Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sensing Ghosts?

I watch quite a few paranormal TV shows, an addiction I'm only marginally embarrassed about.  You may or may not believe in ghosts, demons, or things that go bump in the night, but it is interesting to see how the paranormal and the sensory abilities of dogs are connected.  Dogs and ghosts work well together on several levels.  Pet owners claim their dogs start acting "funny" and this is the first indication that paranormal type incidents are in their immediate future.  

Animal Planet's The Haunted is a show that tells stories primarily about families who move into a new home and start to experience a haunting.  More often than not the family dog is the first to pick up on something abnormal.  Scary, creepy experiences are often reported as the family dog growls at some unseen presence, or cowers away from a particular area of the new house.  They're the first to sense the paranormal.

Another show, SyFy's Ghost Adventures, recently featured a ghost hunting dog, Maddie.  She's the pup of Jason Hawes, one of the team's founding members.  The team is training Maddie to go with them on investigations and alert to paranormal activity.  While her debut episode only featured her for about 5 minutes, I was sucked into watching the show because of this gorgeous German Shepherd / Cattle Dog beauty.

Maddie, ghost hunting dog of Jason Hawes of SyFy's Ghost Hunters
Another show I watch is Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, which has absolutely nothing to do with dogs, but features a very nice to look at ghost hunter, Zak Bagans, and his team.  T and I enjoy watching this show more for pure female entertainment value.  Eye candy, if you will (T calls Zak "the beefcake" because he reminds her of the beefcakes at the gym).  But I digress.  The last paranormal show worth mentioning is A&E's Paranormal State, an investigative team started by a group of students interested in ghosties out of Penn State.  They focus on the human side of these situations, which always makes the stories more intense.

We know dogs are gifted with extraordinary olfactory abilities, better night vision than us, and better hearing than us.  These make them great ghost hunters!  Whatever the case, a good ghost story and dogs always make for good entertainment.

 
There are times when our girls stare at a particular spot on the ceiling, or at the wall with such focus that I'm relieved to follow their gaze and  find a mosquito or other flying bug dancing along.  An intruder?  Yes.  Paranormal and terrifying?  Thankfully no.  But I know the girls would let me know one way or another.  And then you'd see us on TV,  Arwen trying to get the ghost to give her belly rubs and Nyxie trying to chew on the investigators.


Move over Scooby Doo - we ain't afraid of no ghost!

    

16 comments:

  1. bbboooooooooooo...do we need to call the ghost busters?
    Benny & Lily

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  2. Oh sweet mercy! If Morgan ever thought there was a ghost here, we'd never sleep again!

    I do love paranormal and ghost type shows, too, but sadly we have no cable. Boo! My grandmother once saw a ghost and that story is still one of the best I've ever heard!

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  3. OOOh, ghosties!! I have never seen any, but I'm sure if I did, I would wanna chase him down!

    Woofs & hugs,

    ~Bailey

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  4. Oh fun :D We should come up with a haunted house adventure for Halloween! You brought back happy camping memories for Mom of sitting around the fire as a kid and telling scary stories. She never slept real well back then ;)

    Waggin at ya,
    Roo

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  5. Listen up you Hoomans!!! Us K-9's nose what we sees and hears and smells....so beware!

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  6. We dogs are soooo smart. We know & sense things. Our M likes those types of shows too but some peoples in this house don't.
    Wags
    Ernie,Sasha,Chica,Lucas

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  7. I don't have cable TV and I don't have high speed internet. WE do see a ghost every so often tho!!
    I believe with all my heart in ghosts. I have watched my dogs and cats watch something that I could not see. I know they are watching ghosts b/c they are looking at the same thing!!!!!!
    Thanks so much for coming back to visit with us.
    xx, Bambi & Fern

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  8. i'm afraid of ghosts. This talk is too scary for me!

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  9. I trust my dog. If he tells me there's a ghost, a ghost there is....

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  10. Oh, mom and dad love Ghost Hunters!! Sometimes the kitties stare at walls, but we don't think much about it, cause they're kitties and kitties are weird!

    Mom and Aunt Temple are going to stay at the Stanley Hotel in a few weeks...it's supposed to have REAL ghosts! I wish I could tag along to try my ghost huntin' skillz!

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  11. My Boy Of The House loves these kind of shows - especially the ones from the US - and the Lady Of The House once edited a book called Haunted Bristol that her colleague wrote. And they tell me that before my time they had a couple of kitties that 'saw things'. Bbbrrrr!! I don't like it.
    I found you from my friend Anna The GSD's blog by the way. Pleased to meet you.
    Love and licks, Winnie xx

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  12. Holly - my Mal-a-mute pal in Nebraska - 's mom and dad are BIG BIG BIG into paranormal stuff - they go in search of them!

    Hugz&Khysses,
    Khyra

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  13. In the area of the Southwest where we live white dogs are considered spirit dogs...lucky in one culture but out in some remote areas, tribal people have made the "no hex" sign at me and my siblings and turned away because they think WE are bad spirits. Can you believe it?

    Our validation word is Nessie...hmmmm

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  14. Yes, Khyra is correct! My humans have their own paranormal investigation group. It's www.orbsomaha.com and they love watching all those paranormal shows too. Luckily, they don't have any action in our house!

    Holly

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  15. Youza! We had some doggies go pick up on a 3. earthquake we had here a day or so ago... We definitely have strong senses in many areas and could probably all have a fantastic career in the investigative world!

    Sweet hugs,
    Sierra Rose

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