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DOGS:
We’ve all seen movies in which the dog can sense the evil of another character before the humans know anything is going on. The dog barks and growls at the object or person harboring malevolence while their owners go about their daily business as if there isn’t a demon in their midst. But is there any truth to the trope that dogs can sense evil? While there may be anecdotal evidence that supports this belief, it’s essential to look at the topic with a focus on the science.
Yes, dogs can detect people with poor intentions. This has scientific backing. They can detect changes in scent (cortisol), body language, and tone of voice. This is why I advocate that single women have dogs. A dog from a breed that was created to be a guardian is genetically engineered to detect the scent of a predator about to attack the person, or livestock animal, they are meant to protect. As a society, we attribute “evil” to those who prey on women and children. They are not “sick and can’t help themselves”, but instead have chosen to embrace this wrongness in ever increasing amounts of worsening acts beginning in early adulthood that directly correlates to becoming “evil”. Therefore, dogs can detect evil people. – https://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/can-dogs-sense-evil
There is evidence to suggest that dogs can gauge a person’s goodness, but whether they can sense evil is still up for debate.
There is no cut-and-dry answer to whether dogs can sense evil, as “evil” is a very complex concept. The dictionary definition of evil is profoundly immoral and wicked and these are behaviors that can be seen in the animal world.1 We also know that dogs have incredible sensory abilities and a fantastic understanding and awareness of human emotions. These skills can affect how dogs react to people or situations they may consider harmful, negative, or threatening.
Dogs have a keen set of senses that allow them to detect even the most subtle changes in their environment and their humans.2 Thanks to their heightened ability to see, smell, feel, and hear, they can detect emotions, physiological changes, illnesses, and environmental events.
A physiological response occurs in our bodies when we feel certain emotions, such as sadness, anxiety, or anger. We talk, move, smell, and hold ourselves differently, and our dogs can easily pick up on these signals.
Consider how you walk in the door after having a fantastic day at work. You’re smiling, maybe even a bit giddy, and you greet your dog with open arms. They can sense your happiness, lean in for a pet, and perhaps even grab their favorite toy for a play session. If you have an awful day, you’ll walk in the door with a different energy that your pup will be able to sense right away.
So what does science say?
As we alluded to in our introduction, some scientific evidence suggests dogs have more social cognition than originally thought.
One study found that dogs can tell when humans experience psychological stress. Not only can they sense our stress levels, but another study showed that long-term stress synchronization can occur, causing dogs to mirror the stress levels of their humans.
A 2016 study found that dogs know when humans are being rude to other humans, and the information they’ve gathered about how we interact with one another can influence how they interact with us.
In the study, researchers asked dog owners to pretend to try and then fail to open a container while their dogs watched. Every time, one researcher stood by passively, while another either helped the owner open their container or flat out refused to help. After they were finished acting out the scenario, both researchers offered the dog a treat.
In the scenarios where one of the researchers helped their owner open the container while the other stood by, dogs were equally as likely to take a treat from either researcher.
However, in the second scenario, when one of the researchers refused to help open the container, the dogs were much more likely to ignore their treat offer and opt to go to the passive researcher instead.
Researchers concluded that dogs didn’t care for or trust the person who refused to help, suggesting that pups can judge a human by their not-so-nice behavior and won’t be afraid to reject them.
Dogs may not be able to sense “evil,” in a supernatural sense per se, but their heightened physiological and anatomical senses allow them to pick up on emotions in humans. They then may be able to detect human scents that tell them if someone is feeling malicious, as evidenced by changes in their body chemistry. Dogs can also judge whether someone is a nice or not-so-nice person, but maybe not immediately off the bat like the movie trope would have us think. – https://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/can-dogs-sense-evil
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CATS:
Can cats see ghosts? Can they access a spirit realm beyond our human abilities?
Apart from communicating with their owners, cats have a strong connection with each other and to the world around them. Let’s unpack some of the lore around cats and ghosts, including their association with paranormal activity, mythology, and more.
Cat parents everywhere have noticed their feline’s strange (possibly paranormal?) behavior. Some cats stare continuously at a particular spot—a spot that was later discovered to have a story behind it. Others watch the stairway, like someone is walking up and down the stairs, or a wall in the house, as if someone is hiding behind it. Sometimes, after staring for a while, the cat’s face looks as if they are trying to fight something off.
Are these examples of cats being cats—simply playing, or sensing a bug or something to play with? Sometimes, there’s additional evidence that makes us wonder.
For example, in one story, a cat was fixated on an unoccupied room. Their owner later reported that he could hear unusual sounds coming from the room, despite the fact that it was empty. He wondered: Did the cat see something that was not visible to the human eye?
There’s no confirmation that cats can judge good versus evil. However, they can sense negativity coming from certain people, and they tend to either stay away from such people or hiss at them. Likewise, cats are able to realize danger when it threatens them or their owners.
There’s also evidence that cats can sense when their owners are anxious and depressed. Given this amazing perceptiveness, it’s understandable why many believe cats can sense unearthly beings, too.
We can trace these paranormal beliefs about cats back to several sources, one of them being ancient Egypt, where cats were beloved and thought of as divine. They chased away snakes and other pests and served as great companions. Ancient tomb paintings depict cats in households, showing their high importance in the family. Egyptians even believed in a goddess of protection, Bastet, who had a cat head.
It’s reported that ancient Egyptians kept cats closeby so they could communicate with the spirit realm; they thought of cats as mediators between humans and spirits. If we take this as true, it may explain the long cat stares and unexplained sounds and activity.
Many mythologies and folklore tales assert that cats ward away evil spirits. These stories contradict the classic superstition that black cats bring bad luck.
While there’s no confirmation that cats protect you from spirits, there are plenty of anecdotes of cats communicating with their owners about disturbances—like a guest at the door, or something else that their human has yet to notice. So it’s possible that your cat may warn you if anything bad or disruptive is about to happen.
People love to tell ghost stories about cats, especially around Halloween. If you talk to certain animal experts, you may come to believe that the idea of cats seeing and maybe interacting with ghosts is more than myth.
Jackson Galaxy, a cat behavior and wellness expert along with the host of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell, agreed to an interview with Madeleine Aggeler, a journalist for The Cut.
When asked if cats could really see ghosts, Galaxy explained, “Cats have evolved to sense things that we, as humans, can’t. Their eyes can see perfectly with the smallest bit of light, they can hear six to eight times better than we can, and their whiskers are designed to detect everything from temperature changes to air current changes.”
While these adaptations may not be proof that cats can see the spirit world, Galaxy notes that he’s had his own experiences with odd cat behavior. His cats are always picking up energy in the house, and he himself admits to being a believer in the spirit world.
To further explore the subject, Aggeler spoke to Katherine Bozzi, an animal communicator who uses meditation to communicate with animals both living and dead. In an email, Bozzi commented, “Animals in general are more open to experiencing spiritual connections than humans… because they’re not culturally conditioned to dismiss these moments as pure imagination.”
Whether cats possess supernatural powers or not is entirely up to what you believe. However, what we all know to be true and can agree on is that cats are amazing, curious communicators, and observing their behavior can lead to some very interesting questions. – Mallory Crusta – https://cats.com/can-cats-see-ghosts