[sitstay]

Okay, I have been thinking about this a lot recently and I wanted to get thoughts from other dog people.
My two GSD's can be sound asleep on the floor. I can get up from the couch, a chair, whatever and head for the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. They never stir. They don't even open their eyes.
However, I can get up with the intention of heading for the patio door and they jump up right off the bat and get to the door before I do.
At first I thought I was giving off some signal with my body language that they were picking up on. So I started playing around with it. But no matter how I tried to account for it, and adjust accordingly, I have yet to fool them. Honestly, it is like they can read my mind. I don't look at them, I don't say anything. I don't even look in the direction of the patio door. But they can tell the difference and will be up and heading for the door before I am even totally standing up. And this is true for the patio door from the dining room and the patio door from my bedroom. This does not happen with the front door, only the two doors leading out to the back yard.
My husband says that he can tell when I am almost home because the dogs get alert and attentive to the door about 3 minutes before I walk in. I think they can hear my car. But I can't figure out how they do this door thing.
How do they know when I am getting up to get a glass of water and when I am getting up to let them out?
Sheilah

 

[BlackGSD]

Because they have "doggie ESP".

It's the same reason that my dog can be sound asleep and KNOW when I am getting ready to go somewhere. I don't say a word and don't do anything any different (before he KNOWS) than if I was just going outside to feed the horses.

 

[sitstay]

It certainly seems like they have doggie ESP! The only other choice is that they are picking up on some tiny little hint that is so small I don't even know I am doing it.
Sheilah

 

[Barb E]

I don't know but could they teach Dante?
He jumps up even when I'm reaching for the remote

 

[kbigge]

That's eerie. It reminds me of how some dogs somehow know when their handler is going to have a seizure, when the handler doesn't even know...

Dogs are so cool!

 

[Guest]

I do think they form a special link with us. I've seen this kind of behavior time and time again with my dogs. Odin for example knows when I want to take him with me for a ride the instant I think it. He'll wake up from a sound nap if I make the decision to take him riding - even if I'm still sitting in my chair and haven't moved.

 

[jake]

I agree with GSD dad dogs know what is going down.However I thought Jake was psychic about knowing which days I was headed out to work without him till I realized he was actually checking out what clothes I had on!

 

[tres beau]

What makes you decide to go to the patio door? Is it just random, or is it a certain time of the day or did you hear something out there IDK

Not as mysterious but reminds me of the lab I used to have I picked him as a stray back when I was working construction. He loved to go riding in the truck and begged to go everywhere I went. He never begged to go when I was going to work and I never figured it out how he knew until I forgot my lunch box one day and he insisted on going with me. So I tested it and sure enough leaving with lunch box was easy but trying to leave without it and he wanted to go with me.

 

[sitstay]

My decision to let them out is random. I might be sitting on the couch, reading, and then think to myself that they haven't been out for a while. Or maybe I am in the kitchen and realize that I need to put them out to potty before they are crated prior to my leaving somewhere. It has even happened while I am in bed, reading, and they are in the their crates. They can be sound asleep, and if I decide to let them out one more time before I turn the light out, they will be sitting up and waiting before I ever get out of bed.
This does not happen with my Pug. He is on the go and over stimulated if he is awake. And foster dogs have that "I am going to get up and prepare myself to follow you if you even twitch you toes" attitude.
My two GSD's don't do it with my husband or my 19 year old son. They are tuned into what my 8 year old son is doing, but that has more to do with their desire to keep watch over him than anything else, I think. I am the only one that they do this with. But I am also the one who feeds them, exercises them and trains them. And I am usually the one who plays with them.
You know, I have always poo-pooed the whole animal communicator thing. But maybe some sort of psychic link is possible? My two certainly seem to be reading my mind. And I have to say that as I was playing around with this over the past week or so, I have gotten goosebumps a couple of times. It was that spooky.
Sheilah

 

[Meima]

Dieter does this too! I thought I was nuts.

When we're outside, I almost have to "tease" him into going back inside (his recall sucks). So we'll play fetch, and he always has to sit/stay or down/stay before I'll throw the stick. After a while when it's time to go in, I'll take his caller after I give him the stick and take him inside. As soon as I even THINK about taking him in, he refuses to sit/stay or down/stay, or let me near him, he races around the yard like a lunatic instead, and appears to be having the time of his life.

Funny, and creepy.... but I wish it would stop! lol

 

[stephaniek]

I just heard a radio show about this... check out

http://www.dogsthatknow.com/

there are people doing research on this kind of thing, who are looking for stories like yours.