A Blind Dog's Story
Hi, 3 August 2011
I have an acquaintance with a blind dog. The dog isn't constantly bumping into things, even when he visits a new place, and he does just great dashing around free in the woods with her other two dogs.
He never gets lost, always finds Esther again by hearing her call.
The thing this blind dog minds most is being unexpectedly touched by a human hand. Using all you've written, I'd guess this is because the dog can hear us approaching, talking, etc, knowing where we are in relation to him.
Then suddenly comes a touch from some other direction, seemingly out of nowhere, at any rate unrelated to where the dog knows our bodies are. (E.g., you're standing in front of him, but your hand comes [silently and unannounced] from above as you bend down to pet his head. Or he's standing with his left side pressed against you, and then you reach down to pat his right side.) (He's a fairly small dog, about 20 lbs.) He'll often snap at said suddenly appearing hand, startled even though he knows you're in front of him.
On the other hand, he doesn't object if you first make noise so he knows where you are, then hold a hand in front of his nose so he knows it's a human body part close to his face (smell), then move your hand along the side of his face (whiskers) and then along his body, petting him without startling him.
To me, proof your hypotheses about whiskers are accurate: You can't just let this dog smell your hand, retract it, then touch his head or body -- he'll still snap at the hand (not at the human he knows is in front of him).
There has to be this continuity of touch (nose to side of face to body, along the body to other part of body), so it's clear the identified hand is the same object now touching his body.
Ms Kenau Hasselaer
I have an acquaintance with a blind dog. The dog isn't constantly bumping into things, even when he visits a new place, and he does just great dashing around free in the woods with her other two dogs.
He never gets lost, always finds Esther again by hearing her call.
The thing this blind dog minds most is being unexpectedly touched by a human hand. Using all you've written, I'd guess this is because the dog can hear us approaching, talking, etc, knowing where we are in relation to him.
Then suddenly comes a touch from some other direction, seemingly out of nowhere, at any rate unrelated to where the dog knows our bodies are. (E.g., you're standing in front of him, but your hand comes [silently and unannounced] from above as you bend down to pet his head. Or he's standing with his left side pressed against you, and then you reach down to pat his right side.) (He's a fairly small dog, about 20 lbs.) He'll often snap at said suddenly appearing hand, startled even though he knows you're in front of him.
On the other hand, he doesn't object if you first make noise so he knows where you are, then hold a hand in front of his nose so he knows it's a human body part close to his face (smell), then move your hand along the side of his face (whiskers) and then along his body, petting him without startling him.
To me, proof your hypotheses about whiskers are accurate: You can't just let this dog smell your hand, retract it, then touch his head or body -- he'll still snap at the hand (not at the human he knows is in front of him).
There has to be this continuity of touch (nose to side of face to body, along the body to other part of body), so it's clear the identified hand is the same object now touching his body.
Ms Kenau Hasselaer