Do dogs have "extra" senses? Anyone have an Irish story?

http://www.smudge.com.au/vietnam/twodogs.htm

Twenty five years after "Tich" was killed next to me in Vietnam, (he was the first conscript from Western Australia to be killed) I mustered up the courage to visit his family, very close caring rural people.

As we sat at their large jarra table after dinner one evening, one of Tich's sisters asked, "what time did Tich die, Bob?" I thought for a moment, puzzled at the importance she and the rest of the family seemed to be placing on the precise time of their brothers death.

"I remember we had to clear a landing zone which took us a while, so it was almost dark when the chopper finally got him out. I suppose it was about 6 p.m.".

There was total silence as Tich's brothers and sisters looked knowingly at each other. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat for what seemed a long time but was in fact only seconds. Curiously I asked "why is the time important?"

"Well you see Bob, the night Tich was killed, the 8th of July, his dog "Shadow" began to howl. It was something he'd never done before".

Shadow howled from about 9 p.m. until just after midnight. He sat up on the hill where the bulls roar and his awful, sad howling could be heard all over the farm. We couldn't get him to come back to the house and were all concerned about his unusual behavior, the following morning when the police officers told us about Tich, we forgot about Shadow.

Shadow went off his food and kept away from us all. His behavior became erratic and within two weeks he disappeared. We never saw him again, neither did anyone from around the neighboring farms or towns.

Just a coincidence or more?

Schlemm

Have you ever read the book by Rupert Sheldrake called 'Why Dogs know when their Owners are Coming Home'? It's got loads of those kind of stories in it.

Some animals definitely seem very tuned in that way...sometimes my dog will sit by the door when I'm on my way back home, even if it's not at a regular time.

I've heard stories of dogs who have tried to signal to their owners when they're about to have an epileptic fit and stuff like that...and their powerful sense of smell has meant that they can be trained to detect cancers such as cancer of the lung, breast and skin, to quite an impressive degree of accuracy.

We used to have a Springer Spaniel called Sam. One night my parents were sitting in the kitchen and Sam started going berserk...he suddenly started begging to be let out and going frantic. The minute the door was opened he shot around the side of the house and round to the yard. My Dad followed him out because this was really odd behavior for him. No sooner had they gone into the yard, sure there was a man literally climbing over the wall into our yard! My parents hadn't heard him and he was only coming over the minute they went out, so I dunno how Sam figured it out.

They have incredible instincts no doubt!

RaiseTheBlinds

mate of mine was in thailand , on co-samui island for the tsnuami, he reckons the animals went mad well before the first wave rolled in. gary was on the beach with his family that day, and there was an elephant there that they used to use to bring the tourists around on,... he broke away from his ties, and headed up the slope towards the trees.

there was also some knid of pet animal in the hotel that went beserk,...cant remember what type, but they knew before anybody else.
the curious thing was that the fish in the water were totally taken by surprise and were stranded on dry sand for a while before the water came in.

dogs are meant to be able to sense ghosts too,.... thats why i dont mind elmo sleeping in with me these days,.... ghosts freak me out , or the thought of them rather

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1111_031111_earthquakeanimals.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0104_050104_tsunami_animals.html

Wildlife experts believe animals' more acute hearing and other senses might enable them to hear or feel the Earth's vibration, tipping them off to approaching disaster long before humans realize what's going on.

Researchers around the world continue to pursue the idea, however. In September 2003 a medical doctor in Japan made headlines with a study that indicated erratic behavior in dogs, such as excessive barking or biting, could be used to forecast quakes.

There have also been examples where authorities have forecast successfully a major earthquake, based in part on the observation of the strange antics of animals. For example, in 1975 Chinese officials ordered the evacuation of Haicheng, a city with one million people, just days before a 7.3-magnitude quake. Only a small portion of the population was hurt or killed. If the city had not been evacuated, it is estimated that the number of fatalities and injuries could have exceeded 150,000.

Could be explained by their excellent hearing ???
slightly off topic but worth a read (its v.short)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chips_%28dog%29