Can dogs sense the Paranormal?

Tonight my Westie Terrier, for no obvious reason to me, became fixated on an empty corner of the room and began agitated barking.
This lasted off and on for about 20mins and he refused to be silenced. This is not the first time I witnessed this behavior.
He's only about 8 months old and is otherwise a social, well behaved little dog, but evidently with a sixth sense!
Our house is a recent selfbuild with no attached history and is on virgin land and not an ancient Clan battlefield, Cemetary, Ley lines etc.
Only tangible connection I can make is that my Wife's mother who died 10+ years ago once had a similar dog.

Just throwing this out there for a bit of discussion .....

a reply to: oneway

Maybe a critter in the walls.

I have seen both my cats and dogs chasing shadows, i don't know if it's paranormal or what, but fun to look at.

a reply to: oneway
We just brought a puppy into our home a month ago and she does that sort of thing frequently. I can't imagine what else it could be.

a reply to: oneway

I believe that dogs senses things we dont, but i dont think its paranormal.. They are/were evolutionary hunters which humans adapted to the intelligent design of society..

Ancient egyptians believed that on certain dates of the year the dog acted differently cause the stars became enhanced by the moon.. Today we just say " estrous cycle " there is always a logical way

Maybe it's barking at his/hers own smelly farts
But i do believe they have a 6th sense and see/feel things we can't.

I had a friend who spent his last year with me. He was dying of cancer, had lost his job, insurance, everything that goes along with cancer. The last month or so about the only time he got out of the bed, which was in a guest room, was to walk to the kitchen (refrigerator) or the bathroom.

I got a new puppy about three months after he died. (he died at a Hospice Facility) -- And.... it's a female West Highland Terrier. When she was about 12 weeks old something very strange happened.

I was sitting at my desk on the computer when something got her attention. It wasn't so much the barking as it was the outright staring, and fascination with something. She went into the kitchen and was staring and barking at the refrigerator. She came into the den and I watched her head and eyes as they followed something down the hall. She had to reposition herself to keep it in view. She sat near me and watched. After a few moments she ran to the guestroom door, which was closed. She put her nose down on the floor and started sniffing all around.

There were a couple of similar incidents following that one, the sniffing at the door of his room, the watching as if someone was walking to the kitchen, but then it stopped.

It was a little on the spooky side.

I don't know why my cat will levitate vertically, run down the hall and back, then jump back on the sofa and resume purring.

But it's funny as hell.

a reply to: oneway

Entirely possible. A cat we once had spent some time staring at a picture for several minutes, very intently, and then the picture fell off the wall. No loose hardware, no thumping, or anything ele to explain it, and when replaced, it stayed put.

That said, I'd look first for other possibilities. Is the corner by the outside of the house? If so, there could have been some animal out there. Another possibility is some sort of critter in the walls, a mouse or rat. Check for that sort of thing first, because you will want to know if that's the case. Barring anything of that sort, it's hard to say. I don't think the deceased mother-in-law would be a factor, anyway. Prayer isn't a bad idea, and keep an eye out for other unusual behavior.

originally posted by: Phage
I don't know why my cat will levitate vertically, run down the hall and back, then jump back on the sofa and resume purring.

But it's funny as hell.

You know there is a Crazy Cat Lady Club on ATS. Maybe you should sign up? I'm sure they don't discriminate against gender

a reply to: ladyinwaiting
1) Not a lady
2) It is not me who is crazy. It is my cat.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ladyinwaiting
1) Not a lady
2) It is not me who is crazy. It is my cat.

That's what she said.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ladyinwaiting
1) Not a lady
2) It is not me who is crazy. It is my cat.

Thats not what your cat says

a reply to: visitedbythem
Crystal is coocoo.
Trust me.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

... Yeah, as a skeptic I've thought of the obvious explanations you mention which are possibilities for sure.
It's the intent fixation that intrigues me, something invisible and inaudible to me definetly piques his prolonged attention.
... Maybe he needs his own reality TV show.

One would assume if they can because they have much powerful senses like smell or hearing. I've wondered if when dogs smell a scent that they kind of see or feel the scent lingering. I'm kind of one to believe that no, even if there was life after death it just too far gone.

I recall one of my older cats used to get spooked at times and would literally dash for no apparent reason. Also I don't believe a ghost haunted that house since we were the first tenants.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: ladyinwaiting
1) Not a lady
2) It is not me who is crazy. It is my cat.

Cats are mental... I have three

seen all kinds of ludicrous behaviour

Yes, as far as OP title question... imho and experiences, anyway.

The definition of "paranormal" is important, though.. .maybe "currently unknown" is better.

I've had numerous experiences where dogs have reacted to unseen/heard things in specific residences... and before someone brings up infrasound or subtle smells/cues , it wasn't like that in a few cases...

one residence had an unseen presence actually playing fetch with the dog ... the thrower was always outside, just out of view in the backyard, always throwing into the house... always from an arc that placed them about four feet from the doorway and letting the ball go at about 3 feet in the air with a broad arc that almost brushed the ceiling.

No experimentation could explain that one.. . there was a high fence around the yard and we would dash out within half a second to find no visible person... plus no photographs taken in that house would show anything but a grey cloud, unless that dog was photographed, and then only that dog would come out in perfect detail.

Also, there and in other "haunted" residences where formerly placid dogs would alert to a certain spot and follow some invisible something as it moved through the residence, to the point of losing it at a wall and then picking it up again as it emerged from the other side.

This happened literally a hundred times in the space of 6 months in that place, accompanied by knocks, little blurs in the peripheral, strange moods and feelings, both emotional and physical, strange light phenomena, objects moving when not looking at them, and rarely while one was looking right at it with others present, etc.,etc.

So... yeah, they can sense things we can't, it seems. The huge question is then what exactly they're seeing... and "spirits" though an ill defined word, fits.

Not sure about dogs, but I think my cat can....she stares into my crystal ball all the time. I think she might actually be an alien, and using it to communicate with her alien people off-world.

Ya sure sure, paranormal, women's time of the month, when there's a man at yer door with a oversized check from ed mcmann....pets can sense all types of stuff......especially when your having a not so fresh feeling....they tend to bark at that forever it seems.

Oh oh and when there's people at the door of different ethnicity than what they are used to seeing....

a reply to: rigel4

Ya know, cats are the drag queens of the animal world....explains a lot really. That or they have a serious catnip problem. You come home, the cats gotta a bong watching reruns of threes company, gets moody when you eat all the tuna.

Cats are the A-holes of the pet hierarchy.