Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals

Sheldrake has shown in the past that he is not afraid to be labeled a rebel, thanks to his theory of morphic resonance, which suggests the following:

Natural systems, or morphic units, at all levels of complexity are animated, organized, and coordinated by morphic fields, which contain an inherent memory. Natural systems inherit this collective memory from all previous things of their kind by a process called morphic resonance, with the result that patterns of development and behavior become increasingly habitual through repetition.

Sheldrake believes that the "telepathy" between pets and humans, or between flocks of birds or schools of fish that move as a single organism, can be explained this theory. Sheldrake is less persuaded by anecdotes that suggest animal clairvoyance--warning of something in the near future--but refuses to disallow the possibility.

He accepts that the case histories he details so thoroughly in this book are anecdotal, but that makes them no less real; and as a scientist himself he sets up experimental conditions for studying this previously ignored phenomenon that show beyond any doubt that the phenomenon exists. He castigates traditional scientists for their refusal to countenance anything that doesn't fit in with their existing paradigms (or prejudices) and challenges them to come up with some more "acceptable" explanation--but none is forthcoming.

This fascinating book is a first attempt at a scientific investigation into a puzzling but quite common occurrence. One hopes that other scientists will follow Sheldrake's brave lead. --David V. Barrett

This is a fun book for animal-lovers, full of engaging anecdotes about dogs, cats, horses, and birds who enjoy strong emotional bonds with their owners that allow them to accomplish seemingly-unbelievable feats. But it is also an eye-opening book, for Sheldrake has applied some scientific techniques to both debunk fraudulent claims and to confirm those that have no conventional explanation. His "morphic bonds" are persuasive, especially to those who have lived closely with animals and observed their behavior in close quarters.


On the Provability of Unexplained Animal Powers   September 20, 1999
38 out of 44 found this review helpful

This book is a must for all of you who have "always marveled at your pet's unexplained powers, but have never dared inquired about them." Indeed, there was no one to consult. Institutional science dismisses these many instances as chancy, or explains them away in a mechanistic fashion; and the only other explanations were thus far provided by folk legends and superstitions. Unfailingly picturesque, but more often than not whimsical. DOGS THAT KNOW WHEN THEIR OWNERS ARE COMING HOME, an elaboration of the author's groundbreaking SEVEN EXPERIMENTS THAT COULD CHANGE THE WORLD, addresses just such questions, after years of painstaking research and the accumulation of convincing evidence.

This is far and away Dr. Sheldrake's most accessible book to date, which is not to say it is a vulgarization. Far from it. In his characteristically sober yet charming prose, he has miraculously dodged the danger of compiling a list, but has rather presented the world with an anthology of mind-expanding instances of powers of animals. Some ideas are particularly compelling, such as "an animal-based earthquake warning system". Once more, he deals a blow to institutional science by beating it on its own turf, and that is, by piling up impressive evidence, a database, etc., so as to substantiate his claims. In all likelihood, many more "cases" will be added to his database after the general public has read this book. Perhaps tens of thousands. If institutional science will continue to ignore these phenomena, rather than join the author in the research, it will have de facto discredited itself in the eyes of the world. The Appendices are also valuable, C in particular, in which the author provides the Cliff's Notes to his own books. The concepts he summarizes are so fascinating that they should prompt the unfamiliar reader to read all his books, where the ideas are given the space they deserve.

Dr. Sheldrake's overall aim to resacralize the world is well-served by this book. Most pet owners have always felt there was something "more" or "other" to their pets than mere companions. This book will confirm their hunch, and prompt further investigations. Indeed, as the author says, "We have a great deal to learn from our companion animals."


I LOVED THIS BOOK   July 13, 2000
Theresa Welsh (Ferndale, Michigan, USA)
13 out of 16 found this review helpful

This is a delightful, readable book that combines a love for animals with real research into psychic connections between humans and animals. Pet owners have always felt this connection, but Rupert Sheldrake provides a conceptual framework along with solid evidence for an actual bond. When my daughter was younger, the cat we had then used to wait by the front window for my daughter. We all noticed this behavior and thought the cat just had good timing, but the stories in this book tell me this is a common happening and represents some kind of communication mechanism. I hope Dr. Sheldrake's research can continue to provide insight into this behavior. I have read of such behavior in people as well -- check into a book called Faces in the Smoke by Douchan Gersi. It's unfortunately out of print, but has stories about people in Haiti and in Africa who routinely sent each other psychic messages. There is so much more we need to know about this kind of communication.


Telepathy as a Common Biological Function   August 12, 2005
Lee Charles Kelley (New York City)
15 out of 19 found this review helpful


One Amazon reviewer of DOGS THAT KNOW WHEN THEIR OWNERS ARE COMING HOME wrote "Budiansky's THE TRUTH ABOUT DOGS states that other researchers were unable to replicate Sheldrake's amazing results. I like pets just as much as anyone else, though I don't feel the need to glorify them with powers that their small brains are incapable of possessing."

First of all, Stephen Budiansky--whom I admire--thinks dogs are social parasites (though that's not why I admire him; I like his unique approach to the subject matter). And the truth is, at least one other researcher, who was furiously attempting to discredit Sheldrake's theory (hardly an objective approach), actually ended up replicating his results exactly.

And having a small brain has absolutely nothing to do with what Sheldrake posits to be a common biological function of all social animals. He theorizes that it's a fairly ordinary form of communication that pre-dates human language and which doesn't require any kind of highly developed cognitive architecture.

Granted, Sheldrake focused on the dogs who'd been reported to already show this behavior, but the thrust of the research detailed in this book was not to provide definitive proof that dogs are "telepathic", but to start people thinking in that direction. And some of the data is quite remarkable.

By the way, my dog could care less when I'm coming home. He's always asleep when I get there (though he's always happy to see me). But I've had other experiences that show Sheldrake is on the mark. For instance, I found that if I'm walking my dog and thinking about going into a store up the block and picturing the possible behavior in my mind, he'll give up his usual path and pull me toward that store, even if I've changed my mind in the meantime.

I've also found that when teaching the down/stay at a distance, followed by the recall, if I imagine the dog coming toward me before I give him the release and the recall signal, he'll almost inevitably break the stay and come running.

I'm not a complete moron, so when I first noticed this happening I figured that I must have been doing something with my body language to cause this behavior. So I very carefully monitored and controlled my posture, my facial expressions (even though I was fifty yards away), etc. Nope. It wasn't my body language.

Huh, I thought, could it be these mental pictures I'm creating in my mind? So I trained myself not to create those mental images and whenever I kept my mind blank the dogs inevitably stopped breaking the stay until the release signal was given.

These experiences are far from being scientific proof but they do make you think.

I also recommend THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST for Sheldrake's theories on morphic fields.