What can a dog sense that humans can’t?
Dog’s keen sense of smell can target someone with cancer before they are tested. Scientists have done a study that showed 98% accuracy in the results of dogs recognizing cancer using the scent of urine. They decided to check this when they noticed a few dog owners would test positive for breast cancer after their dog began pressing their nose up to their chest and acting weirder than usual, by not wanting to go on walks or be as active. Dog’s noses are so remarkably greater than humans that while we can smell a spoon of sugar in a cup of coffee or drink, a dog can smell a spoon of sugar in two Olympic sized swimming pools.
Some dog owners with diabetes say that their dog can sense when they are having nightmares or night sweats, they also detect when their owner’s blood sugar is about to drop dangerously. They do this by sensing the chemical changes inside the body.
You probably already know that dogs are used to help disabled children or family members, but what about when it comes to seizures? Did you know that some dogs can sense a seizure 10 to 20 minutes before it happens? They can even help people with seizures by positioning them in a way that helps them breathe. Scientists are still trying to discover how they can sense this process before it starts. If we were able to see and track these chemical changes in the human body as a dog does, the medical field would change ecstatically.
Dogs know when you are afraid because of the chemical change in your body. When a person is stressed, they begin to sweat, just like when a person is worried, they start releasing adrenaline. This is why most dogs know when you pretend to attack a family member and when it is real. The chemical change in your body is entirely different than that of a calm, relaxed person, and some dogs can feel and sense that.
Signs Your Dog Is Protective Over You
From a dogs perspective, they are protecting their owner.
Resource guarding can be tricky to address, so it’s always important to partner with a professional dog trainer who only uses positive reinforcement. If a dog lunges, bites, muzzle punches (hits person with muzzle) and/or snaps at someone, then it’s time to bring in a professional. Timing of treats and distance are critical components of resource guarding, and a professional dog trainer can address issues quickly and effectively.
Have a seat on the sofa (or wherever your dog usually resource guards you), and ask your dog to join you. Then, ask a friend to slowly walk into the room and stop at the entrance. As your friend approaches, ask her to toss a steady stream of treats toward your dog’s mouth. After a few seconds, ask your friend to leave the room. Pairing good things with scary situations will change your dog’s perspective, and soon he’ll learn that an approaching person makes cheese rain from the sky.
This is a difficult question to answer because human feelings are being used to describe a dog’s reaction. Many pet owners feel their dogs are protecting them from threats. It’s a comforting feeling for humans, but dogs feel frustrated. When dogs growl at people approaching, while sitting in their pet owner’s lap, this is called resource guarding. Yes, your growling dog is protecting his resource, which is you, but protective dog behavior is dangerous that will get worse, if not addressed quickly.
While many pet owners feel flattered when their dog resource guards them, it’s important to know this behavior will only escalate, if not addressed immediately. When a dog is protecting a person, he’s reacting to a dog or person approaching the pet owner and himself. Protective dog behavior manifests differently for different dogs. Dogs will either freeze, glare at the approaching person, snarl, show teeth, snap or even bite. It’s important to change a dog’s perspective of people approaching while he’s next to his pet owner.
Guarding valuable resources is a natural dog behavior, but it can cause issues within human homes. Dogs will guard beds, food bowls, high value toys, treats, space and people. Every dog has a different personality, but most will resource guard whatever they find valuable to a degree. Humans are certainly valuable because they put food in dog bowls, provide treats and toys, keep them safe, and can open doors.
Why Some Dogs Become Protective of Their Owners
Dogs are wired to protect and rescue their owners, a new study has found — and its more proof that they really are our best friends.
The research, which was conducted by Arizona State University, analysed 60 pet dogs to see how they would react to their owners being distressed. In order to gather the information, each owner was placed inside a large box with a lightweight door (it was light enough for the pups to move it out of the way).
Once the human owners had been placed inside, the dogs were allowed into the room. Each owner cried out for help from inside the box but didnt saying the name of their dog.
Out of the 19 dogs in the study, 16 of them successfully released their owners from the box. “About one-third of the dogs rescued their distressed owner, which doesnt sound too impressive on its own, but really is impressive when you take a closer look,” Joshua Van Bourg, a psychologist from Arizona State University, told Science Alert.
While all of the dogs in the study wanted to save their owners, some dogs didnt know how to move the door out of the way. “The key here is that without controlling for each dogs understanding of how to open the box, the proportion of dogs who rescued their owners greatly underestimates the proportion of dogs who wanted to rescue their owners.”
Elsewhere, the researchers also ran another test, but this time without the owners calling for help. Instead, they were simply sat in the box quietly reading a magazine. In this test, 16 dogs opened the door to get to their owners.
“During the distress test, the dogs were much more stressed,” Joshua continues. “When their owner was distressed, they barked more, and they whined more. In fact, there were eight dogs who whined, and they did so during the distress test. Only one other dog whined, and that was for food.”
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