For as long as I can remember I've heard the theory that animals can often sense things that we cannot. I've had a few occasions where a pet of mine (always a dog) has started barking/growing/acting strange towards something I could not see or find an explanation for. If you believe that animals can, in fact, see spirits, would you think that they generally react to a spirit because they sense it's malevolence, or just because it's something there that they find out of the ordinary?

I ask for your opinions because I recently had another episode with my dog last week. All day my friend and I had been hearing odd noises directly from my living room, but we pretty much ignored it figuring it was the ghost that we suspects is in my house. After the noises had stopped for a few hours, I was in the hallway talking to my mom and my dog, Floyd, wandered into my room. I heard Floyd start to bark and growl, and I assumed he saw something/someone outside, since he's always looking out the windows. I went in to calm him, and he was actually staring into my closet, a place where my friend and I have gotten "creepy" feelings about for quite some time. After the little activity going on that day, it rather creeped me out.

This post has been edited by GrabThyHand: Apr 10 2008, 10:06 PM

I have had two very distinct episodes with my dog. We had a white (somewhat rare for the breed) scottish terrier named Kerry. She was an exceptionally smart animal. When you talked to her she would cock her head to one side and then bark if you paused, as if she were listening to you and trying to communicate. Anyway, one day I came home from school and she was in my parents room on their bed, barking ferociously at the corner of the room. I jumped on the bed and tried to play with her and get her attention. She would not budge. She kept barking and growling. There was nothing in the corner of the room she was facing., just a blank wall. No matter how hard I tried, she would not lose her concentration on whatever it was she was barking at. A while later, she whimpered and jumped off of the bed and ran out of the room.

My second incident was with the same dog. My mom and I were the only people home at the time. We were in the kitchen making dinner. All of a sudden Kerry ran from the kitchen down into our family room. She ran so fast that her paws scampered across the floor, like they could not get traction. All of a sudden the lights in the family room went out, and we then heard a very loud noise, like something falling over. My mom and I both looked at each other in fear, as if to acknowledge what just happened, but not wanting to belive it. We thought someone was in the house, as Kerry was barking like crazy at something, and the lights had gone out. Being the man of the house, I felt obligated to take control of the situation, even though I was scared to death. I was 15 at the time. I ran up to my room and got a baseball bat and told my mom to be ready to call 911. At this point we were still wondering what was going on and did not want to call the police over nothing... I slowly went down the stairs to the family room, as I called out to Kerry, who was still barking. As I got to the end of the stairs, the lights went back on. I saw Kerry in a corner of the room, barking at nothing. We checked all of the rooms downstairs, and nothing was out of place, and nothing had fallen. The lights stayed on the rest of the evening...

I believe both times, our dog saw something from the spirtual realm, and was trying to protect us. As for the lights and noise, I can't explain that.

I keep my 3 dogs outside since i live in the country. But there have been a few small experiences that could have just been animals though. Well every Friday nights at 12:30-1:00 they howl and bark for about 10 minutes. Only on those Friday nights though.
Then one night not long ago it was i think Wednesday it was pretty late around 1:00am and the dogs where having a fit. I go out to check on them and they run down the driveway about half way (Kind of long drive way) then just stop and lay down staring into the darkness. Run back up to the house to bark some more then run down there and once they didn't lay down they just where barking in the yard close to the end of the drive way and it sounded like people where barking back for a few minutes then it stopped. I stayed out there awhile to make sure it wasn't any people. Keep in mind its the country and hardy anyone comes around especially at night without a car.
On one occasion a few years ago while it had just gotten dark i was outside playing with the dogs when i look up and see a green ball about the size of a fist by the tree and they dogs ran to it and started barking. It flickered for a second then disappeared.

Could have just been natural phenomenon or animals though.