Lost Dogs
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by Amy Fernandez
You wouldn’t know it from the weather, but one unmistakable clue confirms that spring has arrived here in Queens. Lost dog posters adorn every tree, lamp post and bulletin board. Granted, runaway dogs don’t follow any predetermined schedule, but the sudden spike in these incidents happens like clockwork every spring. There are plenty of contributory reasons for it. Fresh air wafting into open doors and windows carries enticing scents that are guaranteed to spark the canine thirst for adventure. Topping that list is the seasonal epidemic of bitches in heat and the festival of spunky wildlife. Spring is also the traditional season to acquire new dogs, which invites the risks that accompany canine relocation. Just as often, human relocation leads to these disasters. Moving is one of many such situations. Home renovations, ubiquitous spring cleaning rituals and anything else involving open doors, strangers, and territorial revisions incites the canine urge to step out the door and disappear.
In most residential neighborhoods, stray dogs are no longer part of the scenery. They are soon noticed and corralled by concerned neighbors. Thanks to microchipping, social awareness, and well-organized internet resources, missing dogs hit the radar pretty quickly these days. Very often, these adventurous wanderers are safely back home by the time their disappearance becomes the general buzz.
There are countless cases on record of lost dogs finding their way home despite formidable odds. This one from The New York Times May 18, 1906 recounted the incredible trek of William Hall’s English Bulldog. It disappeared shortly after their move to Excelsior Springs, Arkansas. After months of searching for his pet, Hall received a telegram from his former neighbor back in Florence, Colorado informing him that “the dog had traveled the distance of more than a thousand miles to his old home with no other guide than instinct.”
Here are a couple more current reports highlighting the amazing canine directional sense. On February 13th a ten-year-old Miniature Schnauzer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa escaped from her home and walked 20 blocks to Mercy Medical Center where her owner was recovering from surgery. Security cameras captured Sissy strolling into the hospital lobby and meandering down hallways looking for the right room. Meanwhile, the woman’s husband was frantically combing the neighborhood for her until he got a call from the hospital and called off the search.
Exactly a month earlier a black Lab/ Bullmastiff mix made headlines in Seattle. In fairness, this story was more of an update because Eclipse had been taking the bus for quite a while. A familiar sight to drivers on the D Line route, riders reportedly look forward to her commutes. The story described her routine of hopping onboard at her regular stop, scoping out the isle for a seat (window seat preferably) and never missing her stop.
In a news interview her owner, Jeff Young, admitted that none of this was his doing. Apparently, Eclipse found him a bit too pokey during their daily trips to the dog park. Her patience evaporated the day he stopped for a smoke on the way to the bus stop. Determined not to miss her bus, she jumped onboard. By the time Jeff hopped aboard the next bus she was waiting for him at the park. A Metro Transit spokesman admitted that Eclipse had become something of a mascot for local public transit, but emphasized the obvious point that she would be much safer if her owner kept her on a leash.
Needless to say, dogs are always safer on lead and accompanied, but if that option is off the table its nice to know that the unerring sense of direction that kept them on course for thousands of years has been adapted to navigate the urban jungle of crowds, traffic, and public transportation.
Darwin was one of the earliest researchers to suggest that dogs possess a built-in navigation system. More than a century later, we still don’t fully comprehend how this biological GPS works but we’ve learned a lot in recent decades. We know that it improves with age and starts to diminish beyond distances of 7.5 miles from familiar territory. We know that they rely on visual clues but that is not the only source of information they utilize to accurately track distance and direction and remain oriented in relation to their home territory.
Modern research is still inventing tools to investigate neurological function, but brain mapping technology has made it possible to track impulses from exterior sensory messages along nerve pathways and identify responsive locations in the brain. And those studies have revealed that neurons in the hippocampus and neighboring regions of the brain fire in response to the animal’s position and direction of movement. This spatial information is combined with other sensory input but we still don’t quite understand the mechanics of how it is stored, accessed, processed, integrated, or manipulated to produce this almost supernatural directional skill.
Researchers theorize that the process of collecting and collating all the pertinent data is unique to each species. For instance, in 1949 it was discovered that bats navigate via the previously unsuspected ability of echolocation. Until recently it was believed that birds possess a poorly developed olfactory sense but recent studies suggest that they rely on a combination of celestial navigation, sounds, and olfactory clues as migratory guideposts. Salmon also appear to rely primarily on their sense of smell to make that epic annual migration to home waters. New discoveries constantly revise our understanding of the sensory capabilities of various species. This includes growing evidence that animals possess sensory capabilities beyond the five senses.
For example, dogs have immense ability to distinguish landmarks and form mental maps from sensory data. The canine olfactory sense obviously plays another crucial role. Canine trailing ability is well-documented, but we still don’t know understand precisely how canine olfactory receptors discriminate individual scent molecules to pinpoint locations.
Moreover the supposed limitations of this skill posed by factors like time, weather, terrain and surface variations are regularly challenged by unexplainable facts. Likewise, it doesn’t adequately explain psi-trailing – the ability to locate a familiar person many miles away in an unknown location. The phenomenon was named by Dr. Joseph Rhine of Duke University, as part of his ongoing research into psychic occurrence.
Stories confirming this seemingly paranormal canine ability are embedded in folklore and reinforced by ongoing documented reports. One of the most interesting cases involves a stray dog adopted by Major Brian Dennis while stationed in Iraq. Over several months in 2007 Dennis and his fellow Marines befriended a pack of strays, including Nubs. At one point, Nubs was discovered badly injured and was nursed back to health by Dennis. Early in 2008, Dennis’s unit was relocated. Two days later, Nubs turned up at their new encampment 70 miles away. The dog had successfully navigated miles of unknown terrain in a major war zone to locate his adopted owner.
One theory contends that the intimate contact between pets and owners causes them to bond on a cellular or atomic level. Because electrons function in pairs they become disrupted if separated. Formally this is known as Bell’s Theorem and it is normally used to explain physical rather than psychic phenomenon. But there is no question that our engagement with our environment includes constantly shedding and absorbing millions of molecules. So maybe there is something to it.
Undoubtedly, we will discover a great deal about this phenomenon in the next few years. In the meantime its comforting to know that most of these seasonal canine escapades end with happy reunions. That percentage continues to rise for several reasons.
It’s getting harder for dogs to actually become lost and truly disappear. A newly emerging factor in that situation has recently been dubbed theft by rescue. Motivated by ideology or profit, wandering dogs are getting shanghaied at an alarming rate. But we will leave that hot topic for another day.
Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=77500
Posted by ralbee
on May 19 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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