced this, I know people that swear their cat will respond to something invisible in the room in the same way that they respond to a living, breathing human.

Another trait that I believe dogs and many other animals have is the ability to read human’s minds. I am absolutely certain of this, because even when I don’t say the words “dinner”, “walk”, “bath”, “car ride” or “vet’s office” out loud, my dogs know that I am thinking it and start reacting. So, who knows what other senses exist beyond our own five?

Even though my perspective on animal senses is based on my own experiences with my dogs, I would love to hear what others who have non-dog pets like cats, birds, fish, lizards, tarantulas and others believe. Please share your experiences in the comments!