Weird question here.....


I would like to know how long a dog can remember something. For example...

I love to "dogsit" for all of my friends dogs. Do they remember from one stay to another? Let's say a year has gone by since they stayed at my house. Do they remember me and my house?

Any help would be appreciated!

Jenifer

I think it would depend on an individual dog. Like humans I think some have better memories than others. I know for a fact that we can take our Wolfhound pup to a place he has never been to before and on return up to 6 months+ later, he remembers the place and knows where everything should be. We have taken him to stay at a friends house 200 miles away and returned 6 months later. He immediately went to where we had placed his water and when feeding time came, waited at where we had previously placed his feeding station. He knew what walks to do and where he had chased a single rabbit. Hope this helps.

I agree with Ken Evans, dogs and most other animals do indeed have memories. Just go into any veterinary surgery during consulting hours, and you will see! They also, like us, have memories of 'good' experiences, which they would wish to repeat, and of 'bad' ones, which they try to avoid.
They are also good at remembering people - having made a friend, they will recognise that person again, often after several years.

Yes I think so.

My dog has recently gone deaf, and I have used some of the old games we used to play several years ago to teach her new hand signals.
She has responded by initiating a very old game she played when she first joined our pack at four years old, she is now 14 years old. I did not like this game as it is a bit rough it is called catch tail (I had to try to catch her tail and she had to stop me – she invented the game in first place!)
Clearly she knew I was dredging up old games for some reason and recalled this one.

You could test if they remember you by inventing a game and see if they initiate the game with you a year later.