A very common phrase among those who have a Shih Tzu at home is, “He knows exactly when I’m coming home from work. He’s already waiting at the door for me.” As exaggerated as these words may sound, the idea that Shih Tzus knows when their owners are arriving is indeed true.
It’s not a matter of intuition or a crystal ball, but rather typical canine characteristics that set them apart from other beings, such as well-developed senses like smell and hearing, as well as the conditioning of the Shih Tzu.
According to experts, a dog’s sense of smell is much more refined than that of humans. While we have an average of five million olfactory cells (odor receptors), some breeds, like scent hounds, can have 220 million.
Furthermore, the part of a dog’s brain dedicated to perceiving scents is about 40 times larger, proportionally, than ours.
Dogs’ hearing is also significantly superior to that of humans. It’s believed to be ten times more sensitive than ours, with the ability to detect sounds four times farther away and pinpoint the source of a sound in just six one-hundredths of a second.
In addition to anatomy, another factor contributing to a dog knowing when its owner or anyone else is arriving is animal conditioning.
In other words, if a person consistently arrives home at the same time, it’s natural for the dog to recognize this behavior and start waiting for them.
This also often happens during meal times. Regardless of whether it’s a holiday or a Sunday, the little dog will always be there, waiting at the same time.