I think my Sheltie can see ghosts LOL

[Emily]

So, my 5 year old Sheltie Nicky, barks at a lot of different things (doorbells, squirrels, the cat, whistles on TV) but most of the time he barks at absolutely nothing.
It's interesting how dogs can see/hear & sense things that us humans can't.
He begs to go outside & not always to go to bathroom, he likes to go out and just bark at nothing. (I feel bad for my neighbors - I'm surprised they've never complained)
Sometimes, we'll be sitting on the couch with him, he'll be all relaxed & resting ... then all the sudden he'll randomly go flying off the couch to the back slider door,barking like crazy. I always look to see what he's barking at & there's nothing there.
Anyways, I said I think he can see ghosts because @ the park we take him for walks, there's always one spot on the path, he'll just sit down & refuse to move. So weird. We joke that the woods there is haunted & he senses the ghosts in that spot.
LOL he's so weird, but I love him

[Mignarda]

You can bet there's something going on that you're not aware of; probably some distant noise. My last dog, a Sheltie mix, wasn't a huge barker, but the sound of a car door opening and closing would get him going, and more often than not I couldn't hear the sounds myself. Of course it might be ghosts, or even worse, some ill-disposed person hiding in your closet!

[Shelby's mom]

Shelby barks at nothing too. I swear she can hear things a mile away!!! I must confess one day I couldn't figure it out and was getting frustrated, then I saw a black cat hiding under the porch chair. So now I do believe her when she barks.

[BarbV]

I also think sometimes that Indy has ESP. He will start barking at the back door long before any dog walks by. He will be comatose and then suddenly leap off the bed. I look out the window....nothing, tjem 1 minute later a dog walks by. Weeird.

[Mignarda]

When I was young I read a terrible ghost story that gave me nightmares for years afterward. It was about a family that had just moved into a big, new house. From the outset, however, there was a room upstairs where their dogs refused to go, and often they would stand at the entrance to the room and bark uncontrollably. Well, one day the man of house went upstairs and was standing in the room, when he heard a noise behind him and turned to see--I won't tell you what he saw, but the way the story went he responded by making a mad run downstairs, out of the house and down the street, screaming hysterically and tearing at his hair as he went. (It's been a long, long time since I first heard the story, and I still get the chills relating it.)

So if my dog is barking at something unseen in the house, I always tend to take him seriously!

[romeosangiovese]

I wouldn't be surprised if dogs can sense ghosts!

I remember one night Romeo suddenly started barking at the bedroom door (he never did it ever before or again). Then he started backing away from the door and looking upwards (all this while I was sitting in bed with the covers pulled up around my face after deciding my neighbours can live with a bit of barking). Then he started barking some more and it looked to me like he was driving something towards the door. And when he got to the door, he sniffed the gap between the door and the floor.

I don't know what it was. I'm glad I couldn't see and also glad I let him bark it away!

[jomuir]

Originally Posted by Emily

He begs to go outside & not always to go to bathroom, he likes to go out and just bark at nothing.

That's our Forrest, he barks like mad at the leaves on the trees!

Before we had any Shelties, we had a lhasa-poodle mix female, Maxine. She lived to be almost 15 & was quite a character. Kids would yell out car windows at her, 'hi Maxine,' everyone knew her. She (like all our dogs) got walked daily & there was a corner in our neighborhood that she always sat & got a treat at. We called it Biscuit Corner. If we forgot, she'd sit down & not move until she got her treat. Woe be upon us if we forgot that treat, would have to take a different route or she'd have a fit.

Fast forward a few years, now when Forrest walks with us, at that corner he will NOT set one paw on that concrete slab. He'll be walking along (ok he prances when he's on his walks, it's true ), we turn the corner & he gets the willies & walks off the cement onto the grass at that spot. Maxine could be a bit.....ahem....cranky we'll say, while Forrest is a gentle soul. Spooooooky

[Emily]

ahh, I'm glad my Sheltie isn't the only one that barks at the "unseen" Now, I know he's not completely crazy ... okay, maybe a little!

[SheepOfBlue]

Sca can read minds, just the thought of food will get him going (right now he is trolling through the kitchen just in case there is something that needs to be eliminated). As to the rest I am not a believer but supposedly my brother owns a haunted house. Admittedly the stories behind it are weird x 100 (and creepy and gross in some cases). Maybe I should bring Sca up for a test

[lovemyshelties]

Emily, don't laugh. I have a dear friend who is a medium. He's told me numerous times that our dogs can sense spirits (those who have passed and other pets that we've lost). My previous male sheltie would stare into our foyer in the evening hours and growl, then bark, at nothing. My Zoey can be sleeping on the sofa or living room floor and suddenly startle herself awake and with her fur raised bark...again at something in our foyer. My other three Shelties seem oblivious. Could be nothing, but then again...who's to say.