Do dogs see themselves in a mirror?

[ckay87]

I don't know why....it's not like we're bored or anything, but for no particular reason:

We were trying to get our dog to respond to images in a mirror the other night. It's so odd, he doesn't look at the mirror at all. My son would wave his arms and no response, no eye contact at all. Pooch doesn't recognize himself either. It's like there is a blank wall there, if that makes any sense.

So that was our un-scientific experiment for the night. Either my dog is really dumb, really smart, or typical. Have any of you seen your dogs take notice to things in a mirror?

 

[Wall-E1]

I had a dog that would scratch the mirror with his front paw when he would see himself. They may not recognize them self, but I think they can see their reflection.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Oh yea and they will watch TV or the computer. My border collie mix sees her reflection in our tub facets and will stare at them.

Now I don't know if they think it is themselves they see though.

 

[ckay87]

I kind of wouldn't expect them to know it was themselves. But if my dachshund sees another dog at the other end of the street, he responds by getting all excited and barky. Why, then, if he sees himself in the mirror would he not care at all.

I just find it bizarre and was wondering if it was just him.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

A friend of my family's had a puppy (one from a litter of our golden retrievers) that was looking at itself in a mirror and barking and trying to play with the reflection. His wife and he were having fun watching the little puppy, untill the poor thing ran head first into the mirror really hard, shattering it. The puppy actually died the next day. They were heart broken. I was in school at the time and was so mad at them, even though I knew it was an accident. So, yeah they see themselves but probably don't recognize it themselves they are seeing.

 

[Imzadi]

We had a dog that could recognise dogs in a mirror. My sis would alert the dog when there was another friendly dog in the vicinity, so he could go up & greet the dog, by saying, "Dog!" and pointing to it.

Once, we were at the vet and a low mirror was there. I pointed to the mirror where our dog could see himself and said "Dog!" Our dog went crazy, barking & trying to get past the mirror to meet that dog. He didn't recognise himself, but he knew it was a dog he was looking at.


My cat uses mirrors when we play hide & seek. She knows that what she sees in it is a reflection. There is a long mirror on a door. At times, the door is angled in such a way that it reflects the hallway. When we are playing hide & seek. Instead of having to look around the corner of the door, she will sit in a spot where she can look in the mirror & see me coming down the hallway.

Also, when she eats, her bowls are against a ceramic tile wall. She can keep an eye on what's going on behind her by looking up at the shiny tile and see the reflection of movement on the tiles, instead of having to turn her head around to look.

The one thing she doesn't look at much is TV. From looking out the windshield of a car, somehow she knows what's on the TV screen is not real. She knows the difference between a window & TV.

 

[CathrynRose]

Yes.

We had one of those long, full body mirror's we were putting up, and before we hung it - we held it up and called Charley over.

Charley barked - then looked confused, then barked again - attempted to sniff, then even looked on the other side of this - what must have appeared to be a window, to him.

It was funny to watch him.

 

[Bethshaya]

I seem to have a really vain 3 lb pomernian.

She sits in front of the full length mirror, sitting all pretty, and just stares at herself for like 10 minutes.

I can just imagine she is saying "I'm a pretty girl"....which is why we named her Bella.

 

[ckay87]

So it sounds as if my dog does know what the mirror is, but just doesn't care. My kind of guy....smart, secure and confident

 

[Teresa Pitman]

I have a lab and a border collie, and we have mirrored closet doors near the front door. They both reacted when we first moved here, but now I think they realize it isn't "real" and ignore their images. So maybe your dog just figured it out and is now ignoring it.

The border collie loves to watch dogs on TV. We sit together on my bed and watch dog shows. She gets especially excited when she sees other border collies or other labs. The lab will watch sometimes, but only really gets interested if the dogs are running around. I think he is more aware of movement and doesn't "see" dogs if they are just sitting or standing, but the border collie seems to know that they are dogs even if they aren't doing much.

Teresa

 

[CathrynRose]

The border collie loves to watch dogs on TV. We sit together on my bed and watch dog shows. She gets especially excited when she sees other border collies or other labs. The lab will watch sometimes, but only really gets interested if the dogs are running around. I think he is more aware of movement and doesn't "see" dogs if they are just sitting or standing, but the border collie seems to know that they are dogs even if they aren't doing much.

Teresa

Yes! Isn't that funny. My g/f said it's common for breeds to 'know' and be drawn to their own kind, if you will.

Charley really likes other bully breeds. And he likes that commercial for Fresh Step, with that big Bloodhound looking for the litter box. Watches it every time it's on.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Dogs can see themselves in a mirror, but they either make the erroneous assumption that it is another dog or have otherwise learned (often from their experiences with televsisions) that something that doesn't smell like another dog isn't real and will ignore it.

There are very few species that have been confirmed able to recognize themselves in mirrors. Among these are humans, chimpanzees, and dolphins. I think orangutans and gorillas as well, but I'm not 100% sure on those.

 

[Pakey]

Mine will growl if they see themselves in the mirror. Of course, they are Chinese cresteds so they probably scare themselves and wonder "what kind of ugly dog is that?"

 

[ckay87]

Mine will growl if they see themselves in the mirror. Of course, they are Chinese cresteds so they probably scare themselves and wonder "what kind of ugly dog is that?"

Poor things!

 

[KandD]

Mine will growl if they see themselves in the mirror. Of course, they are Chinese cresteds so they probably scare themselves and wonder "what kind of ugly dog is that?"

My dog growls at herself too! It's really funny because if she makes a sudden movement then she will REALLY go buck wild and bark and bark. But we have three dogs and only one of them responds to their mirror image, the other two don't care at all.

 

[KandD]

Poor things!

BTW ckay I don't know if I have ever commented on your dog pic before, I know I have always wanted to, but we have a little doxie that looks almost identical to yours! (She is not the one who barks at herself in the mirror though..she could care less about what is going on around her unless it involves food or yelling at my husky...then she will yell at him too!)

 

[Magic Mom]

I think your dog is on a doggie message board asking his pals why his owners keep flailing around in front of mirrors. "They keep waving their arms at themselves in the mirror? Do you think they can see how absurd they look?"

 

[ckay87]

BTW ckay I don't know if I have ever commented on your dog pic before, I know I have always wanted to, but we have a little doxie that looks almost identical to yours! (She is not the one who barks at herself in the mirror though..she could care less about what is going on around her unless it involves food or yelling at my husky...then she will yell at him too!)

Oh boy, I should have a more recent picture - he has packed on the pounds. I don't have to tell you how doxies love food! We're doing the doggie Jennie Craig, but now I know next time I get a doxie to be really really careful. My other one is slim and trim, but he eats everything that stands still long enough! They are good dogs, though. Thanks for your message!

 

[OK!]

My parents have a tame tom turkey at their house who used to attack the front bumper of the truck periodically. Nobody could figure out why until someone happened to be standing behind him when he started it and realized that he was seeing his reflection in the chrome.

And totally unrelated, but he also hates Christmas lights. I once sat and watched him attempt to pull a set of net lights off of a bush in the front yard; he was REALLY enraged by them. It was hilarious.

 

[sbell111]

I don't know why....it's not like we're bored or anything, but for no particular reason:

We were trying to get our dog to respond to images in a mirror the other night. It's so odd, he doesn't look at the mirror at all. My son would wave his arms and no response, no eye contact at all. Pooch doesn't recognize himself either. It's like there is a blank wall there, if that makes any sense.

So that was our un-scientific experiment for the night. Either my dog is really dumb, really smart, or typical. Have any of you seen your dogs take notice to things in a mirror?

Of course he can see the images in the mirror. He just must recognize that they aren't 'real' and ignore them.