The short answer is ‘No’. But, I know there have been countless times when I’ve looked at my dogs and thought ‘How did you know I was going to……………?’, ‘How did you know that was about to happen?’, ‘How did you know I needed comfort?’ The list goes on and on. So, why did I say ‘No’? Let me explain.
Smell
Let’s think first about the dog’s sense of smell. Smell is as important to dogs as our sense of sight is to us. Dogs ‘see’ with their nose. To put it in perspective: dogs have approximately 220 million scent receptors in their noses. Compare that to our approximate 5 million and the importance of olfaction to our dogs becomes apparent. Dogs have the ability to grab and track air and/or ground scents. Dogs can detect drugs, bombs, missing persons, and cancer to name but a few. This is beyond my capability, beyond my understanding but completely intuitive to our dogs.
Taste
The sense of taste, very broadly, is less important. Nonetheless, it must be taken in conjunction with scent for a fuller understanding. Just as chefs across the world tell us – we eat with our eyes first – dogs eat with their noses first. We look at our food and feel hungry (providing of course that it looks appetising). Dogs smell it first and feel hungry (again providing it smells appetising). Probably, a good time to mention that what smells appetising to a dog can in no way look (or smell) appetising to us! Dogs’ taste buds are able to distinguish between key flavours (salty, sweet, bitter, sour) and are particularly attuned to water, but in a nutshell they prefer meat to other foods, preferably warm meat.
Touch
This sense is a favourite. It is reciprocally rewarding. There are touch receptors all over a dog’s body. However instead of looking at the number of touch receptors our dogs have, I’m interested in the effect touch has on our dogs and in the concentration of vibrissae (sensory hairs) on our dogs’ muzzles. Petting a dog can lower its heart rate and cortisol level. Human-canine tactile interaction is relaxing. Touch is physiologically rewarding. The sensory hair on a dog’s muzzle tells it about distance, shape and structure of the environment as well as providing information about the climate, where the heat is, where the shade is and so on.
Sight
Do dogs see colour? An age old question and one that I think misses the point – it really doesn’t matter. How they see is the question I find more interesting. They see best in twilight, no surprise given hunting is best at dusk and dawn. They are sensitive to movement. Again, this makes sense; canine hunting usually involves spotting and chasing moving targets. The positioning of the majority of breeds’ eyes (at the sides of the heads as opposed to the front) allows for broad lateral vision (seeing to the sides of their environment) and gives them more opportunity to spot and chase. So, to answer the question. ‘Do dogs see colour’? Research does suggest that dogs have rudimentary colour vision. They see in hues. But so what? They just don’t need to see in colour.
Hearing
I have heard it said and at times seen it quoted that the dog’s hearing is X times better than ours ranging from 4 – 100 times. Certainly they have more acute hearing and are able to hear in decibel ranges not available to us (think dog whistle). Fundamentally though they have at their disposal mobile ears. They can rotate their ears toward the direction of a noise they hear without having to move their head. Their ability to detect high pitched sounds makes sense. Evolutionary speaking high pitches represent a call to action for the canine. Mice, rats, rabbits, squirrels all emit high pitched calls and all form part of the wild canid diet. Additionally, pups make high pitched yelps when in trouble and these yelps represent a signal to the parent to attend.
Now armed with more facts about the dog’s senses, we return to the question. Do dogs have a 6th sense? It seems to me that anything we perceive as a 6th sense can in fact be explained by delving into the dogs’ five senses.
Let’s return to the 3 previously asked questions:
How did my dog know I was going to…..?
We tend to make small barely noticeable intention movements when we are about to, for example, get up and make coffee. Our dog doesn’t have to be watching us directly to pick up these intention movements. Remember our dogs’ heightened sensitivity to movement? Top this with his wide peripheral vision and there we go, our dog knows we are about to get up before we do.
How did my dog know that (e.g. a thunderstorm) was about to happen?
Your dog is looking uncomfortable, sitting under the table, occasionally approaching for a reassuring pat. Lightning flashes, thunder roars and you think ‘that’s what’s going on with Spot – he knew’. Well he probably did but it had nothing to do with a sixth sense. Remember those vibrissae, the extremely sensitive hairs on Spot’s muzzle? They are sensitive to air currents. Air currents shift and change, sometimes dramatically, prior to thunderstorms and other severe weather conditions. So yes, Spot knew but Spot knew due to his sense of touch which in the past has reliably predicted that such changes in air current usually precede a storm.
How did my dog know I needed comfort?
Back to those intention movements. I think we’ve established that our dogs notice them and based on previous experience our dogs know that a certain set of intention movements mean we are about to snuggle up with them and provide that physiologically calming touch (relaxing for us and for our dog). Our dog simply makes sure he is in the right place, at the right time, to share the moment.
This is no mistake. An absence of a sixth sense in no way detracts from the unique bond between owner and dog. If anything, knowledge of our dogs’ five senses only adds to the pleasure of sharing time with animals that can do things we can only imagine.
