If you have a dog, there’s a good chance that, at some point, they have exhibited some unexplained behavior. Running through the house as if chased by … something. Growling at unseen things. Intently staring at walls for no reason. There’s probably a rational explanation for every time your dog appears to be reacting to something that isn’t there.
But we have to ask the question: Have you considered that your dog is seeing ghosts?
Since this is an educational article, we’ll amend the question and then try to answer it. Can dogs see ghosts?
Can Dogs See Spirits?
It would explain a lot, really, and it might even be comforting to pet parents to know that there was a reason for the 2 a.m. zoomies. Maybe it’s easier to accept that your dog has a sixth sense than just assuming that they were bored and decided to race through the house for no reason at all. Unfortunately, since there’s no scientific evidence that ghosts actually exist, it’s impossible to determine whether or not dogs can see them. But what we can determine is that usually there is a reason for dog behaviors like whining, staring and barking.
And that reason is that dogs have powerful senses, at least compared to humans. If your dog is reacting to something that you can’t see or hear, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing there. It just means that humans simply don’t have the same scope of sensory awareness that dogs do.
Dogs Have Scary-Good Hearing
Dogs can hear higher frequencies than humans can perceive: the average dog can hear things at pitches more than three times higher than the average human. That opens up a whole world of possibilities. Mice, for instance, do produce sounds that humans can hear. But research has proven that they’re also capable of producing squeaks well out of the range of human hearing: if your dog is staring or growling at “nothing” in the corner of the room, they might just hear a mouse (which is maybe even scarier than a ghost) or some other high-pitched sound on the other side of the wall.
A Powerful Sense of Smell: The Dog’s Nose Knows
Although there’s no definitive research on the limits of the canine sense of smell, researchers think that it’s anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 times more sensitive than the human sniffer. Even if we’re going with the more conservative number, that means that if you can smell meat being grilled out on the patio, your dog can conceivably detect those odors more than two miles away. Many dogs would find it pretty easy to sniff out cats scurrying around the backyard, even from your bedroom in the middle of the night. The presence our pets sense may actually be present!
What Can Dogs See That Humans Can’t?
Comparing a dog’s vision to a human being’s is tricky because a human eye is designed for different things (dog’s eyes also have a third eyelid!). By human vision standards, dogs are technically nearsighted, but they have greater peripheral vision than people. Dogs also see a lot better than humans in low light. So if something is out there in the dark, they’ll likely see it before you.
Some Dog Behavior Needs Another Look
Fun and games and spirits aside, if you do notice your dog behaving differently than usual, you should take them to see your veterinarian; there are many medical conditions that have behavioral changes as a symptom. If you have a senior dog experiencing behavior changes, it could be a sign of canine cognitive dysfunction, a condition similar to Alzheimer’s disease in people. Aggression, sleep/wake-cycle changes, anxiety, confusion, lack of response, excessive vocalization, wall staring and a loss of house training are all signs that you should contact your veterinarian.
Can Dogs Sense Spirits?
We’ll probably never know whether dogs have the ability to see ghosts or other supernatural phenomena. If they existed, dogs would likely see, hear or smell them coming long before you did. There’s no hard evidence of paranormal entities, but there is science that indicates your dog’s heightened senses allow them to react to things that you aren’t aware of.
Or maybe your pup is just messing with you.
