DOGS CAN REMEMBER!!!

Remember the very first time you met your sweet pup, right from the very first cuddle to showing her the kennel you got for her to that part in the middle of the night when you gave up and let her join you in your own bed.

🐶But does your furry friend remember that day?

Dogs remember things, as any dog owner can tell you. Whether it's knowing that the sound of food hitting the bowl means meal-time or their waiting for you at the doorstep as soon as the clock strikes six, anticipating your return back home, man's best friend consistently illustrates his ability to relate to the meaning of specific cues.

Therefore, you may assume dogs have a sophisticated understanding of time. But what is time really like for a dog? Do dog memories work the same way as humans? Read on to learn how your dog’s memory works.

Dogs have two different forms of memory: short term memory and long term (associative) memory. Their short term memory is incredibly limited compared to humans – just a measly 30-40 seconds before they’ll forget you gave them that treat!

For example, if you come home after a long day at work and find your shoes chewed up, there is no point in scolding your dog. He won’t even remember what he did. Instead of hiding under the bed of the fear of getting scolded, he would be happily wagging his tail, welcoming your arrival!🐕 You might get worried that your canine friend must be feeling uncomfortable in the sizzling heat, as he had not been bathed for weeks. However, he will be enjoying the bath as if you bathed him yesterday. And surprisingly, at the very next moment, he would forget he had been washed! This justifies the expression “pets live in the moment”- having no memory at all of the events of the past. Unlike humans who retain memories or vivid images of both positive and negative past occurrences, studies suggest that dogs have imprints of occurrences or associative memories!

Associative memory is when your dog associates a sound, smell, or visual cue with a known behaviour or emotion. For instance, your canine may associate keys jingling in your pocket with a familiar behaviour of you leaving and may start to whine as you get ready to leave. Or when you pull out your walking shoes, even if you’re just going outside without the dogs, they get excited as if they’re about to take a walk.🐕 “Dogs are among the few species that people consider ‘clever’, and yet we are still surprised whenever a study reveals that dogs and their owners may share some mental abilities despite our distant evolutionary relationship,” says Claudia Fugazza of Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, Hungary. The researchers say that although dogs can be trained to repeat tricks on command, this action cannot be considered as a result of episodic(associative) memory. In order for it to be considered as such, they would have to repeat the action without command or rewards. To figure this out, scientists had to come up with a clever way to test their theory, since it wasn’t possible to ask the dogs if they really remembered something.

Using 17 dogs, scientists tried the “Do as I Do” method. Then the dogs were taught to lie down after watching a human perform the same thing. After learning the action, they were given a “do it” command without warning. It turns out the dogs were able to imitate the human action even though they were not alerted beforehand to remember and repeat it and would continue to repeat it on command. Researchers tested the dogs after a minute and then again after an hour and found the dogs were able to remember the actions after both short- and long-term time periods. The only thing was each dog’s memories declined as more time went by. This, researchers say, shows that dogs have an episodic-like memory. The associations remain stored in their brains and are related to how that person, thing, or situation made them feel. A dog might not remember a specific event, but he will associate any gesture, movement, voice, and smell with an emotion. This might explain the several instances, how some dogs manage to find their way home after being lost for long periods of time or how does a dog recognizes its master even after several years have passed since they last met.

So, isn’t it astounding and intriguing how “man’s best friend” remembers so much? It can be indisputably said, that there isn’t an animal more loyal, faithful, and affectionate with humans than dogs. Don’t you think dogs deserve everyone’s love and affection?

We certainly do!🐶🐶