MovieChat Forums > Extant (2014) Discussion > Movie myth of dog's senses

Movie myth of dog's senses

posted 7 years ago by derbo73
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In Season 1 Episode 4 Molly gets barked at and bitten by her dad's dog. The dog surely knows her well enough to recognize her after 6 years. Yet he immediatley starts threating her. It seems he can sense/smell that "something is wrong" with her, whatever that means for a dog. Dogs usually only bark and attack hostile or unknown persons while defending their family. It seems we are expected to think that the dog can somehow sense the alien(?) embryo in her womb or the changes in her blood/body.

I wonder where this TV/Movie myth started, that dogs (having very fine noses indeed) are able to sense alien lifeforms (or monsters, ghosts, whatever) in movies over short distances (like a few yards). Dogs are not known for having additional senses (electromagnetic?) like dolphins do, that are believed to be able to sense cancer or similar in humans (I am unsure whether that has been proved solidely, too). Dogs have fine hearing (allowing them to notice even slightest earth quakes long before humans) which would not be very helpful here.

Probably Molly's whole biology has been altered and she produces strange hormones, allowing the dog to smell something he does not know. Unless this "alien smell" is an exact copy of a smell he knows and connects to immediate danger, it doesn't explain his reaction.

So is this some supernatural stuff here? Just for the effect? You usually see this in bad horror movies, not in sci-fi movies/series that try to be based on science.

Personally I found it useless and not very convincing.

[–] Sidewindr 7 years ago

Dogs are not known for having additional senses (electromagnetic?) like dolphins do, that are believed to be able to sense cancer or similar in humans

You are incorrect, there ARE dogs trained to detect cancer in human patients.

[–] derbo73 7 years ago

Probably, but they use their sense of smell, no electromagnetic senses. Dogs don't have known organs that are receptive to electromagnetic waves.

I don't say that dogs have vvery fine senses and can detect things that humans can't. I say the stereotype of animals, especially dogs, reacting immediately to evil, malicious, undead entities in their vicinity, is a hollow over exaggeration that has been reused so often (and seems to get wilder everytime someone brings this up in a movie again) that it is becoming a pain to watch.

Actually any evil being would have a hard time if walking among humans as most societies have so many dogs it would not be possible to stay undetected.

I liked it when animals reacted to approcing catastrophes,like a bushfire, tornado, earthquake or similar, due to their fine senses of hearing and smelling.

When directors or writers started to ignore the fact that these animals simply show their reaction because of mundane and measurable senses and turned them into beings with supernatural senses, things got worse.

It's nothing worth talking endlessly about, but it anoys me everytime I see it now.