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Earthquake in San Francisco… and no, the dogs didn’t sense it coming
By Christie Keith
September 5, 2008
My dogs weren’t much of an early warning system. In fact, they were both sound asleep when an earthquake gave us one good, hard jolt here in western San Francisco at a little past 9 PM tonight. Registering just over 4.0 in magnitude, the quake was centered on the town of Alamo, 28 miles east of San Francisco in Contra Costa County.
There are no reports of damage or injuries, but my dogs freaked out after the quake hit, milling around the house anxiously until I gave up and took them for a walk. They sniffed everything in the park, Rebel refreshed his pee spots, and then all was right with the world.
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My partner and I had a very different experience last night. We were caring for a friend’s French Bulldog, a dog we know well. And last night, she was acting very strangely - she was doing some of her routine park antics like running in circles through the park, but frantically as I have never seen her before.
We live in the 100 block of Haight Street in a 6-story building that is right behind the neighborhood park where we were when she exhibited this behavior.
Less than five minutes later, we got back to our apartment. She was incredibly needy and insistent that she be not only next to both of us (in between actually) on our bed, but that we both were actually touching her as if she wanted no distance whatsoever between she and us. If I took my hand off of her, she would whimper until I put it back.
Then she turned over on the bed and started whimpering - again like I had never heard her before and I have known this dog for 2 years.
Then she suddenly let out a very bizarre animalistic yelp that did not even sound like a dog!
My partner and I were both stunned and looked at each other questioning what the heck that sound was… THREE SECONDS LATER… our building went WUMP!
Immediately, I asked my partner to confirm that he saw and heard what I did, and when he said yes, I knew that there was something - the preceding sound wave of the tremor… the slight pre-rumblings of the ground - I don’t know - but something.
Whatever it was, it makes me believe that they can and do sometimes know when it’s going to happen… Japan actually uses dogs as part of their earthquake detection systems.
Thought I should share that!
Comment by Trey DeGrassi — September 6, 2008 @ 6:28 pm
They are just amazing, aren’t they!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — September 6, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
Eons ago when I was in undergrad school up in Idaho I lived in an old dumpy house in the country. I had two dogs and slept in a rickety old bed. One of the dogs, a large golden retriever, used to lay right next to the bed. Any time he’d scratch himself in the night it shook the entire bed and woke me up.
One night I woke up, annoyed as the dog had woken me up with an especially strong and long-lasting bout of scratching. I told him to stop. In a very uncharacteristic move, he ignored me. I told him again - in a *much more* annoyed tone. STILL - he ignored me.
Imagine my surprise when I *finally* rolled over to give the poor dog a dirty look —- and saw him quietly laying on the floor *on the other side of the room* - likely wondering what MY problem was.
As far as I know, the only things damaged by this small quake were my sleep and my dog’s feelings.
Comment by Janeen — September 7, 2008 @ 2:58 pm