How long do dogs remember things?

Your Dog Remembers All Those Awful Things You Did

A new study published in Current Biology shows that dogs, like humans, can recall prior events, even when those events weren’t particularly important or meaningful at the time. This suggests that dogs have “episodic memory,” which is the ability to mentally travel back in time and recall experiences and specific events, such as times, places, and associated emotions. Importantly, episodic memory is also a possible sign of self-awareness in dogs.

That scientists needed to prove such a thing may come as a surprise to dog owners. Dogs often behave in a way that’s suggestive of episodic memory, such as staying clear of the neighbor’s cat after a particularly nasty encounter. Trouble is, we can’t be entirely sure if dogs are actually reminiscing about a prior event, or if they’re drawing on “semantic memory,” which is the memory of facts and rules necessary for survival. We unfortunately can’t ask dogs what’s going on in their fuzzy little heads.

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Evidence of episodic memory has been found in other species, including primates, rats, and pigeons. However, these previous studies involved simple stimuli, such as the presence or absence of food, and were conducted in laboratory settings, which are a far cry from conditions found in real life.

To indicate the presence of episodic-like memory in dogs, Claudia Fugazza from the MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group in Budapest, Hungary, used a trick called “Do as I Do” in which 17 dogs were trained to watch a person perform a specific action, and then perform the action themselves when given the command. For example, if the owner were to place their hand on an umbrella and then say “Do it!,”the dog would also place its hand, er paw, on the umbrella. Other tasks involved standing on a table, sitting on a chair, and jumping over obstacles.

On its own, this training wasn’t enough to prove that dogs have episodic memory. The researchers needed to show that dogs were capable of recalling an event they weren’t expecting to have to remember.

“The study of episodic-like memory in non-human animals is particularly challenging because it implies assessing a mental state: incidental encoding. of an event (i.e. remembering stuff that doesn’t seem to be important] when it is not known that it is important to remember it,” Fugazza told Gizmodo. “Most scientists agree that incidental encoding can be assumed if the recall test is unexpected, because in this case the subject does not expect to be required to remember the event later, thus it does not know the event is important.”

To create an unexpected recall test, the researchers added a second part to the “Do as I Do” exercise. The dogs were trained to lie down after watching a human perform an action, regardless of what it was. So if the owner stood on a table, the dog would lie down and be still. But sometimes, and in a sudden twist, the researchers would surprise the dogs by issuing the “Do it!” command. The dogs, after a slight pause, performed the action.

“Our study is the first to test whether pet dogs in their own natural environment can remember complex and content-rich events that are close to real life situations.”

This means that the dogs remembered what the person did even though they had no particular reason to think they’d have to remember it. Importantly, the dogs had to remember events they had witnessed, but not performed before. This means they had to dig into the “recent history” file of their brains and pull out the required information—in other words, they had to rely on their episodic memory. The researchers applied this recall test to the dogs after one minute and one hour, showing that dogs are capable of remembering demonstrated actions after both short and long time intervals (though memory faded a bit over time).

“Our study is the first to test whether pet dogs in their own natural environment can remember complex and content-rich events that are close to real life situations,” said Fugazza. “Moreover this is the first study to assess memory of actions performed by others, not by the subjects themselves.” She believes this testing method can be used and adapted in a wide range of animal species, allowing scientists to better understand how animals’ mind process their own actions as well as actions carried out by others.

As noted, episodic memory has been linked to self-awareness, which is the ability to see oneself as an entity that’s separate and different from others. “So far no test has been successfully applied to study self-awareness in dogs,” Fugazza told Gizmodo. “We believe that our study brought us one step closer to be able to address this question.”

How Much Do Dogs Really Remember?

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From the first time you met to that awesome game of fetch yesterday, the memories you’ve made with your pup are never ending. But how much of your life together does your dog actually remember? You know they remember you (hello, tail wagging and jumping when you get home!), but why can’t they seem to remember where they left their favorite toy? Like humans, dogs rely on two different forms of memory: short term and long term. But how their memories work is quite different from ours, says Bill Roberts, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the University of Western Ontario.

For starters, your pup’s short term memory is way shorter than yours. In one study that compared the memory span of several species (from bees to big mammals like dogs), researchers found that pups came out on top—but their memory recall was only for about 70 seconds. This explains why your pup remembers exactly where you dropped that dinner scrap two seconds ago, but jumps for joy when you return from getting the mail—they can’t tell if you were gone for two minutes or two hours!

While humans have several forms of long term memory, dogs mainly have two types: associative memory and declarative memory. Associative memory helps dogs remember people, places, and experiences based on the associations they have with them. This is why the minute you pick up the leash, your pup runs to the door with their tail wagging. Declarative memory is the ability to recall facts and events. “It’s almost like looking something up in an encyclopedia in your head,” explains Roberts. Declarative memory allows your pup to remember things like where you store the treats and which area in the park has the best sticks. Declarative memory also includes episodic memory—an area of research scientists have recently begun to study in dogs.

Episodic memory is the ability to recall experiences and specific events in time. “It’s also sometimes called autobiographical memory because it’s tied to specific places, times, and emotions in your life,” explains Roberts. According to a recent study, dogs may share our capacity for episodic memory; however, they may not be able to retain those experiences for very long. In the study, the dogs demonstrated better episodic-like memory after one minute than they did after one hour. So unfortunately, your pup probably won’t remember all those extra belly rubs you gave them this morning.

Roberts also points out that much of your pup’s memory stems from their nose. “Dogs have an extraordinary ability to detect odors and remember them,” he says. “A lot of a dog’s world and their ability to form memories may be based on olfaction.” That makes sense given that dogs have 300 million olfactory receptors (humans only have six million!). You know those heartwarming stories you always hear of dogs finding their way home after several years of being away? It’s because they followed their nose!

The bottom line? While your dog may not remember specific experiences (like the day you met), because of their strong associative memory, they do remember your face and smell—and the fact that they like you and always will!

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