Dogs can be trained to find a bar magnet

Abstract

Magnetoreception, the ability to sense the Earth’s magnetic field (MF), is a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom. In 1966, the first report on a magnetosensitive vertebrate, the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), was published. After that, numerous further species of different taxa have been identified to be magnetosensitive as well. Recently, it has been demonstrated that domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) prefer to align their body axis along the North–South axis during territorial marking under calm MF conditions and that they abandon this preference when the Earth’s MF is unstable. In a further study conducting a directional two-choice-test, dogs showed a spontaneous preference for the northern direction. Being designated as putatively magnetosensitive and being also known as trainable for diverse choice and search tests, dogs seem to be suitable model animals for a direct test of magnetoreception: learning to find a magnet. Using operant conditioning dogs were trained to identify the MF of a bar magnet in a three-alternative forced-choice experiment. We excluded visual cues and used control trials with food treats to test for the role of olfaction in finding the magnet. While 13 out of 16 dogs detected the magnet significantly above chance level (53–73% success rate), none of the dogs managed to do so in finding the food treat (23–40% success rate). In a replication of the experiment under strictly blinded conditions five out of six dogs detected the magnet above chance level (53–63% success rate). These experiments support the existence of a magnetic sense in domestic dogs. Whether the sense enables dogs to perceive MFs as weak as the Earth’s MF, if they use it for orientation, and by which mechanism the fields are perceived remain open questions.

Corneal sensitivity is required for orientation in free-flying migratory bats

“…While the capacity for magnetoreception among mammals is evident from a number of behavioural experiments 1 – 7 , the anatomical location of the involved receptors remains as enigmatic as in any other animal to date 8 , 9 . Interestingly enough, when tested in darkness, mammals 10 – 13 , fish 14 , 15 and sea turtles 16 were able to orient by a magnetic polarity compass.…”

The untrained response of pet dogs to human epileptic seizures

“…Thus, the current study demonstrates support for the hypothesis that a seizure-related olfactory trigger mechanism evokes spontaneous seizure alerting behaviour in pet dogs. This does not, however, exclude the possibility that other trigger stimuli may also exist and whilst beyond the scope of this study, it is acknowledged that other researchers have hypothesized the existence of a sensitivity in dogs to electro-magnetic changes (Begall et al, 2008;Burda et al, 2009;Harte et al, 2013;Martini et al, 2018). That being the case, it is conceivable that dogs may also be responding to electro-magnetic signals which are associated with pre-seizure physiological changes (Brom eld Cavazos and Sirven, 2006;Reeves and Swenson, 2008;Sano, Picard and Stickgold, 2014;Bandarabadi et al 2015;Moshe et al 2015;Avarez et al 2015; Epilepsy Action 2020) and invites further investigation.…”

The Untrained Response of Pet Dogs to Human Epileptic Seizures

“…Thus, the current study demonstrates support for the hypothesis that a seizure-related olfactory trigger mechanism evokes spontaneous seizure alerting behaviour in pet dogs. This does not, however, exclude the possibility that other trigger stimuli may also exist, and, whilst beyond the scope of this study, it is acknowledged that other researchers have hypothesized the existence of a sensitivity in dogs to electromagnetic changes [ 21 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. That being the case, it is conceivable that dogs may also be responding to electromagnetic signals which are associated with pre-seizure physiological changes [ 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ] and invites further investigation.…”