OK everyone. I'm at it again

Just musings. Things I wonder about.

How many of you feel that your dog recognizes your specific vehicle(s) and that you or your family/those that live with you are associated with those vehicles?

How many vehicles do/does your dog(s) recognize? Do you notice different behavior associated with certain people when the dog hears those vehicles? I am thinking of this in terms of sound recognition or sight of the vehicle when the people cannot be seen yet.

Such as a certain person always bringing a treat like a biscuit for your dog (with your permission of course) or someone with kids that the dog loves to play with or someone the dog does not like much(being someone the dog sees often enough that the person is not a "stranger") does the dog react to the vehicle approach or parking in the driveway?

For dogs who seem to alert mostly based on sight/dogs that can always see every vehicle what about similar looking vehicles? Same make/model/year/color?

Do you notice a dog having a different reaction to a vehicle it "knows" if strange music is being played in the car?

Anything you can think of. How your dogs react when you leave or when you start your car to warm up before leaving. When you or someone the dog knows comes home/visits?

Have fun.. I look forward to reading some responses!

Jennifer,
You already read this but I figured I would post it.....


When anyone pulls in the driveway, Max barks/bays his fool head off. When Doug pulls in when I am home, he stays quiet. When I come home, he is up on his hind legs on the fence whining.
And, Doug says he howls when I am coming up the driveway but does not do that with other cars or people.

The dogs inside are silent when I come home but standing at attention wagging their tails. Doug says that they are laying down just looking when he comes home, but people that go over tell us that they are going apeshit when they get out of their car.

So I believe that my dogs know me, know Doug and show their levels of happiness accordingly and that they alert when we are not home.

If I am home alone, all dogs bark, even the ones in the kennels and they cannot see the driveway. They do not bark when Doug or I come home.

No prob, I don't mind reading things again. I read my favorite books at least once a year and even they aren't as interesting as this forum!

Cajun was always happy when my car pulled up, according to family he would whine and pace and stare at the door if he was not crated and I could always hear him talking in his crate if he was crated while I was gone. That grumbly rraarrrroooruffgrrwooo type of thing. Its funny to watch a bulldog do this

He would ignore other vehicles he knew. Strange vehicles he alerted and barked at. If a female was in the strange vehicle he wouldn't bark as hard as if it were a strange male but he still alerted.

If Duke is outside when I get home he is always at the yard gate with his paws up on it standing and staring at the driveway when I pull up.

Missy ignores vehicles she knows until the person gets in the yard, then she mosies on over for a greeting and goes back to laying down in the sun. She's old, can't be bothered by us humans. Well. Unless they are strange humans. Then she is right at the yard gate with her "This is MY YARD!" display until one of us goes outside.

When they are inside they go to the door or window and wait for people they know or brk at vehicles they don't know until told to settle.

Duke had recently developed the habit of howling when I left for work as I had been home for several weeks but this has been taken care of and now he just whines a bit and pouts. I mean that, too. He will go lie down in one of the dog houses with his head hanging out and sigh.

Interesting topic...

My family have expressed the "weird" sense Cato has about me getting home. He will have been quiet all day, and then all of a sudden, stand and start whining.

They would go check the front to see if I was there and no me...but then like a minute later, I'd pull in and come into the house.

I figure Cato can hear my car a block away or something (btw, it's not a loud car either, just a regular jeep).

He is quiet sometimes whimpery when I come in, but then quiets until I pay attention to him.

He shows no other signs of vehicle recognition that I've noticed.

Vehicle recognition can be the dog just not reacting to a car if it normally barks at strange cars. Like a friend that comes over often, the dog ignores the car. Strange car, dog alerts.

My dogs recognize the sound and smell of our cars, of course.
Gypsy can tell the sound of our car from almost a mile away, her hearing must be fantastic.
Lady, however, has always had really sharp eyesight and I had an interesting experience. I had taken her with me when I walked to school one day. we were on a strange campus miles away from home. I had had a white 89 suburban which I gave away about 3 years ago. It had been in the family for years though.
As we (Lady and I) were passing a campus entrance there were 3 or 4 cars driving in and one was a white 89 suburban. Lady noticed it before I did and stopped and peered at it intensly for several seconds before it finally came close enough for her to get a smell (I imagine) and she had satisfied herself that it wasnt one of ours.
I was really suprised though. I had assumed that all dogs just recognize through scent or sound but there was no way scent was a factor here.

If I'm not mistaken Michele, some years ago I heard of a study on dogs anticipating their owners arrival. The dogs were very accurate, even when the times were varied. No routines. Random. Or if a routine was to be expected by the time of day, the routine was broken into, with the same result. The dog went though the same reactions many minutes before the arrival of the owner, irreguardless of the time of day.
Not all dogs, but enough to go hmmm somethings going on. Just to say others have noticed dogs have stuff going on we really don't know anything about.
Ah as for my dog, I've got cars and trucks coming and going all the time, she still always knows when it's me or my better half. And we have no routine. Must be the distinctive sound of our cars. What else could it be?

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

What is funny though, is that I had to have my vehicle worked on and they gave me the same make and model vehicle to drive but a different color.

My dogs acted the same as I came home. How did they know it was me?
I do not have a schedule either, it is pretty much all over the board.

I have a silver jeep. There are 2 people that live in my town that have silver jeeps as well.

Their dogs (emphasize multiple dogs at both houses) run to greet me if I drive past their houses. I always feel horrible because of their looks of disappointment when the silver jeep doesn't stop.

Mary - some of my dogs recognize vehicles by sight that look like ones we have have/have had but my family always has a tendency to get really unusual vehicles or make their vehicles unusual. Like my car is a bright metallic candy blue. For lack of a better description. Think Electric blue that is super super shiny. My brother has a 77 International Scout on 37" boggers and lots of other modifications.. its canary yellow and even I can hear it from a couple blocks away. So our vehicles are more recognizable than most.

ANYhow. Sight recognition counts.

Randy - I have read stuff about dogs supposedly being linked to their owners somehow and I would believe it to an extent. I would only question if the dog heard the vehicle or something associated with the vehicle or the person coming home. Like some people call to say they are on their way home. Or when someone knows someone else is coming home at a certain time they put something in the oven or start cooking a certain amount of time before they get home, etc. Signals that dogs pick up on that some people don't think about. Would be interesting to see the details of such an experiment.

Carol - I also have an erratic schedule and live on a busy street and yet Duke is always standing with paws on the gate waiting for me.

Michael - that is funny, I would feel bad, too!