Do dogs think about the past?

[Xena Dog Princess]

Just to jump on the memory talk - the Revisionist History podcast has a fascinating episode on memory "Free Brian Williams". I knew that memory was fallible, but I had no idea just how fallible. He interviews some of the top memory researchers, it's an interesting episode.

 

[Granca]

Dogs must have some recall memory. I've seen Molly suddenly get up, leave the room and come back moments later with a ball or plastic bottle. I feel sure she made the decision to go and get it, which means it must have been a memory appearing.

Yes, mine do this too, particularly Tuppence.

For a couple of days after my grandchildren have been to stay, Wispa will go upstairs to look for them rather than wait for her breakfast. I don’t think it’s repeating a recent pattern of behaviour because while the grandchildren are here I keep the kitchen baby gate shut, on the principle of ‘let sleeping grandchildren lie’, although I eventually send in the dogs if I need them to get up! Wispa is particularly attached to my grandson.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Just to jump on the memory talk - the Revisionist History podcast has a fascinating episode on memory "Free Brian Williams". I knew that memory was fallible, but I had no idea just how fallible.

I listened to this, too - it was very interesting!

Great discussion on dog (and human) memory. I really do wonder how much they remember, especially for rescue dogs. For Brogan, he always remembered people on our travels much better than I did. For a few years in a row, we spent a month or so in Venice during the winter. He remembered people that we'd seen from previous years, plus he remembered the way to each different apartment we'd lived in. Considering that Venice is a real maze, I found this very impressive.

As someone who has had contact with the dog rescue world. what I find particularly interesting is how dogs' behaviour is affected by what their new humans idea of their past is. Meaning that if a new adopter thinks the dog has had a difficult life, they can ascribe a whole bunch of behaviours to that dog due to what they imagine the dog's past trauma could have been.

I was just talking to a couple friends here in Germany last weekend about some challenges I'm still working on with Carbon, especially his hoovering up of anything edible off the street. "Oh, you can't ever change that in an ex-street dog, it's just what they do." But that's not true at all, because Carbon has made real progress.

It was a real insight into my friends, though, and why they don't try to train their dogs at all... because they had a hard life before their adoptions and you just can't train a dog if the behaviour is rooted in the dog's bad memories of the past. Sure, some dogs may be fearful (or whatever the issue is) due to nature or past experiences, but it's a rare case that you can't work on improvement and help the dog live a fuller life.

Anyway, one of my pet peeves, as it really does a disservice to the potential of a rescue dog.

And as Carbon says, "I can learn nearly anything, as long as there is a cookie involved."

 

[edzbird]

As someone who has had contact with the dog rescue world. what I find particularly interesting is how dogs' behaviour is affected by what their new humans idea of their past is. Meaning that if a new adopter thinks the dog has had a difficult life, they can ascribe a whole bunch of behaviours to that dog due to what they imagine the dog's past trauma could have been.

Yes...this. We have treated all 3 of our second hand dogs as if they are blank slates, no imagining past lives/behavious/traumas. They've all turned out as well-rounded characters, in fact they've all turned out similarly, but with individual personalities - perhaps WE are impressing our characters on THEM. Maybe we were lucky? Maybe not treating them as if they're damaged has worked? I couldn't say.

 

[Aitch]

As someone who has had contact with the dog rescue world. what I find particularly interesting is how dogs' behaviour is affected by what their new humans idea of their past is. Meaning that if a new adopter thinks the dog has had a difficult life, they can ascribe a whole bunch of behaviours to that dog due to what they imagine the dog's past trauma could have been.

Absolutely this! Whenever I have been working with a rescue dog I give them a clean slate and deal with any problems as they appear. Alex has many issues but I don't ascribe them to memory of shelter care. Some of his issues are probably just his and with love, patience and a skip full of treats can be worked out between us.

 

[Boogie]

Our pups are given a colour at six weeks old which matches their assessment. The ‘purple’ pups are too timid and never make it into the programme. Other pups are put on a scale from sensitive to very bold.

We are never told our pup’s colour or results as it would affect our attitude to them and their training.

I know that dogs have brilliant memories - and memory is closely connected to smell in dogs and humans. But I don’t think they can think about the past like we do.

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[snowbunny]

I know that dogs have brilliant memories - and memory is closely connected to smell in dogs and humans. But I don’t think they can think about the past like we do.

Exactly this. We need to separate the different sorts of memory as Rachael said above. Dogs are very visual and obviously olfactory learners. Very situational. So it's not surprising that they relate certain cues in their environment to learning that happened previously, whether that means that a wooden spoon coming out of a drawer indicates a threat, or the smell of an old friend cuing good emotions. That's very different to sitting at home and pondering, "I wonder what Rover is up to these days?", which is very much a human trait.