HAVE DOGS A SIXTH SENSE?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19529, 11 July 1925, Page 5

HAVE DOGS A SIXTH SENSE?

A friend of mine who lives in a thirdfloor flat overlooking a road on tho outskirts of London has a terrier whoso conduct induces the belief that dogs possess S'liuo sixth sense of which wo know nothing (writes Basil Tozer iu tho Daily Mail). The windows of his flat are much too high above the floor for any dog to bo able to seo cut of them. All day long a stream of motor and horse-drawn traffic passes along the road below tho windows, and tho dog pays not. the slightest attention. But now and again a horse and cart goes by which, though apparently ho can only hear it, stirs him into a paroxysm of fury which lasts until tho cart is once more out of hearing. There may be some reason for bis fury which wo know nothing about, but how does the dog know, even when the windows are shut, that that particular cart is passing? For invariably it is tho same horse and cart which has this effect upon him. Tho same problem arises in the case of a. dog of my own, which lives in the front rooms of my house. At the back there is a garden which cannot be seen from the front; yet the moment a cat or a dog comes into tho garden my dog, in the front_ rooms, knows that tho strange cat or dog is there, for he sots up a loud, angry barking which continues until he is let out, when ho rushes into the garden to drive away tho intruder. How did ho know? Another friend of mine, owns a bulldog. If anybody whom the dog does not know pushes a latchkey into the lock of the front door at, any time of the day or night the dog’s hack instantly bristles and he prepares for attack with threatening growls. But if his master nr anybody whom the dog does know pushes in the latchkey the animal's attitude is entirely different. Vet obviously the dog cannot tell bv tho sound of the key being pushed into the lock whether the person outside is a stranger or a friend.

It would bo interesting if somebody could throw light on this mystery, or advance some plausible theory lo account for the singular newer which dogs alone seem to possess of becoming aware of what is lumpen ing out of their sight