13 Outstanding Things You Never Knew Dogs Could Do

You can consider your canine pal your personal superhero! Find out why!

Sit, catch, roll over. These are only some of the tricks that dogs can usually do. But if you think your furry friend is limited to only such abilities, guess again.

If you haven’t already realized it, your dog is a true superhero, with more aces up its sleeve than you can possibly comprehend. From predicting the weather or earthquakes to recognizing when a woman is pregnant or someone has cancer, find out these outstanding things dogs can do that can rival any superhero out there.

1. Dogs can smell cancer

We all know that dogs have an amazing sense of smell. They are used in all sorts of search and rescue works. Amazingly, they can also sniff out cancer cells. As explained by Samantha Devine, a veterinarian and lifestyle expert at Money Done Right, dogs can learn how to detect people “affected with certain cancers, such as breast cancer and some skin cancers”.

As a matter of fact, according to a 2019 study in the Experimental Biology journal, dogs have a 97% precision rate in detecting cancer. This is not an innate skill, however, it can be developed with specific training.

2. They can identify biochemical changes in diabetics

Not only can dogs work like cancer detectors but they can also sniff out changes in insulin levels of diabetic people. If a diabetic person has low blood sugar, a dog can immediately sense the biochemical changes and somehow alert the person that is about to have a low blood sugar seizure.

Make sure you also know this! Pet First Aid Kit: The 10 Items Every Owner Should Have at Home

3. They can sense when a woman is pregnant

How cool is that? According to the American Kennel Club (AKC), dogs are able to sense the physical and emotional changes in a person. Nothing spells major changes in someone’s body than a pregnancy. It is not exactly clear when dogs acknowledge the pregnancy but the moment it happens, you can be sure they’ll become overly protective and try to shield their pregnant owner against any threat, real or not.

Read also: 7 Common Reasons Why Your Dog Sheds So Much Fur

4. They can tell time

According to researchers, dogs use their sense of smell to tell time and, more precisely, the passing of time. As explained by Alexandra Horowitz, founder of Barnard College’s Dog Cognition Lab, dogs understand that time passes by visualizing how air moves through a room and consequently through the day.

The connection dogs have with time is mainly through their relationship and routines with their owners: when the owners wake up in the morning, when they leave for work, when they come back and so on.

5. They can predict the weather

If you’re a pup owner, you’ve surely noticed your canine pal behaving strangely all of a sudden? Well, it turns out, for dogs, it’s not sudden. They can sense the movement of storm clouds way before a thunderstorm starts.

“There are several possible explanations for this, the most likely being that dogs have a stronger sense of smell and hearing, which makes them more sensitive to changes in the atmosphere”, says Li-ran Bukovza, the founder of Puppy Tip.

So, next time your furry friend starts barking out of nowhere, you might want to take cover.

6. They can predict earthquakes

Dogs are also capable of detecting natural seismic events but also tornadoes, lighting storms and other weather phenomena, long before people notice such environmental changes. It’s not really clear why dogs have this skill, but according to AKC, it might have something to do with their ability to sense P-waves before an earthquake occurs.

7. They can see colors

Most people think that only birds can see color. In reality, dogs can also see more than black and white. They are red-green color blind but they can see more than 50 shades of gray and also shades of blue and yellow. Now you know why your furry friend seems to have a preference for yellow toys.

For dogs, a rainbow would include dark yellow, light yellow, light blue, dark blue and gray. Not your typical rainbow, but still a colored one.

8. Dogs can sense where you’ve been

Just because you’ve been gone all day doesn’t mean someone doesn’t know what you’ve been up to. That someone being your pup. With the help of their cute, little nose, dogs can sense a lot of things, from your health condition to where you’ve been spending your time away from home by simply smelling your shoes and clothes.

Unless you want to make your dog sad, check out How Most Dog Owners Hurt Their Pup’s Feelings Without Even Realizing!

10. They can also see UV light

Although dogs have a more limited color spectrum, their vision is way more superior than that of humans. An example as to why that is, would be that they can see radiation and UV light, as well as shades that are imperceptible to humans, explained Steffi Trott, the owner and head dog trainer at SpiritDog Training in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Read also: Grooming at Home Is a Piece of Cake With One of These 6 Brushes!

11. They do their business based on the planet’s magnetic fields

Imagine walking your dog and waiting for them to finally pick a spot to do their business. While the endeavor might seem like taking forever, just know that your dog is not being indecisive. It has to do with the fact that dogs are programmed to find “calm magnetic field conditions”, according to a study published in 2013 in Frontiers in Zoology.

So, next time you don’t know where north and south are, ask your dog for directions as it can easily find the north-south axis when they excrete.

12. Dogs have vivid dreams

Similar to humans, dogs also have multiple sleeping stages among which the REM stage when they can have vivid dreams. However, their dreams are caused by everyday occurrences, unlike humans, whose dreams also reflect their unconscious thoughts.

In addition, not all your dog’s dreams are good. Dogs can also have nightmares which make them twitch, whine or move their paws like they’re running. Research found that smaller dogs tend to have dreams more often than larger dogs, while larger dogs have longer dreams, says Matt Wilson, a neuroscientist who studies memory and learning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

13. They can smell your feelings

If you’ve ever felt sad in the presence of your furry friend, then you’ve probably noticed the supportive look and puppy eyes staring straight at you. That’s because, according to a 2018 study published in Learning & Behavior, dogs can smell human emotions, from sadness to happiness, fear or anger.

It’s not only your face that tells pups how you feel, it’s also how you smell that helps them identify your emotion. By the way, what you feel will soon become what they feel, because dogs are very empathic and can take over your mood. So, if you’re happy and you know it, your canine friend will know it too!