What Makes a Dog Notice a Person

[spinster]

What Makes a Dog Notice a Person
Is it the sight of a person, their sound, or their scent that dogs notice first?
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog...-notice-person

[Sharon]

Hmmm. Good question.

I've normally seen it to be my behaviour that alerts my dogs . Soon as I put lipstick on , Cole heads for his crate. He knows I'm going out.

However, when at the beach , my setter Lady goes excited when ever she sees someone in a big hat . She thinks it's my husband as he wears a big hat ; as you can imagine, this leads to many false greetings at the beach.

I swear they can tell time too. Soon as the 11 pm National comes on , they are in my lap - treat time at 11pm before they go to bed.
Whatever it is, dogs are definately better than we are at noticing clues.

[MikePal]

I'm with my dogs 24/7..we have a daily routine/schedule together starting at 4:00 am. And they know it to within a 10-15 minute window. If I forget or running late, they let me know it's time to walk, feed, go out, etc etc. It's amazing just how well they know the time of day.

I find if I walk into a room around a scheduled event, say walk time, they'll come to meet me....but if I come into the room when nothing is scheduled involving them, say time for me to watch the news, they ignore me.

When my wife gets home from work she always gives them a DentaBone once she is in the house. The dogs mob her for pets and then sit by the cupboard waiting.

I do not give them a treat when I come in; so they come to meet me for pets but then go about their business, because and leave me be.

Dogs are are about need (usually food) ...if they can benefit from it in anyway, they're right on it. They learn what to pay attention to and know what they will get if they respond. They have learned a few words (commands) but most responses from them is from a learned activity that involves them and when a reward is forthcoming.

[kickingfrog]

...Opening the fridge from 2 floors away.

[MikePal]

Yea I think they are a bit wrong with the 'sound' response mechanism. I'll be sitting here when the dogs all of a sudden explode and start howling. The reason.. a car has turns onto out lane...which is almost 1/2 mile away. They can differentiate the difference of a car going down the road and a car coming up the lane.