How do they do it?

[Mumbleypeg]

Years ago when our children were young, we had a male Golden Retriever. The kids rode the bus to and from school most days. Every afternoon when it was time for the bus to drop the kids off, the dog was waiting at the end of our drive for them to get off the bus.

Fast forward to today. We have a female Labrador Retriever. She sleeps in the house at night in her bed on the back porch. We feed her every morning about 7 and every afternoon about 4 o’clock. If we sleep late, at 7 she comes to the bedroom and wakes us. In the afternoon at 4 she finds me, or my wife, and sits in front of us staring at us. “It’s time!”

You can set your watch by it. When the time changes we still feed her at 7 and 4, and it only takes her a few days to adjust her “clock”.

Ken

[Dinadan]

We have a cat with the same ability. My normal getting up time is about 06:30. If I am not up at that time, within a few minutes she jumps up on the bed and lightly touches my nose with her (very long) whiskers. That will wake a man up! Her clock is better than mine.

[Mountain Man Knives]

Same as Pigeons you can hop in your Car or Pickup and drive 300 to 400 miles with them cooped up in a cage blind to their surrounding and oblivious to what is going on pull over to some distant town valley / city open their coop/cage and release them and just about the same time you are getting back to your place, a few minutes more or less, and here comes your flock of pigeons returning to their cages.......not bad for a Bird Brain, they have a sense and connection with the earths magnetic fields and their Bird Brains work like a natural built-in GPS system......Same with setting an Alarm Clock wanting to wake at a certain time, my Grandfather taught me one night I was sleeping over, I was roughly 6 or 7 years old I would guess, and we were turning in and we wanted to rise at a certain time , we were going to go rabbit hunting or something of a other and wanted to wake early, maybe it was a local cattle auction a valley over, any hoot.....My Grandfather says "we do not need an alarm to wake ourselves" just simply tell ourselves what time we would like to wake in the morning prior to turning in and we will wake at this time.....I was astonished when I woke bright and early on the nose at the given and set time - ESP is another Marvel People are amazed by - If you could see all the electromagnetic waves and Frequencies in the Sky and Circling your Body at this Very Moment in Colors you would think you were Walking in a Bag of Skittles or on a Rainbow Roller-Coaster - And not all People that hear Voices or Speak with long ago Relatives and Past Kinfolks are Crazy - even though lots of People like to Label them as being just exactly that.......People tend to Curse and Ostracize what they do not Understand - LIFE, THIS WORLD, AND EVERYTHING LIVING IN IT, IS NOTHING SHORT OF A MIRACLE - AS CHILDREN MOST KNEW THIS ~

[tongueriver]

Mountain Man, not everyone will agree with you, but I do. I have seen and heard some remarkable things in my time. If I think of someone I knew 40 years ago and hadn't thought of them hardly since that long-ago time, lo and behold, something will show up in a day or two having to do with that person. Dogs. You can read about many amazing true stories about dogs. How about the one that can smell a 14,000 year old dry bone 14 feet underground? Or the many of them that can smell cancer coming on in a person? I have a dear schnauzer who is getting precariously old now and feeble. When she was young she could track in the snow and know INSTANTLY which way down the track to go. Never made a mistake. These are just poor examples but I know of dozens more, not including the unbelievable scientific findings that are surfacing now almost daily. So how about aliens? Do they walk amongst us? Ya got me! I don't know, but why not? There are millions of dandy planets in the cosmos. Check out some of the stoneworks that are reliably dated to way back when and the modern engineers can't do it. I guess I could go on for hours in this vein. The world is an amazing place.

[Mountain Man Knives]

Mountain Man, not everyone will agree with you, but I do. I have seen and heard some remarkable things in my time. If I think of someone I knew 40 years ago and hadn't thought of them hardly since that long-ago time, lo and behold, something will show up in a day or two having to do with that person. Dogs. You can read about many amazing true stories about dogs. How about the one that can smell a 14,000 year old dry bone 14 feet underground? Or the many of them that can smell cancer coming on in a person? I have a dear schnauzer who is getting precariously old now and feeble. When she was young she could track in the snow and know INSTANTLY which way down the track to go. Never made a mistake. These are just poor examples but I know of dozens more, not including the unbelievable scientific findings that are surfacing now almost daily. So how about aliens? Do they walk amongst us? Ya got me! I don't know, but why not? There are millions of dandy planets in the cosmos. Check out some of the stoneworks that are reliably dated to way back when and the modern engineers can't do it. I guess I could go on for hours in this vein. The world is an amazing place.

Yep ~ All of its Pretty Darn Amazing & that is why we are all Blessed to be a Part in it ~ Hope you liked you knife my friend ~ MMK

[jerryd6818]

I will think about calling a relative of dear friend and then not do it but within a week or maybe even that same day, they will call me. Or maybe I will call them and they will say, "I was just thinking about you." It doesn't happen all the time but it does happen too frequently to be a coincidence.

It's a strange, strange world we live in Master Jack.

[Delmar Morgan]

I had a dog when I was a kid , would wake me up every Saturday at 8 in the morning with a cold nose in the eye. My dad would tell him to wake me up. What was funny about that dog , when we had quail around here , if he smelled them he would go into a point , then look over his shoulders at me , then take a couple of steps then flush them . I never even taught him to hunt , plus he wasn't a bird , he was a small mixed breed dog. He also loved guns and I'm not lying , when I would shoot he tried to chase and find the bullet.

[FRJ]

I can't get my kids to call me and I think about them all time.

Here's an interesting book on animal behavior.
Actually, I've read very little of it. Years ago. Chapter 4, I think.

[treefarmer]

Delmar Morgan,
Your story brought to mind a Black Lab mix we had years ago. He too loved to run to where the bullet would strike a target. The targets were usually a dark spot across a fish pond or a cow pie. He would run to the spot! If you wanted to continue shooting at that one thing, he could be tricked by aiming the .22 another direction, off he would go then we would shoot the target opposite of where he was running. When we were zeroing our deer rifles from a shooting bench, ol' Domino had to be put in the cab of the truck or he would be 100 yards down range trying to find something.
Sadly a neighbor(?) or should I say a dude that lived on the East line of our place, killed him one afternoon. Another neighbor called and reported that old Mr. so and so just shot your dog. I drove across the pasture, found him and buried him. Then I called Mr. so and so and asked why did you shoot our dog? He said the dog was chasing his chickens. I reminded him his chickens were free ranging in our pasture, on our land. I don't remember his response to that but mine was, "All right then.....click." I hung up on him and let him wonder what was going to happen. I didn't do anything, no need to create any more hate and discontent but I really felt good about letting him wonder.
Here is ol' Domino investigating a crossbred Santa Gertrudis and here new baby. Picture show that was 38 years ago, wow time flies when you're havin' fun!
Treefarmer

[Quick Steel]

FRJ, I was startled to see your photo of The Territorial Imperative. It has been a great influence on my understanding of important aspects of life. I have reread it many times. It was both a popular and scientific success when published. While focused on animals Mr. Ardrey draws significant human insights in the latter part of the book. I cannot recommend it too highly. Truly, a great book.

[FRJ]

Thank you, Quick Steel, I'll keep it out and brighten the pages.

[Delmar Morgan]

Tree farmer ,
Lol that sounds like my dog Whiskers. He was a short legged mutt . Did ol' Domino whine when you put a new shell in the chamber. I have a Marlin bolt action and I would reload as slow as I could and Whiskers would whine and howl while would reload. I would trick him , when I would put the gun up to my shoulder and yell bang! He would start running to see if he could find the bullet. I had him when you had ol' Domino. I still miss that dog.

[jerryd6818]

This forum is a bad influence. Never heard of the book but it intrigued me. Found a copy on eBay listed by the Seattle Goodwill and now for the princely sum of $4.97, with free shipping, it is on it's way to me.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I read a story long ago, probably when I was in high school, about a notoriously effective retriever, I forget the breed. The owner bragged on the dog all the time. Once, when challenged to prove how great the dog was, he simply stepped outside with a gun and the dog, pointed the gun in the air and shouted, “ BANG”. The dog took off down the street, eventually went into the nearby hardware store and snatched a mounted pheasant off the counter and brought it to its owner.

Charlie

[FRJ]

I understand that the owner was quite well known in some circles. Poor guy starved to death.

[jerryd6818]

I read a story long ago, probably when I was in high school, about a notoriously effective retriever, I forget the breed. The owner bragged on the dog all the time. Once, when challenged to prove how great the dog was, he simply stepped outside with a gun and the dog, pointed the gun in the air and shouted, “ BANG”. The dog took off down the street, eventually went into the nearby hardware store and snatched a mounted pheasant off the counter and brought it to its owner.

Charlie

[Mumbleypeg]

Great story Charlie.

A well trained gun dog will hold steady until released to retrieve the bird. My old Lab, Gracie, was remarkable at sitting until released. She would sit on her rear watching for a bird to fall, “prancing” with her front feet and shivering with anticipation of being told to fetch the downed bird. But she wouldn’t bolt until released.

When she was about eight years old my great-nephew, about 14 at the time, came out to get some firearms lessons. (We have a range here on the ranch.) When we went to the range for some target practice, I hadn’t noticed that Gracie came along. My nephew started shooting at the target. Gracie was sitting beside and slightly behind me. She started looking into the sky, doing her prancing and shivering but holding steady. Noticing her doing this, my great-nephew said “What’s the matter with her? Is she scared?” I replied “No, she’s looking for birds. And she thinks you’re a lousy shot!”

Ken