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Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home by Rupert Sheldrake Review: A Bold, Boundary-Pushing Animal Science
Rupert Sheldrake's Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home, first published in 1999 and reissued in an updated and revised edition in 2011, is a serious and wide-ranging scientific investigation into the seemingly inexplicable bonds between humans and animals — from dogs that anticipate their owners' return at unpredictable times to cats that appear to know who is calling on the phone, to horses that navigate completely unfamiliar terrain back to their stables. Drawing on five years of research involving thousands of pet owners and animal workers, Sheldrake advances his hypothesis of "morphic fields" — self-organizing regions of invisible influence — to account for phenomena that conventional biology has largely sidestepped. Kirkus Reviews praised it as "an open-minded inquiry... attentive to the evidence and thoroughly investigative." It is essential reading for anyone curious about the frontier where animal behavior, consciousness, and unconventional science meet.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Pet owners and philosophy-of-science readers who have witnessed seemingly inexplicable animal behaviour and want a rigorously framed, evidence-marshalled case for taking those observations seriously.
Worth it if
You are genuinely curious about the limits of conventional biology, animal consciousness, or human-animal bonds, and are comfortable engaging with a sustained argument rather than a closed scientific verdict.
Skip if
You are a committed mechanistic biologist or require peer-consensus resolution of the debate — the morphic field hypothesis at the book's core remains outside mainstream scientific acceptance and the book does not claim to settle the controversy.
What readers & critics say
Kirkus Reviews praised the book as "thoroughly investigative, conducted in the belief that science can be fun and rigorous, inquisitive as well as skeptical," highlighting Sheldrake's vast collection of case histories and commending his authorial voice as a genuine pleasure. Spirituality & Practice noted that the phenomena Sheldrake documents — from direction-finding to telepathy and precognition — "cannot be explained in terms of routine sounds or smells," situating the book as a serious challenge to conventional animal-behaviour science.
“Thoroughly investigative, conducted in the belief that science can be fun and rigorous, inquisitive as well as skeptical.”
— kirkusreviews.com“Sheldrake is a pleasure not just because he roams way beyond the mechanistic theory of nature, but because he appreciates worthy new questions as well as answers.”
— kirkusreviews.com4.4from 482 Amazon ratings— reader ratings, not a LuvemBooks score
Look inside the book
Preview the actual pages, via Google BooksIn This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What the Book Actually Is and Argues
- The Research Foundation and Scope
- Sheldrake's Morphic Field Hypothesis and Its Place in the Debate
- Strengths: Voice, Range, and Intellectual Generosity
- Who the Book Is For and Where It Challenges
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- Draws on five years of research involving thousands of documented case histories across multiple species, giving the inquiry unusual empirical breadth
- Kirkus Reviews praised Sheldrake's voice as a genuine pleasure — rigorous, inquisitive, and generative of worthy new questions rather than premature answers
- The morphic field hypothesis is situated within established frameworks in physics and cosmology, making the argument intellectually serious rather than purely speculative
- Covers a wide range of phenomena — from domestic pet behavior to wild animal migration and homing — making it relevant to a broad audience of animal and science enthusiasts
- Sheldrake's credentials as a former Royal Society research fellow and Cambridge research director lend the work scientific standing uncommon in this subject area
What Doesn't
- The morphic field hypothesis remains outside mainstream biological consensus, meaning the book's central explanatory framework is contested scientific territory
- Readers seeking a definitive, peer-consensus resolution to questions of animal telepathy and precognition will find the book advances a case rather than closes the debate
A serious, evidence-driven challenge to mechanistic biology, this book will satisfy curious readers and frustrate committed skeptics in equal measure.
What the Book Actually Is and Argues
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake front cover
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home is a work of popular science by British biologist Rupert Sheldrake, best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. Sheldrake spent five years gathering case histories from thousands of people who live and work with animals, documenting a wide catalog of behaviors that resist conventional explanation: dogs that station themselves at windows or doors precisely when their owners begin the journey home — even when those returns are unscheduled and the owners travel by different routes or vehicles; cats that vanish before a vet visit before the carrier has appeared; horses that find their stables across entirely unfamiliar terrain; parakeets, cats, and other animals that appear to anticipate epileptic seizures, air raids, and seismic events. Sheldrake's central argument is that these behaviors are evidence of what he calls morphic fields — self-organizing, invisible structures with both spatial and temporal dimensions that bind animals to one another and to their owners across distances. He situates this hypothesis within broader frameworks entertained by physicists and cosmologists, including the connectedness observed in quantum entanglement theory.
The Research Foundation and Scope
The empirical ambition of the book is substantial. Rather than relying on anecdote alone, Sheldrake structured his inquiry across thousands of documented accounts and developed controlled experiments designed to test whether a dog's anticipatory behavior could be explained by routine, sensory cues, or owner-telegraphed information. The research covers an unusually broad range of species — dogs, cats, horses, parakeets, and others — and an equally broad range of phenomena, from homing and migration in the wild to the seemingly personal bonds of domestic life. Kirkus Reviews noted that Sheldrake "has gathered a vast number of case histories" and described the project as "thoroughly investigative, conducted in the belief that science can be fun and rigorous, inquisitive as well as skeptical." The publisher describes the research base as involving "thousands of people who have pets and work with animals," giving the book a scope that distinguishes it from purely theoretical treatments of the subject.
Sheldrake's Morphic Field Hypothesis and Its Place in the Debate
The intellectual core of the book is Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields — described by Kirkus as "self-organizing regions of influence, invisible blueprints... with both spatial and temporal aspects" within which "channels of telepathic communication operate over the vastness of space." Sheldrake draws explicit parallels between morphic field connectivity and phenomena already accepted in physics, arguing that dismissing animal prescience as wishful thinking is itself an unscientific posture. Kirkus Reviews observed that Sheldrake "situates all this within ideas currently entertained by physicists and cosmologists and migration theorists and others, so that the word 'preposterous' never seems applicable." The publisher frames the book as teaching readers "to question the boundaries of conventional scientific thought." This is, by design, a provocative position — one that mainstream biology has not adopted — and the book's standing in the scientific community reflects that tension. Readers approaching the book as a definitive resolution of the debate will find it is better understood as a sustained, evidence-marshaled argument for taking the question seriously.
Strengths: Voice, Range, and Intellectual Generosity
Kirkus Reviews singled out Sheldrake's authorial voice as a genuine asset, noting that "Sheldrake is a pleasure not just because he roams way beyond the mechanistic theory of nature, but because he appreciates worthy new questions as well as answers." That intellectual generosity — a willingness to sit with open questions rather than force premature conclusions — runs through the book's design. The range of phenomena covered is wide enough that readers invested in any one species or behavior type (migration, homing, seizure anticipation, telephonic awareness in cats) will find dedicated material. The publisher describes Sheldrake as bringing "a scientist's mind and an animal lover's compassion" to the subject, a combination that gives the book accessibility without sacrificing rigor in its framing. Sheldrake's credentials — former research fellow of the Royal Society, research director at Cambridge, author of more than a hundred published papers — lend the inquiry a foundation that distinguishes it from popular pseudoscience.
Who the Book Is For and Where It Challenges
The updated and revised edition incorporates new material into what was already a substantial work. Readers who come to the book as committed adherents of strictly mechanistic biology will find Sheldrake's morphic field hypothesis difficult to accept on the terms he presents it, and the book does not resolve the core scientific controversy it raises — nor does it claim to. What it offers instead is a meticulously gathered body of cases, a theoretical framework for interpreting them, and a standing invitation to treat animal consciousness and human-animal bonds as subjects worthy of serious scientific inquiry. For pet owners who have observed seemingly inexplicable behavior in their own animals, for readers interested in the philosophy of science and the limits of conventional explanatory frameworks, and for those curious about consciousness and animal cognition more broadly, the book remains a distinctive and thought-provoking contribution to the field.
Frequently Asked Questions
is Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake worth reading
It depends on where you stand on unconventional science — the review puts it plainly: this book will "satisfy curious readers and frustrate committed skeptics in equal measure." If you're open to a serious, evidence-marshaled challenge to mechanistic biology and curious about animal consciousness, it's a genuinely distinctive read; if you need mainstream scientific consensus before engaging with a theory, Sheldrake's morphic field hypothesis will be a hard sell.
what is Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake actually about
It's a wide-ranging scientific investigation into seemingly inexplicable bonds between humans and animals — dogs that station themselves at windows precisely when their owners begin the journey home (even on unscheduled returns), cats that vanish before a vet visit before the carrier appears, horses navigating entirely unfamiliar terrain back to their stables, and animals that appear to anticipate epileptic seizures and even seismic events. Sheldrake's central argument is that these behaviors are evidence of morphic fields — self-organizing, invisible structures with spatial and temporal dimensions that bind animals to their owners across distances — drawing explicit parallels to phenomena already accepted in physics, including quantum entanglement.
is Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake actual science or just pseudoscience
This is the book's central tension: Sheldrake is a former research fellow of the Royal Society and research director at Cambridge with more than a hundred published papers, and the review notes he structured his inquiry across thousands of documented case histories with controlled experiments — not just anecdotes. However, the review is honest that morphic fields have not been adopted by mainstream biology, and the book doesn't resolve the scientific controversy it raises, so readers should approach it as a rigorous but contested argument rather than settled science.
does Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake only cover dogs or other animals too
It covers a surprisingly broad range of species — dogs, cats, horses, parakeets, and others — and an equally broad range of phenomena, from homing and migration in the wild to the personal bonds of domestic life. Kirkus Reviews noted that Sheldrake "has gathered a vast number of case histories," so readers invested in any one species or behavior type, whether migration, seizure anticipation, or what the review calls "telephonic awareness in cats," will find dedicated material.
is Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake good for skeptics or people who want hard evidence
Committed skeptics of unconventional science will likely find Sheldrake's morphic field hypothesis difficult to accept, and the review is upfront that the book does not resolve the core scientific controversy it raises. That said, Sheldrake does go beyond anecdote — he designed controlled experiments to test whether a dog's anticipatory behavior could be explained by routine, sensory cues, or owner-telegraphed information, which gives skeptically-minded readers something concrete to engage with, even if it won't fully satisfy them.
what do critics say about Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake
Kirkus Reviews praised it as "an open-minded inquiry... attentive to the evidence and thoroughly investigative, conducted in the belief that science can be fun and rigorous, inquisitive as well as skeptical." Kirkus also singled out Sheldrake's authorial voice as a genuine asset, noting that "Sheldrake is a pleasure not just because he roams way beyond the mechanistic theory of nature, but because he appreciates worthy new questions as well as answers."
is Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: Fully Updated and Revised by Rupert Sheldrake hard to read for non-scientists
The review describes Sheldrake as bringing "a scientist's mind and an animal lover's compassion" to the subject, a combination the reviewer says gives the book accessibility without sacrificing rigor in its framing. While the morphic field hypothesis does venture into ideas entertained by physicists and cosmologists, Sheldrake's voice is described as genuinely enjoyable, so readers without a science background should find it engaging rather than impenetrable.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
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- Further reading
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Rupert Sheldrake, Wikipedia
- 4
kirkusreviews.com
- 5
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- 8
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