Countless clips of heroic dogs rescuing humans are circulating on social media. But do dogs really have a magical sixth sense, or are their "superpowers" simply biology that's being given outsized significance by their human owners?
Spectacularly staged rescue videos get millions of clicks on social media, whether they are real scenes, cleverly edited clips or AI illusions.
Psychologically, this is confirmation bias at work. People remember conspicuous dog behavior before an accident but forget all the times the dog reacted similarly without incident.
The desire to believe in a special bond with one's own pet and its unique abilities makes belief in canine clairvoyance even more convincing.
Dogs have senses that are far superior to those of humans. They hear much higher frequencies, are sensitive to vibrations, changes in air pressure and weather, and have a sense of smell that is around 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than that of humans.
Studies on epilepsy, diabetes and cancer show that they can detect the slightest biochemical changes in the body — in sweat or breath, for example. They also register the smallest changes in the behavior and emotions of their caregivers, such as muscle tension, breathing rhythm and the smell of stress.
In a study by Neil Powell of Queen's University Belfast, 19 family dogs reacted significantly differently to sweat samples from epilepsy patients in the phase shortly before a seizure versus control samples.
Assistance dogs for diabetes or cancer are not guided by supernatural forces. Instead, they detect physiological signals such as heart rate, breathing rhythm, stress hormones, and what are known as VOC patterns (volatile organic compounds), combinations of organic molecules that reflect a person's state of health.
Canadian psychologist Stanley Coren from the University of British Columbia is a pioneer in dog research. Coren developed his namesake "Stanley Coren Index" to assess the intelligence of different dog breeds. His studies show that average dogs understand up to 165 words, while intelligent dogs understand as many as 250, comparable to the cognitive performance of a two-and-a-half-year-old child.
Coren explains the behavior of some dogs before disasters in terms of their biology. "Many of these stories about dogs predicting disasters or accidents seem supernatural, but can usually be explained by their extraordinary sensory organs," he told DW in an emailed interview.
According to Coren, dogs could, for example, hear the first sounds of breaking rock layers when an earthquake is imminent, sounds that are far beyond the human hearing threshold.
They also sense heat sources "like an infrared sensor" and perceive even minimal instabilities or vibrations via fine touch sensors between their paw pads. This is why a dog may become restless shortly before a bridge begins to sway or a vehicle skids on a wet road, Coren wrote.
What appears to be a "sixth sense" is therefore primarily a physiological advantage. Dogs react earlier to stimuli that are already present but not perceptible to humans.
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Other animals also have much more powerful senses than humans. A team led by Martin Wikelski from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior equipped cows, sheep and dogs in Italy with sensors and observed significantly increased activity before several earthquakes, especially among animals in stables.
Apparently, they react to microvibrations or electrical effects in rock layers. "This is not a premonition but a reaction to physical stimuli," Wikelski explained in an email to DW.
However this does not allow for reliable predictions. "Dogs can certainly do a lot, but warning of car accidents seems practically impossible to me, except perhaps when it comes to the nervousness of owners that could lead to accidents," Wikelski said.
He emphasized that data is needed to separate myths from real abilities."Such anecdotes would have to be verified with transmitters attached to the animals—as we did in our studies on earthquakes and volcanic eruptions."
Most incidents of doggy sixth sense can usually be explained by coincidence, retrospective interpretation or a dog's ultra-sensitive reactions to real stimuli.
Dogs can notice unusual noises, screeching tires, traces of smoke or their owner's anxiety seconds before these factors become perceptible to humans. If the dog then displays stress behavior — panting, whining, urging — it is easy to see this as an early warning in retrospect.
This article was originally written in German.