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Sensory, Visual or Feel?


INU
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I've wondered about this for some years now...

 

I take my dogs to different training sites. Unless it is a new site, the dogs get very excited about 2 minutes before we get to the destinations. (not when they arrive) Sometimes my dogs are in the kennel (if long distance) and sometimes in the backseat. If they are in the kennel, they can't see outside. In the backseats, they can see but I usually have the windows up and I've tried shutting the A/C down to see if they were reacting to something else. They start whining, and Cooper would start shaking out of excitment.

 

Do you think they are reacting by smell or what they see or how they feel physically? I thought maybe it was the bumpy road, certain curves and turns that they remember. It's nothing big deal but I was always amazed how they know where they were going. They don't do this if we are going to petsmart etc.

 

Does you dog do this when you take them to their special place?

Edited by INU
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Zoe knows when we hit our street that we're almost home. The whole rest of the ride she's hiding, but soon as we turn onto our street she pops up and starts whining. She also knows when we turn onto the base to get to Den's office.

 

I think it's a specific series of turns and bumps that cues her. But who really knows!

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I've noticed the same with both my dogs and my mothers dogs when I would pup-sit for her. My guys get excited when we are near our training center for agility, when we turn for the park, and even when we are near the turn for the park. My mothers dogs would get excited when we were getting near either my home or hers depending on where they were staying at the time.

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When you drive to these "fun destinations" notice if the road conditions or your behavior are all about the same; for example: gravel roads/drives, lots of stops and turns, turn off radio, shuffle around to find items, slower speeds, etc. You may find the pattern that they are sensing.

 

Mark

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Ouzo loves any car rides, hoping that all will end at the dog park :rolleyes: He recognizes the route, from a few stops before the destination.

 

I know that I had told him in the begining, in the first few rides, that we're getting closer to the dog park, and got him excited before the destination. I think that is what he remembers, that at a particular intersection I had gotten him all excited about seeing the "puppies" and so on, therefore now, each time we reach that particular intesection he starts getting excited and sniffing the air in search for "puppies". He knows that is what's going to follow and watched attently the remaining route and knows where's we're going.

 

He does that at two different dog parks (a third one he's less familiar with, but gets excited when we get off the main road and head there on an unpaved road - he recognizes the bumps and the smells, I'm sure), and when we're getting close to home. As we get closer to the park, he watches all the dogs on the other side of the street and can't wait to get out and run with them.

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DH (a farrier) takes his boy with him and he drives ALL OVER the place and Roy will be sound asleep,and they will be gone for several days at a time.NOTHING regular to the schedule at all. DH tells me that as soon as he exits the freeway by our county rd, Roy is up on his feet whining... doesn't do this anywhere else.

 

A number of years ago DH and I had 'joint custody' of our 2 females...I was doing the weekend commute to Houston from East Texas.When he had Kate(my dog), every Fri. about 3 pm she'd start getting antsy,looking down the road knowing I was due to drive up within a halfhour... She couldn't pick up on sound of vehicle as this was within 100 yards of the 610 loop( 8 lanes ).

 

 

Danged dogs are amazing aren't they?

Their senses are soooooo much keener than ours, between the feel of the road and predictable turns,smells permeating vehicles,key landmarks and internal clocks.

 

Tara

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Hi

I think it's a combo of all 3 - plus a good memory. Both my dogs get excited when going to favorite places but dear old Meg has an amazing memory and will pop her head up and start 'snooking up' - inhaling heavily through the air vents - when we get near places we haven't been to in years and years. They both ride in the back without a good view of us, so I don't thik they're reading body language, but I guess they may be doing that too...

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