Dogs that bark at nothing: a sixth sense?

A few years ago, I used to visit a friend from college who, for a scholarship, had moved to a flat near my apartment for a few months, next to his podenco. It was nice to be able to talk to him about the old days, and yet after the second week it became apparent that something was wrong. My friend's face became increasingly marked by dark circles, he was very irritable easily and began to complain about his work despite the fact that the first days he assured him that he he loved it

The answer to the reason for this he told me just when he announced that he was returning to his city, several months before the end of his scholarship and his internship period. It was due to something that happened frequently in his apartment: the dog began to growl, holding still and going towards the only interior room of the place, as if he saw something there. The final blow came when he learned that some twenty years ago, a tenant had been killed on the spot, electrocuted during renovations.

Stories similar to this are frequent.

The belief that animals can perceive paranormal phenomena it is as old as it is popular. Even today, many people have experiences in which a dog stares intently at a corner or corridor in which there is nothing, with erect ears, and begins to bark or growl with obvious signs of stress. What is true in this belief? Is it really true that dogs are capable of seeing aspects of reality that are beyond our senses?

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Dogs barking at nothing: between the paranormal and the mysterious

The scope of the belief in a canine sixth sense is impressive, especially considering that there are fewer and fewer reasons to believe in spirits and paranormal phenomena.

A survey conducted in the United States in 2011 showed that around 47% of people who live with dogs have been alerted by these animals just before something bad happened. In other words, the experience was convincing enough so that, when interpreting the facts, many people They thought the dog had some kind of sixth sense.

On the other hand, it is also common to believe that when dogs bark at nothing, ghosts and supernatural entities are actually there. The ambiguity that is generated in these situations feeds beliefs in the paranormal, and a phenomenon occurs that, on a small scale and intensity, is reminiscent of the Folie à Deux, in which delusions or hallucinations of one person they make this person behave in such a convincing way that the other ends up believing in her explanations.

But... are the dogs that do this having visions? As far as is known, there is no indication that these animals experience psychotic symptoms of this type more frequently than humans. But that does not mean that they see ghosts, spirits or echoes from the future or the past: there are other much more complete and simple explanations.

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Domestic explanations about the sixth sense of the dog

It seems undeniable that dogs have certain sensory abilities much more developed than the representatives of our species. But that does not mean that they enjoy a sixth sense, in the most mystical conception of the concept. In reality, these strange behaviors, such as getting nervous in situations where there is no clear danger in sight, can be explained based on what is known about their sense of smell and hearing.

It is a fact that these animals can hear sounds at a volume that is well below the threshold of our hearing sensitivity. This means that the same stimulus, such as the meowing of a cat in the distance, can be captured by a dog and not by us, despite being right next to it.

But this better hearing has a downside: in a very wide range of sounds, it is easy to find some that are ambiguous, which leads to confusion, either because it mixes with others or because it is cushioned by materials to those that the barrel has not become accustomed to, such as certain metals with which you can line a wall.

On the other hand, much of the mystery of why this always occurs in the same place, and more or less constantly, has a very simple explanation: pipe noises. These components cover a large part of the walls and occasionally generate noise, but we do not perceive them as they are muffled by many layers of construction material.

Dogs in natural disasters

Another fact that is often linked to the supposed sixth sense of dogs is that they are capable of foreseeing some natural disasters.

How do you explain that hours or days before a hurricane passes through the area, the dogs already realize that something is happening? This is believed to occur because are very sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure, something that always happens when a phenomenon of these characteristics is brewing.