How is he? Rough!

Now we have a dog who can tell nurses when someone is going to die. I wonder if he would have picked out Joe DiMaggio?

Comments

[Callista]

That's actually not so far-fetched. Dogs and other animals have acute senses that make it easier to pick up on a human's state of mind and body; when the body begins to die, surely there are signs that a dog could detect. (I refer you to the existence of seizure-alert dogs, talented animals who can detect a seizure coming on when their human owner can't.) In a hospice environment, where the patient isn't hooked up to monitors, a dog might well be able to give the first warning that someone is about to die.

[Bronze Dog]

It's not a question of plausibility. It's a question of good evidence he's doing it.

"Is there good evidence that he's doing it?" is the question I want answered before we talk about mechanism. "How" questions can come later.

[Anon]

Let's hope the dogs presence doesn't promote the patient to give up on life, as a sort of unfortunate placebo!

[Tom Foss]

I gave up on Life once.

I decided I'd rather play Battleship.