Can Dogs Predict Death?

Many people are fully convinced their dog can predict dangerous situations, or even the death of friends or family members, but how much truth is there to this?

We all know dogs have much more developed senses, and they may well have a sixth sense we're not aware of. Although predicting death is a really complex thing... is it actually possible?

A Dog's Senses

Although dogs have practically every sense far more developed than humans, we'll focus on the most useful one of all: their sense of smell.

A dog's sense of smell is thousands of times more developed than a human's, which is why they can smell things we don't even know have a smell, like pheromones or tumors.

Yes, you read that right — a dog can smell a person's fear if that person gets scared and releases pheromones (something all humans do involuntarily).

They're also able to smell illnesses like cancerous tumors, infections, and so on. So rather than predicting death, they can detect a health issue just by sniffing us, even from a distance.

Can a Dog Predict a Disaster?

Yes, numerous studies have shown that most animals, dogs included, can detect sounds, movement, and even energy well before a natural disaster happens, like an earthquake or hurricane.

They don't do this thanks to some magical sense, but thanks to their highly developed senses like hearing, smell, and touch. They can detect ground movement long before a human could even see it.

Can a Dog Predict Death?

No, a dog can't predict death, since it can't see the future. It's not a fortune teller or anything like that... But it can smell it.

Dogs can smell death because, generally, when a human is about to die, they start releasing certain hormones and pheromones with a very particular smell — undetectable to the human sense of smell, but fully detectable to a dog's nose.

If we add to this that they're able to detect health issues we might not even know we have, this leads to the mistaken belief that dogs predict death. They don't predict it — they smell it.

Can I Train My Dog to Detect Death?

Yes, in fact, dogs have already been trained to detect cancerous tumors in people, internal infections, and even low blood sugar in diabetics.

Yes, you read that right — a dog can tell a diabetic person when they need to take their medication, even before they notice it themselves.

So with the right medical support, a dog can be trained to alert us when it detects the smells a human tends to release before death (due to certain substances being released in our body).

How Can I Know If It's Sniffing Something on Me?

If your dog starts behaving differently toward you — becoming much more affectionate and not leaving your side, constantly sniffing you in the same spot, or whining after sniffing you — it might be detecting something.

Have you ever seen a dog insistently sniff another dog's ear? They do this to signal an infection. If your dog does something similar with you, it might be trying to tell you it senses a health problem.

You might also be interested in: The Sixth Sense of Dogs