SUE MANNING for The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Lassie could always sense when Timmy was in trouble. Black Beauty knew the bridge was out.

Now two-thirds of American pet owners say they can relate — their pets have a sixth sense about bad weather. Forty-three percent say the same about bad news, according to an Associated Press-Petside.com poll.

Seventy-two percent of dog owners said they’ve gotten weather warnings from their pets, compared with 66 percent of cat owners.

For bad news, 47 percent of dog owners and 41 percent of cat owners said they’ve been alerted by their pets, according to the poll conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications.

Jim Fulstone says his farm dog, a Pomeranian named Austin, gives warnings about 15 minutes before earthquakes and 45 minutes before thunderstorms

“He’ll run around in circles and look at you. If you sit down, he’ll sit down with you. If you are outside, he will come up to you, run around, look off, sniff your leg, just kind of be there. He’s a lot more active,” said Fulstone, 65, of Wellington, Nev. “For the quakes, he was very alert and started barking and doing his run-around routine.”

To read the rest, click here.