Quote:
Originally Posted by scomsjw  Comments like this are a bit annoying. Surely you aren't arguing that Sheldrake has already proved that dogs are telepathic? I don't think even Sheldrake himself believes that. |
The post was meant to be provocative and is indeed a bit sarcastic about the unproven theoretical flaws in the Sheldrake experiments... I must behave
I really don't know how good a dog's natural sense of time is. Nor am I a dog owner but I would question whether dogs can predict how long a owner is away from subtle clues in ways humans can't. I doubt a dog can tell 90 minutes from 110 minutes from 120 minutes, etc. that accurately, particularly when snoozing for a period of time in between, as often appears to be the case when owner is away.
I also think it is unlikely to explain a trip to the window shortly before the owner leaves (more in Sheldrake's Jaytee dog experiments than Kane dog experiments) was caused by the dog calculating return time, the telepathy hypothesis that the owner was thinking about coming home might increase anticipation in dog seems at least as plausble to me, in light of the fact telepathy has arguably been found in many lab experiments on humans and slightly stronger in creative individuals ... so why not a bit stronger still
in dogs?
I think Sheldrake has done a decent and effective job of ruling out alternate explanations already but hey ... . as long as debunkers do not insist upon something like the dog is not allowed to see (i.e. know) the owner has left (to avoid picking up clues) ...... as long as the experiment remains fairly natural to dog and owner, fine I say.