Tahoe Outdoors

In a culture gone gaga over dogs some dog owners are convinced that their dog has extra sensory perception or can sniff out good and bad people. Some dog owners will even make relationship choices based on their dog’s assessment of an individual. Some dog owners have gone so far as to discontinue dating a potential partner because their dogs did not take to them well upon their initial meeting. While this may sound ridiculous, dogs do have a trained sense of perception when it comes to human behavior and moods so they can make assessments and react to the moods of the people around them.

While they might not be able to tell if a person is good or bad, they can sense a person who has a lack of dog experience or who is simply not comfortable around dogs in general. This does not mean that the person is essentially bad; it just means that the dog can pick up on their discomfort or unease and react accordingly. On the flip side there are plenty of people who do bad things, but are comfortable with dogs so the dog might indicate through his reaction to the person that he likes the person. People may interpret that person as a good person because their dog likes them. If a potential partner has no dog experience go easy on him and slowly introduce them to your pooches while providing rewards to the dog. Eventually they will get along famously. If your potential partner simply does not like dogs it doesn’t mean that they are a bad person; it simply means they are not the right partner for you the dog lover.

Other than sussing out potential partners, dogs can have a variety of uses in sensing things about people. Dogs have an uncanny ability in working with epileptic individuals and can sense an impending seizure. It was discovered in the 1980s that dogs can sense an upcoming seizure and since then various groups have engaged in vigorous training of dogs for placement with epileptic patients. Dogs can be trained to bark when a seizure comes on, lie beside the person having a seizure to help prevent injury or even activate alarm systems for help in the case of a seizure. Some theorize that dogs can detect the subtle changes in behavior, pulse or heartbeat in epileptic patients, thus raising the alarm that a seizure is on the way. While more research is required many patients report that their dog has helped tremendously in their treatment and care.

Dogs have also been known to sense cancer in humans. This has more to do with biochemical changes in a persons body odor or breath than it does with a persons behavioral clues; however, dogs have been proven to detect cancer in humans with minimal training. Studies have shown particularly high success rates in dogs detecting breast and lung cancers; in fact detection rates were around 95% in some studies. Dogs are able to detect the smell associated with metabolic waste products associated with cancerous cells easily and can even detect them in the early stages of the disease. Researchers continue to work with dogs and current projects include training dogs to sniff out certain cancers in urine samples.

This keen sense of perception among dogs is what makes them such popular pets. While they are useful in medical aspects and therapy and assistance work, their primary purpose is human companionship. Dogs love their people regardless of the size of their bank account or the reading on the scale and people reward them for doing so. Dogs spend so much time with their people that it is no wonder they can sense when we have had a bad day or if we need extra love and care.

Article submitted by pet super store carrying - dog training collars, hidden fences and dog crate pads.