Dog senses earthquake...

[Drunken Irishman]

Pretty cool. Though not much time lapses between when the dog freaks and the quake hits.

http://www.break.com/index/dog-senses-arcata-earthquake-at-news-station.html

[denbot]

1. Lassie he/she is not.

Smart doggie.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. I live in NY, not exactly earthquake country...

But back in the late '80s, I think, we actually had one and my dog knew it before I did. I was working nights back then, just getting into bed in the wee hours, when my dog (Cairn Terrier, named Rags) came racing in, leaned up against the bed, shaking like a leaf. I could hear his tags jingling, he was shaking so hard. I asked him what was wrong, but then I felt it, too. I grabbed my dog and got into the closet. It wasn't a big one and I haven't experienced one since, but I was scared witless and my pup knew that something was wrong and let me know... :-)

[redwitch]

5. The earthquake that happened up near Ausable?

Early to mid 90's I think. Hubby heard the attic beams groaning in our house. And our plaster walls developed brand new cracks. Which we still haven't fixed. Because we like to take our time, by golly!
I was asleep and I don't know what my cats were doing.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. The earthquake that I'm referring to was in the late '80s or very early '90s

Because I lost Rags in October 1993 to renal failure. He was looking at his 19th birthday... ;(

I must remember the later one, have asked a couple of fellow locals and they do, too... But the previous one sticks in my mind because of the reaction of my dog. Also, there's a small jagged crack in the corner of the wall of my room at my parents' house which I attributed to the shaking that night/early morning... :scared:

I'm thinking that the epicenter was farther south than Ausable, since I remember talking to friends in South Glens Falls who felt it, too, but you're even farther south than that... :shrug:

[Lasher]

3. My dog jumps when I fart while he's sitting on my lap.

But he can't tell ahead of time when I'm going to do it.

[MiddleFingerMom]

9. Something tells me he'd pay BIG money for that superpower. n/t

[Lasher]

10. Mrs Lasher scolds me when I do that.

I think it just makes me worse.

:evilgrin:

Chiuauas are pretty high strung.

[DBoon]

14. I'd pay big money for advanced warning of when MY dog farts (nt)

[MiddleFingerMom]

15. Reminds me of our collie, Sandy......

.
We'd all be sitting in the family room watching TV when
a horrific stench would permeate the room. My dad was
always first to notice and scold the dog, who would drop
her ears and head and look heart-breakingly guilty.
.
Not 'til years later did I realize that my Dad had told
us that he had completely lost his sense of smell during
an artillery barrage in WWII. He couldn't possibly have
smelled anything coming from Sandy, so the only way he
could be first in "smelling" it was...........
.
I always considered my Dad to be a jerk, but after that I
realized that, deep down inside, he was a truly EVIL man.
.
Room-clearingly evil.
.

.

[LynzM]

4. Dogs are pretty amazing.

:D (Omg, am so glad to not live someplace that regularly gets earthquakes!)

[Fire Walk With Me]

6. Wow. I wish people could as well.

[BrklynLiberal]

7. Cool video...

[Drunken Irishman]

11. What's interesting is that the dog was so spooked, it drew the attention of that guy.

Because he got up pretty quick to see why the dog took off and then the quake hit.

I've heard of animals acting weird before an earthquake, but I don't think it's ever been scientifically proven. This is probably about as solid of evidence I've seen. Though it suggests the dog can only sense it within a few seconds and not minutes like we were led to believe with the movie Earthquake.

[BrklynLiberal]

12. I believe that animals are more sensitive to the subtle changes that would allow

them to feel lots of things before we do.

The vibrations may even be at a frequency they can "hear" and we cannot.

[LibertyLover]

8. Years ago, when I lived in northern New Jersey

I had a German Shepherd dog named Maka. He slept on my bed or in my room. Early one morning, about 5:45 am, he jumped up and began whining. It awakened me and I reached over to pet him, not quite sure what was wrong. Then I heard a low rumble and my bed began to shake. My mom and I got up and turned on the news and they were reporting a small quake on the Ramapo fault - the same one that runs under the Indian Point nuclear power station. I have no doubt that Maka heard the sub-sonic noise associated with an earthquake and was upset by it.

[pokerfan]

13. A couple of years ago

a local dog alerted his owner that her barn was on fire. Now, any dog will tend to freak out if there's fire/smoke in the house, but an outbuilding? The owner was on the computer at the time and the dog came into to her room whining. When she continued to ignore him, he actually gave her a little nip on the leg and then led her to a window.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love cats but what do you think a cat would have done in the same situation?

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I have a friend whose in-laws were alerted to a fire in their home by their cat...

It was in the middle of the night and they were asleep when their TV somehow caught fire. Their cat, who never got on the bed, jumped on them in the night and woke them up. They got out, with the cat, but their house was a total loss. They believe that the kitty saved their lives. :-)

[SeattleGirl]

18. My cats and my dogs all sense when one is coming.

The refuse to go outside, and they get very clingy.

They have never failed to warn us when a quake is coming.

[AlGore-08.com]

19. The day before the Northridge quake (magnitude 6.7), the two cats I had then freaked out

That afternoon they ran around the apartment, yowling, flinging themselves at the front door. I opened the door for them and they ran like I'd never seen them run and hid. They usually never stayed out more than a couple hours but neither one came back that night.

I was awake when the earthquake hit at 4:30 a.m. It was just incredible -- I thought a gas main had blown up. A couple hours later, after several nasty aftershocks, I heard a meowing at the door. The cats were back.

I was stuck in the apartment for three days full of aftershocks. I noticed that every time there was an aftershock that was less than 4.0, the cats ignored it completely. If it was 4.0 or greater, they would tense up right before the shock -- and the greater the magnitude, the more they would react right before. For weeks I slept fully dressed with a hand on each cat. If the cats woke up in the night, I dived under the table.

I still call cats "furry earthquake monitors".

[SeattleGirl]

20. "furry earthquake monitors"

They sure are, aren't they?

[AlGore-08.com]

21. Absolutely. Although I get more than a little nervous when my current cat has a bad attitude day

I wonder if she's just being her half-feral self or if she's trying to tell me to duck and cover.

Fortunately, it's always been the former so far.