# Do dogs have memories?



## paris (Apr 8, 2005)

In one of Joe's posts last week about Lizzie receiving her old toys, he commented on whether dogs have memory (or something to that effect). I think they do and here's an example why.

Last year when we first got Paris she was very small (as they all are). After work I would change clothes and put on a particular pair of sweat pants. While we would sit in the floor playing she would go to the end of my leg and crawl inside my pants through the leg opening. She was small enough that she would crawl all the way up to my waist. It was hilarious and she did this all the time. Anyway, flash foward a year...

I put these same pants on about a month ago and as soon as I sat in the floor she tried to get inside the leg like before. She didn't quite fit this time! She is a very determined little girl as she tries everytime I put them on. I keep telling her that is a big girl now and she doesn't fit. It really is funny to watch her.

Anyway, short story made long...yes, I do believe that they have memory.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

That is a very sweet story...








I wondered that when we took Brinkley back to Charlotte's house when we picked up Neyland. 
We all wondered if he would remember...and if we would be able to tell.
We couldn't...ha ha...
If he remembered, we didn't see any signs. He was very overwhelmed at first, but did settle in and start exploring after awhile...maybe that was when he started remembering smells and stuff? I dunno...

But anyway, that is a sweet story about your baby and your sweat pants.


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## MaxMommy (Nov 1, 2005)

> In one of Joe's posts last week about Lizzie receiving her old toys, he commented on whether dogs have memory (or something to that effect). I think they do and here's an example why.
> 
> Last year when we first got Paris she was very small (as they all are). After work I would change clothes and put on a particular pair of sweat pants. While we would sit in the floor playing she would go to the end of my leg and crawl inside my pants through the leg opening. She was small enough that she would crawl all the way up to my waist. It was hilarious and she did this all the time. Anyway, flash foward a year...
> 
> ...


Yes, I deffinitely do believe they have memories. Max knows exactly when I am putting on my shoes and jacket that I am going out, so he gets excited thinking he's going out too. That's because he remembers the experience.

Dogs also suffer from traumatic memories, as well as humans. If something frightens them, they will avoid that thing or react to that the same way as when they were first traumatized.

Ever read about Pavlog's dogs? He was a pychologist who studied dog behavior. It's through the study of dogs that we learn more about behavior, human, too.

If they had no memories or understanding, we wouldn't be able to train them at all.


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## Furbaby's Mommie (Jul 10, 2004)

MaxMommie: You said it just right! What is training if not memory? They remember good and bad memories, perhaps the bad ones are the sharpest. They learn words and their meaning don't they? Some even the spelling.

There are some more easily explained than others. All Frosty's long life he knows when we are within a mile or so of the house, no matter how long we have been gone (like long summer vacations), or which direction we are approaching from. He remembers that our truck-driving Daddy comes home on Tuesday and Thursday night, and is here weekends. Up until recently he would sit in a chair where he could watch out the window for him, on the right days and the right time of day or night. There are hundreds of such things I could relate. Memories, you bet!


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## cindysilver (May 15, 2005)

Jack has GREAT memory!









I live in a different city from my parents and sister, and my boyfriend of 7 years... so I don't get to see them very much. But on holidays or long weekends I make the long 5-hour drive, and bring Jack along of course! 

During car rides, he is happy and wiggly for the first ten minutes, but if we keep driving, he KNOWS we'll be in the car for about five hours, so he settles on my lap and naps for the rest of the drive. He knows that if I start to slow down on the turnpike, it means I'm getting gas, and he gets to PEE







and gets so excited.

As soon as we get to either my parents house or my boyfriend's apartment, Jack goes NUTS and starts DANCING and everything 







. He runs RIGHT to the correct apartment at my boyfriends, right past all the identical looking doors and to the right door!! (I don't even do that very well!!) , and then Jack LOVES all over him as soon as he sees him. Same with my parents house, except he's a bit more WARY since they have two reasonably feisty cats that tend to chase and scare Jack when he comes in to the house too cocky!!







But... long story short -- Jack also knows what floor of our apartment building we live on, which door is ours, which door is the fun neighbors with the dog (that we visit), where I tend to turn when we go for walks, where is the "good grass" to pee in and how to navigate poles and trees with the leash, etc etc etc I could go on for ever. MY SMART BOY!!!!


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

I used to travel 5 hours to visit my parents when I had my first Maltese, Rosebud. I went there about every 6 weeks. Well, she slept the entire trip and as soon as I turned on to their street she would wake up and start getting excited. She couldn't see out the window in the car carrier she was in. It was just so amazing to me...... I don't know how she knew we were almost there....


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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

> I used to travel 5 hours to visit my parents when I had my first Maltese, Rosebud. I went there about every 6 weeks. Well, she slept the entire trip and as soon as I turned on to their street she would wake up and start getting excited. She couldn't see out the window in the car carrier she was in. It was just so amazing to me...... I don't know how she knew we were almost there....[/B]


Lexi is like that at my parents. I just have to tell her we are going to see Grandma and she gets all excited. When we get out of the car they go nuts running to the door because they know Grandma and Grandpa are inside. At Thanksgiving we asked Lexi where Oreo (died on Halloween) was and Lexi went running around the house looking for her. It was cute and sad at the same time. She ran down the hall to my parents room looking for Oreo. She even made my dad lift her up onto the bed to see if Oreo was up there. She went checked under the dining room table, the top of the stairs and then downstairs. She looked in all the spots Oreo liked to lay. Lexi only saw Oreo every 4-6 weeks when we went to visit my parents.


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## samsonsmom (May 4, 2005)

I think my Sammie has a good memory. It's ME that I worry about in that respect.

Samsonsmom

Lost your glasses again, Mommy? Sammie


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## Caesar's Mommie (Apr 8, 2004)

Caesar definantely has a good memory (sometimes too good, when he 'remembers' that he wont get in trouble trying to get into the trashcan if we aren't able to see him).


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