What Dogs Notice That People Don’t
Originally published March 10th, 2026, on MJ’s Pet Training Academy, LLC
So much of dog training focuses on what we want the dog to learn, but those who aren’t open to learning from the animal in front of them are missing out on one of the best parts of training. There are reminders everywhere about how differently we experience the world compared to other animals. We can’t change our senses to better understand our dogs, but we can change our perspective to improve how we train and communicate with them.
Take a walk through nature, and you will find yourself surrounded by animals processing everything in ways we can only imagine. If you look at a patch of flowers, you may see beautiful colors and feel like you’re seeing the entire world as it is. You can lean in and catch the scent of flowers and dirt. You may even hear the buzz of a bee. The bee is experiencing another world entirely.
In his book, The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka writes, “ We now know that most animals (and all bees) can see ultraviolet light—we humans (and most mammals) are quite unusual in missing out on this sensory dimension.”
We don’t see the world the way insects do, and we don’t experience it the way our dogs do either. Looking around you is one way to reflect on how beautifully different the experiences across species are. Bringing that back to dog training can make you a more observant and creative trainer.
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