Does our dog have a sixth sense?

(Granted, of the five senses, most of his perceptual ability seems focused on the sense of taste...)

Korby has always been one of the more insane dogs we've known (he's our now 12-year-old border collie mix). We generally chalked most of the craziness up to his previous life; we adopted him at age 7, and apparently before that, he was an outdoor/garage-type dog. So that somewhat explains the obsession with food (even when that extends to non-food-like products, like dirt, pine cones, bits of wood, etc.), the wild outbursts of energy (his desire to 'blur' [run in circles] in the yard, and play crazily with his toys), and his need to show ownership (mild pulling and insistent stopping on walks; carefully considered circling approaches to a bush, tree, or random unmarked area of interest; etc.).

But in the last few months, we've been noticing a few other trends. Whining for dinner has started earlier and earlier when we're at home - now it's rolled back to like noon or 1 pm (we generally feed him no earlier than 4 pm). The "mighty paw" (stealing a phrase from Meredith's parents' dogs, whose paws at least don't cause much permanent damage) has become more and more insistent - this is where if we're sitting (Meredith trying to read, take a nap, watch TV, etc.), he'll come up next to us, whine, and start trying to put his paws up on Meredith's lap (seemingly much more so than mine). The last bit can be a little painful with the claws, and we've tried a host of corrective measures in the past - generally firm voiced commands worked. But now, scolding, positive attention, ignoring, and distracting all seem ineffective - short of blocking his route to Meredith with the ottoman, he keeps putting his paws up until either I sneeze (somehow that alone still seems to make him submissive?) or I take him outside -- at which point he reverts to the food focus and eats everything out there that isn't bolted down.

Of course, Meredith being pregnant isn't the only change here; it's summer, so he still wakes up with the dawn (the whining/barking starts at 6 am or earlier - luckily I'm still the lighter sleeper, so Meredith can continue to sleep while I take care of him). He seems to be losing a significant portion of his hearing (as witnessed on the 4th of July, when he didn't really seem to care about all of the fireworks our pyromaniacal neighbors were setting off - I'm still finding debris in our yard weeks later), so that might explain why scolding doesn't do much. He's also of course becoming a more 'mature' dog - a bit slower to really wake up after the early morning breakfast, spends late evenings already snoozing in his house, not really allowed upstairs anymore because he has trouble successfully getting back down. But still, we keep wondering if somehow he understands what's going on and is trying to hoarde some more attention. (If you were wondering, the generally accepted answer to the question of whether animals sense human pregnancy is a resounding yes.)

So at a friend's birthday picnic at the park last night, he was as naughty and crazed as ever, so at least that getting older theory doesn't hold much water. He managed to grab a loaf of bread (luckily still in its bag, though we had to toss out a few tooth-marked slices) that wasn't immediately put on the table, then actually tried to grab Meredith's plate off the table (not anything specifically on it, mind you -- a plastic plate!). Crazy pooch.

Incidentally, random trivia from Wikipedia's border collies entry includes the following "well known" border collie:

"Ziggy"the crown prince couple of Denmark's dog.

Blast, there goes my 'cute but not in a dog name sort of way' requirement for our Ziggy's nickname.